Frontline journalist and rights crusader, Richard Akinnola, has predicted that former Military President Ibrahim Babangida would eventually be brought to justice over the murder, via parcel bomb, of foremost journalist Dele Giwa.

Giwa, the first Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, was killed in Lagos on October 19, 1986. Speculations that the murder might have been ordered by Babangida gave way to a definite declaration last week by his erstwhile Chief Press Secretary, Major Debo Basorun (retd.) that the former military ruler, indeed, was behind the dastardly act.

Akinnola, who in 2010 published a book, Murder of Dele Giwa: The Answered Question, told News Express that Basorun’s book, Honour for Sale: An Inside Account of the Murder of Dele Giwa, launched over the weekend in Lagos, had removed every doubt about the identity of those who killed Dele Giwa.

His words: “It was a detailed book on the inner workings of the Babangida regime with all its intrigues and it’s a confirmation of the suspicion of IBB and his security chiefs’ involvement in the assassination. Well, l wasn’t surprised about the contents, having published a book on the matter three years ago. Major Bashorun gave an insight about how IBB and his security Chief, Brigadier Akilu wanted him to do a public relations stuff to cover it up and how he was almost eliminated when he refused to be part of the cover-up.”

Asked what next following Basorun’s revelation, Akinnola said: “After the Oputa panel hearing on the matter, the panel held that from all indication, evidence points in the direction of the Babangida’s administration as the perpetrator of the murder and that investigation should be re-opened into the murder. It is a question of time; eventually there would be a government that would have the courage to bring the perpetrators to justice. The issue of who prosecutes does not arise now until the case is freshly investigated, a responsibility that rests squarely with the police.”

•Photo shows Richard Akinnola.

Update news