DELE GIWA: A TEMPLATE FOR MODERN DAY JOURNALISM IN NIGERIA
2 min read
By Afolabi Quazim A.
Late Sumonu Oladele Giwa, the Journalist and Human right activist who was assassinated in his house on the 19th day of October, 1986, has served as a template of which modern day journalism has taken reformation.
In the early nineties up to the Mid-nineties, press bodies were always managed and influenced by the policies of the government of the day. This act of influencing press bodies was one of the major reasons for his return to Nigeria after his years of stay in The USA.
Dele, who saw the need for an independent press alongside his counterparts Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed founded Newswatch in 1984 but all he got in return for his salient passion was a mail bomb, of which he died few moments after he was rushed to the hospital.
Due to his vision for a change free independent Nigeria, he organized a nongovernmental controlled or influenced press. He became a Human right activist, Humanitarian. He managed as the Editor of Newswatch, before his assassination in 1986.
The death of Late Dele Giwa has left many questions unanswered, of which are, did he really die of a Mail bomb or was that heinous crime performed by a corrupt insider?. Despite have a guard, the mail still passed unto him without the verification of the Guard?.
His death remained one of the unsolved assassination in Nigeria, if not the worst, up-to-date. And it a crime that has been neglected by the NPF, Anti-crime agencies, Investigative Journalists and the likes. To end it all, this kind of perpetrated and scary evil might occur in the nearest future.