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Investigations into the murder of Dele Giwa and the trial of suspects earlier arraigned have both ended as exercises in futility

It will require the availability of fresh and credible evidence to reopen the trial of the suspected killers of Dele Giwa, founding editor-in-chief of Newswatch. Mohammed Fawehinmi, a lawyer and son of the late Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, believes that it is the only condition that would facilitate the process of bringing the presumed killers of Giwa to justice. “What we have are snippets of information. But there must be something substantial to tie them. You do not go to court to have the case thrown out and be portrayed as those who are unserious. We can only prosecute on direct and substantial evidence because I know what my late father put into the case and I know what it took out of him in terms of detentions, in terms of breaking his spirit and in terms of affecting his health which later killed him,” Mohammed told Newswatch last week.

He believes that this credible information could come from, Kayode Soyinka, publisher of Africa Today and former London correspondent of Newswatch, who was with Giwa when the bomb exploded. 

Lack of credible evidence and reliance on circumstantial evidence were among the major factors that hampered the late Fawehinmi’s more than 22 years of vigourous legal battle to bring to book the suspected murderers of Giwa. Another factor that hindered the docking of the accused persons was lack of the political will to empower the police to carry out an exhaustive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the murder of Giwa.

 The late Fawehinmi had alleged that General Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria’s former military president, masterminded his death through Halilu Akilu, a colonel and former director of Military Intelligence, DMI, and A.K. Togun, a lieutenant colonel, and  former deputy director, State Security Service, SSS.

He told Newswatch in 2006 that every “Nigerian knows that it was Babangida and his regime that murdered Dele Giwa.  Why they have not arraigned and brought him to book is simply because in our system the privileged, the money people of Nigeria feel that they are above the law. The evidence was so obvious. They (Akilu and Togun) were the people who lied against Dele Giwa, interrogated him on falsehood while they were preparing the ground for his murder. There was strong circumstantial evidence.” 

Ray Ekpu, former chief executive officer and one of the founders of Newswatch, also admitted that the killers of Giwa are known to Nigerians.  “As far as Nigerians are concerned, the killers have been found and whether the police or the judicial authorities could nab them, prosecute them and convict them is another matter. But as far as I’m concerned, the killers have been found long ago but the case is like hot bricks for the government,” Ekpu said.

A statement presented by Abubakar Tsav, a senior police officer who investigated the murder of Giwa, to the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission, HRVIC, which was headed by Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, a retired Supreme Court justice, bears testimony to the lack of political will to do justice on the matter. Tsav said that the facts of the case as revealed by police investigation and supported by statements of witnesses showed that on October 18, 1986, Funmi, Giwa’s widow, received a telephone call from a caller who was calling on behalf of Akilu. She told the caller that her husband was not at home. The caller requested for his office telephone number, which she obliged.  A few moments later, the caller telephoned again and asked her to speak to Akilu. She said that Akilu asked her for the address and description of their house because the ADC to the C-in-C would be bringing something to Giwa and besides he (Akilu) would like to pass through the house to see Giwa on his way to Kano.

The following morning, which was October 19, Akilu, again, telephoned Giwa and discussed with him for about 10 minutes. At about 11 a.m. of the same morning, a letter bomb was delivered by two unknown persons, which subsequently killed him. Tsav surmised that the telephone conversation between Akilu and Giwa’s widow on October 18, 1986 and between Dele Giwa and  Akilu on October 19, 1986 shortly after which the letter bomb was delivered could not be a coincidence. It was, therefore, desirable for Togun and Akilu to make statements giving their own version of the story. But they did not submit themselves for interrogation let alone write statements to the police. 

Tsav said he took up the challenge to investigate the murder with a determination to uncover the perpetrators of this evil at all cost. He expected the Federal Military Government of General Babangida to provide enabling environment for the police to thoroughly investigate the case and find out how the explosives entered the country. But alas, the reverse was the case. “It is a known fact, but not known to Nigerian law, that the police cannot arrest senior military officers during a military dictatorship for any criminal offence without the support of the government of the day, especially if such senior military officers are the heads of security and intelligence outfit as in this case. To me, the involvement of the police in the investigation of this serious case was merely a smokescreen designed to cover the act. The police were used as delaying tactics to kill the case,” Tsav said.

He also said that the phone calls and request of the address and description of Giwa’s house, as well as the promise that the ADC to the C-in-C would send a card to Giwa “were not mere coincidence but a carefully laid out scheme to achieve their murderous acts.” However, when Tsav submitted the interim report to Chris Omeben, a deputy inspector-general of police in charge of Force criminal investigation department, the case was never reassigned to him or any other officer. “This would not have been possible if the Federal Military Government of General I.B. Babangida did not know about the callous killing of Dele Giwa.”

