When a journalist is violently targeted and such attack is willfully left un-investigated and perpetrators not prosecuted and sanctioned, impunity is established; and when such practices become the norm, impunity is entrenched
Emmanuel Thomas, Lagos
Lagos, Oct 19, 2016 – Thirty years after he was murdered via letter bomb, Nigerian Journalists and civil right activists were today united in calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to reopen the murder case of the late Editor-In-Chief of NewsWatch Magazine, Mr. Dele Giwa.
Dele Giwa was murdered in cold blood in 1986 but since then, the killers have not been found. Former President, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Hon Sani Zoro, Chairman Lagos State NUJ, Mr. Deji Elumoye Second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Monday Ubani and others made the call at an occasion to mark the 30th anniversary of the murder of Dele Giwa, put together by the NUJ, Lagos State, the Dele Giwa Foundation and his family.
They all explained that reopening the case and bringing the culprit will end incidents of unresolved cases of murder of Nigerian Journalists. They noted that the mystery surrounding the murder of Giwa till date has encouraged others to indulge in the killing of journalists and the development was nothing but impunity. So far 18 journalists have been killed since the murder of Dele Giwa, with all the killers unknown.
Quoting Professor Christof Heyns, a UN Special Rapporteur on Extra Judicial Arbitrary Execution, Ubani said: “When a journalist is violently targeted and such attack is willfully left un-investigated and perpetrators not prosecuted and sanctioned, impunity is established; and when such practices become the norm, impunity is entrenched”, he said adding that many Journalists have been murdered in cold blood after the gruesome murder of Dele Giwa since 1986 and that up till now the murderers have not been brought to Justice even when they are known.
Zoro who is a members of the National Assembly also called on Buhari to confer a post humus national honour on Dele Giwa and the late Publisher of Concord Newspaper, Chief MKO Abiola just the way former President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari conferred the highest honour on the Late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
He also called for declassification of official secrete and investigations in line with what is obtained in advanced democracies so that people will have access to classified information after a period of time.
He said the development could help cases of unresolved murder and pledged to sponsor a bill in the National Assembly on declassification of official secrete in line with what is obtained in advanced democracies.
