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Babangida Denies Involvement in Dele Giwa’s Death

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<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Former military president&comma; General Ibrahim Babangida &lpar;rtd&period;&rpar;&comma; has denied involvement in the death of veteran journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch&comma; Dele Giwa&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"GaVEf1od" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Giwa&comma; a vocal critic of Babangida’s military government&comma; was assassinated via a parcel bomb in his home in Ikeja&comma; Lagos State on October 19&comma; 1986&period;<&sol;p><div class&equals;"HDNDq13W" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- TV --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"4399361195" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"auto" &NewLine; data-full-width-responsive&equals;"true"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>Two days before the incident&comma; a senior official of the Directorate of Military Intelligence&comma; had accused Giwa of illegally importing and stockpiling arms and ammunition to stage a socialist revolution in Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Alarmed at the charge&comma; Giwa quickly briefed his lawyer&comma; Gani Fawehinmi<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The following day&comma; a security chief&comma; Colonel Halilu Akilu&comma; called to reassure Giwa that the accusation had resulted from a misunderstanding&comma; that the matter had been cleared&comma; and that Giwa should think nothing of it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad5" id&equals;"quads-ad5" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"Bzychyf1" style&equals;"clear&colon;both&semi;float&colon;left&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;margin&colon;0 0 20px 0&semi;"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;" &NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"6550225277"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>According to Ray Ekpu&comma; Giwa’s colleague at Newswatch&comma; a few hours later&comma; a government emissary arrived at Giwa’s Ikeja residence&period; His son&comma; Billy&comma; collected the parcel and handed it to his father&comma; who was seated at the dining table in the company of Kayode Soyinka&comma; the London correspondent of Newswatch&comma; who was visiting from the UK&period; The envelope bore the seal of the Presidency and was marked &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;To be opened by addressee only&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad1" id&equals;"quads-ad1" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>However&comma; dismissing the longtime allegation that he was involved in Giwa’s death&comma; Babangida&comma; in his autobiography&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A Journey in Service&comma;” presented in Abuja on Thursday&comma; noted that he expected that one day&comma; the truth would be uncovered&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He said&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The hysteria of the media did not help the investigation of the Giwa murder&period; As is typical of the Nigerian media&comma; the direction was marked by an adversarial attitude towards the government&comma; which had remained the hallmark of the Nigerian media from its colonial heyday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It was an attitude of &OpenCurlyQuote;we versus the government’ that has remained today&period; It is a situation in which the government is adjudged guilty even before the evidence in a case is adduced&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When the Obasanjo civilian administration reopened the Giwa case at the Oputa Panel on Human and Civil Rights&comma; I expected that the police and lawyers would come forward with new evidence as to their findings on the Giwa murder over the years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It was an attitude of &OpenCurlyQuote;we versus the government’ that has remained today&period; It is a situation in which the government is adjudged guilty even before the evidence in a case is adduced&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;When the Obasanjo civilian administration reopened the Giwa case at the Oputa Panel on Human and Civil Rights&comma; I expected that the police and lawyers would come forward with new evidence as to their findings on the Giwa murder over the years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nothing of such happened&period; The Giwa&comma; like all mysterious murders&comma; has remained unsolved after so many years&period; I keep hoping it will be uncovered in our lifetime or after us&period; More often than not&comma; mysterious crimes are solved long after their commission&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The public presentation of the autobiography also witnessed the launch of Babangida’s presidential library&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>was attended by President Bola Tinubu&comma; who led former presidents&comma; former military leaders&comma; and captains of industry&comma; including Alhaji Aliko Dangote&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also in attendance were former Vice Presidents Atiku Abubakar&comma; Namadi Sambo and Yemi Osinbajo&comma; the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 poll and former governor of Anambra State&comma; Mr Peter Obi and the Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party&comma; NNPP&comma; and former governor of Kano State&comma; Rabiu Kwankwaso&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Punch<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER -->&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block" &NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"autorelaxed" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-4403533287178375" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1004305389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad4" id&equals;"quads-ad4" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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