Since the government was not prepared to take effective steps to investigate, arrest and try those involved in the murder, Fawehinmi went to court on November 7, 1986, seeking an order to compel the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, or be given the order to prosecute those involved, namely Akilu and Togun. He said he did not include Babangida because he enjoyed immunity then as the country’s head of state. He lost the case for the right of public prosecutor at the High Court and the Court of Appeal. But he won the case at the Supreme Court on October 18, 1987. “The Supreme Court gave me the authority to prosecute if the DPP of Lagos State would not do his duty,” Fawehinmi said.

Nevertheless, Fawehinmi’s joy of prosecuting the suspects was short-lived. Eniola Fadayomi, former Lagos State attorney general and commissioner for justice, took over the prosecution of the case, filed a charge of murder on February 22, 1988, on Akilu and Togun. But on the day the case came up for hearing none of the accused persons was  arraigned.

Soon after the charges were read, Rotimi Williams, SAN, now deceased, stood up and argued that the charges be dismissed for “want of evidence.” Suprisingly, the attorney general, who filed the charges, stood up and agreed with Williams that the charges she brought against Akilu and Togun were without merit. Thereafter, the court adjourned. When the matter came up the following day, on February 23, 1988, Justice Longe quashed the case. Unwilling to give up, Fawehinmi took the matter again to the Supreme Court and lost his right of private prosecutor.

Before Fawehinmi died, various impediments were put on his way- harassments, physical assaults, spurious arrests, detention in various prisons ‘for being a security risk,’ criminal trials on trumped up charges. Yet, he was resolute and determined that those involved in the murder of Dele Giwa must not go free no matter how long it could take him. But he could not do so before his demise.”

Achike Meze, a Lagos-based attorney, said Fadayomi ridiculed herself by agreeing with the defence counsel that the case she prepared and filed in court lacked merit.  He also argued that the case should be reopened because the right to life is at the soul of the rule of law and the most meaningful aspect of the human rights enshrined in the Nigeria constitution. “Any society that prides itself with subscribing to rule of law should not take lightly any case of taking a life in a manner that is not approved by the law. The matter should be reopened because the previous attempt to prosecute it was not meant to succeed. It was a mere charade, designed solely to deceive the Nigerian people,” Meze said.

H e also said that it is the responsibility of the incumbent attorney general and commissioner of justice of Lagos State to reopen the case because the court only discharged, and never acquitted, the accused persons in the previous trial. “There was no diligent prosecution that could lead to their discharge and acquittal. Williams’ objection was on technicalities that the prima facie evidence was not well articulated. So, the case can come up again for proper prosecution,” he said.

Ekpu said that the failure of the judiciary in the trial of Giwa’s murder should be a matter of concern to all Nigerians. “We ought to be worried about the judicial system we have that cannot handle a simple case conclusively even when the evidence is so glaring for everyone to see.”

On the other hand, Onyebuchi Aniakor, a Lagos-based attorney, told Newswatch that there is no need for people to feel disgusted about the role Fadayomi played in the trial. He said the former attorney-general only exercised her constitutional role in the 1979 Constitution, which is retained in section 211 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The section said that the attorney general of a state shall have power to institute, takeover, continue and discontinue at any stage before judgement is given any such criminal proceedings. “So, unless there is fresh evidence or facts, which were not available at the time of the initial trial, there is no way you can reopen this case. Because in asking the court to discontinue the case, the attorney general must have taken into consideration all the facts under Fawehinmi’s possession,” Aniakor said. 

Attempt by Newswatch to interview Ade Ikpaye, incumbent Lagos State’s attorney general and commissioner for justice, on the possibility of reopening Giwa’s murder case was not successful before going to press in spite of assurances by Bola Akingbade, the ministry’s public relations officer, that the commissioner was willing to talk to the magazine.

Ironically, Babangida blamed the Nigerian press for the bungling of investigation of the murder of Giwa. He told Karl Maier, author of This House Has Fallen – Nigeria in Crisis, that “the problem was the people, or more or less the media … up to now nobody seemed to say, okay let us look at this things dispassionately. But from the word go, the government did it. That’s the first reaction. Then anybody who would want to say something different from the popularly held belief was seen as part of it …”

When the HRVIC, recommended to the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo that the Giwa’s case be reopened, Babangida, Akilu and Togun went to the Abuja High Court on June 3, 2002, to restrain the ex-president from implementing the recommendations. 

However, the country appears to be  currently paying dearly for the nonchalant attitude of the government over the murder of Giwa. Today, Nigeria is a nation under siege and bomb blasts and terrorism have become the order of the day.  This has also made Fewehinmi’s statement in 2007 prophetic. He had said that “there can be no justice for Dele Giwa and the Nigerian society for his assassination on Sunday, October 19, 1986, until the investigation into his murder is reopened, and those responsible are brought to book. It is only then that the rule of law will find its fulfilment.”

Reported by Victor Ugborgu