Twenty-nine years after the murder of renowned
journalist, Dele Giwa, a retired police chief, Chris
Omeben, who conducted the investigation, has
spoken out about the unresolved murder, calling
it the most frustrating case of his career.
Giwa, the founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch
Magazine, was killed through a parcel bomb at
his Ikeja, Lagos residence on Oct. 19, 1986.
Omeben, a former Deputy Inspector-General of
Police (DIG), who turns 80 on Oct. 27, told the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday that
the high profile investigation was marred by
interferences from “high places”.
The DIG explained that even when he had
narrowed in on the principal suspect, who could
have thrown more light on the riddle, the suspect
was allowed to escape from Nigeria.
“They said somebody brought a parcel and his
son Billy received the parcel and took it to his
father (Dele Giwa), who was having his breakfast
that morning.
“On the breakfast table was a man called
Kayode Soyinka, he was there; Dele was there
and then the son Billy handed over the parcel.
“And as he did so, I heard Soyinka left the table
and went to the adjacent room.
“It was while he was there that the parcel
detonated. Dele was injured and eventually died.
The metal partition separating the dining room
and the kitchen was destroyed.
“Beyond that, everything in the kitchen was
destroyed. If metal could be mangled this way by
the bomb, what of human flesh, what happened
to Soyinka? Nobody could give me an answer.
“My conclusion was that Soyinka knew what was
coming and he left the room to hide behind the
wall.
“I took note of all these, went back to conduct
an identification parade. We had an identification
parade and got people of different physical
attributes to be identified by the day watch.
“Eventually, when one of those paraded was said
to bear a resemblance to the person that
delivered the bomb, in spite of my insistence to
have the man quizzed, we could not.
“Because interference now came from high
places to protect the man.
“The man was said to be related to the wife of a
governor at that time and as a result of his
connection we came to a dead end on that lead,”
the former police chief, who was in charge of
the research department of the police CID, when
Giwa was killed, said.
Omeben told NAN that the setback did not in any
way deter him from using the evidence he had to
follow the lead on Soyinka, and that he called on
the Newswatch authorities to produce Soyinka.
“I have enough evidence to quiz Soyinka now.
Please, Ray Ekpu can I have Soyinka now?
“They resisted up till today. Up till today Soyinka
never appeared before the police.
“They started to insinuate that the assassination
was masterminded by Babangida, Akilu etc.
“They said that Akilu ought to have been
investigated.
“As a matter of fact, I had interrogated Akilu and
he told me that yes they had invited Dele Giwa
some few days before the assassination over a
negative statement he made about Nigeria in a
New York newspaper.
“He said that they had to invite him to tell him
that he was wrong for portraying the country in
bad light in the international press.
“Akilu insisted that the invitation was not enough
to accuse the government of complicity in the
assassination of Dele Giwa.
“He satisfied me with his explanation.
“Togun also absolved himself with his own
explanation.
“The parcel bomb was said to have the Federal
Government logo on it, which to me was not
enough evidence.
“It was more of a circumstantial evidence. I can
prove it!
“Go to any printing press if you are a ‘good’
criminal and you are planning well, they can print
it for you and place it on the parcel, and it will
look as if it came from the government.
“But for me to satisfy myself, I said please
gentlemen, can I have Soyinka?
“Nobody! Soyinka ran away to London that was
my principal suspect!
“He did not appear until eventually I left the CID.
I was retired from the police in 1989 and what
happened after that I don’t know,”
Omeben, now an Archbishop of the Jesus
Families Ministries at Iyana Ipaja, near Lagos,
added.
He said that Giwa was also careless in
maintaining a relationship with his estranged
wife.