Former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has addressed the long-standing controversy surrounding the assassination of a journalist, Dele Giwa, describing it as part of “booby traps and acts of destabilisation” targeted at his administration.

Dele Giwa, the Editor-in-Chief and co-founder of Newswatch magazine, was killed by a parcel bomb delivered to his Ikeja residence by still-unidentified couriers on October 19, 1986, during Babangida’s military regime.

The murder remains unsolved to this day and is considered one of the darkest moments in Nigeria’s media history. Many pointed accusing fingers at Babangida and his government.

However, in his newly launched autobiography, A Journey in Service, Babangida denied any involvement in the assassination. He questioned the logic behind claims that the parcel bomb bore the presidency’s logo, arguing that a supposed killer would not identify themselves so blatantly.

In Chapter 10 of the 420-page book, Babangida recounted the challenges of his administration, listing Giwa’s assassination alongside other major crises, including the Vatsa coup, the Gideon Orkar coup, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) controversy, the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) riots, and the C-140 air crash.

‘I felt a personal loss’

Babangida said Giwa’s death left him with a deep sense of personal loss and shock.

“Mr Giwa was a good friend, like a few other senior journalists in the country. We spoke often on the phone and met a few times. I valued his deep insight on national issues and respected his views and reach as a media leader,” he wrote.

However, he said his grief was overshadowed by the public outcry and the introduction of a new and gruesome method of assassination in Nigeria.

Recounting the incident, Babangida noted that Giwa was at his breakfast table with Newswatch’s London Bureau Chief, Kayode Soyinka, when the parcel bomb exploded, fatally wounding him.

He observed that the killing came less than a year after he overthrew General Muhammadu Buhari and just weeks after the OIC controversy, which led to the retirement of his deputy, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe.

“I saw Giwa’s wicked and cruel murder as part of a series of booby traps and acts of destabilisation being hatched against the administration. Undoubtedly, our choice of the path of rigorous reform had earned us unintended adversaries,” he wrote.

Babangida argued that whoever masterminded the attack knew of his relationship with Giwa and targeted the journalist to hurt him emotionally.

“Secondly, Giwa was a very popular and colourful journalist, a person of great public interest for anyone wanting to inflict a mischievous political blow on the young military administration.

“Giwa was loved by his audience and the rest of the public. Targeting him would shock the public and paint the administration in a feeble light,” he added.

Denial of involvement

Babangida dismissed allegations that his government was behind the murder, calling such claims “cheap and foolish.”

“The insinuation that the parcel may have come from the headquarters of the administration was cheap and foolish. Why would an officially planned high-level assassination carry an apparent forwarding address of the killer? Why would a government-planned and executed crime point directly at the suspect?

“All this did not make sense to me,” he wrote, adding that he viewed the accusations as part of the challenges of leading a military regime.

He said he relied on the police and intelligence services to investigate the murder, directing the Inspector-General of Police to assign a top investigative team to the case with daily reports.

Why the murder was never solved

Reflecting on why the case remained unsolved nearly four decades later, Babangida blamed the media and certain political figures for distorting the investigation.

He argued that the Newswatch management’s legal approach, led by their lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, turned the case into a media spectacle rather than a thorough criminal investigation.

“The involvement of high-profile lawyer Gani Fawehinmi and the populist slant given to the case by the media poisoned the investigation with political overtones,” he wrote.

Babangida suggested that by focusing solely on his administration as the prime suspect, the investigation failed to explore other possible leads.

“The legal drama and political grandstanding combined to muddle the work of the police and intelligence investigators towards getting a factual report on this cruel and criminal act. 

“What the campaigners failed to realise was that even under a military regime, crimes will be committed by persons and agencies that may not be directly related to either the military establishment or the government. The best way to cover up for heinous crimes would be to craft them in a manner that includes the government among the suspects so that what should ordinarily be a criminal investigation is drowned by political actions and populist sentiments,” he added.

He criticised the adversarial stance of the Nigerian media, claiming it had a history of positioning itself against the government, making unbiased investigations difficult.

“It was an attitude of ‘we versus the government’ that has remained today. It is a situation in which the government is adjudged guilty even before the evidence in a case is adduced,” he wrote.

Babangida noted that even when President Olusegun Obasanjo reopened the case through the Oputa Panel on Human Rights, no new evidence emerged.

“The Giwa, like all mysterious murders, has remained unsolved after so many years. I keep hoping the truth will be uncovered in our lifetime or after us,” he wrote.

‘Vatsa was always envious of me’

Babangida also revisited the 1985 coup attempt led by his childhood friend and colleague, General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, describing it as one of the most destabilising events of his administration.

He said he initially dismissed reports of a plot against him as rumours. However, when concerns grew, he confronted Vatsa, then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, who denied the allegations.

“Once substantial incontrovertible evidence was established, the arrests began,” he wrote, revealing that Vatsa had paid several officers, including Lt-Col. Musa Bitiyong, ₦50,000 for their roles in the planned coup.

Babangida said he found it difficult to believe the extent of Vatsa’s involvement until intelligence reports detailed plans to bomb Eko Bridge and hijack the presidential jet.

He recounted a briefing session where he expressed disbelief, only for investigators to reveal that Vatsa had even attempted to escape through an air conditioner vent in his detention cell.

“As the details kept coming in, it became harder not to believe the integrity of the disclosures. I felt a deep personal sense of betrayal. There were details of conversations, funding, travel itinerary and recruitment of troops to support the operation. 

“Each time I had to be briefed on aspects of the coup plot, I insisted on having a senior officer with integrity present as a witness. I invited Garba Duba to listen in on one occasion as the investigating team briefed me. When I shrugged in disbelief, the briefing officer then revealed that Vatsa had even tried to escape through the wall air conditioner hole in his detention room but was stopped by vigilant guards,” he wrote.

Despite their close friendship from childhood, Babangida said Vatsa had always been envious of him.

“With the benefit of hindsight now, I recall that a constant part of our relationship as teenagers and young men was a continuous and recurrent peer jealousy on his part towards me. He was always envious of my achievements, especially when he thought I was progressing better than him, either in school or our military career path. 

“For instance, when I became Head Boy at Bida Secondary School, Vatsa often made it a duty to put obstacles in my way as a leader. He frequently disregarded my instructions, insisting that there was nothing so special about being the Head Boy. 

“That trend continued through our military career but tended to diminish as we both progressed in our respective military careers. Still, he was envious of my career path and postings up to when I was chosen as a member of the Supreme Military Council under General Murtala Muhammed,” he wrote.

‘C-130 air crash conspiracy a wicked rumour’

Babangida also addressed the 1992 C-130 military plane crash, which killed 159 officers, including nine foreigners.

The aircraft crashed into a swamp near Lagos, just three minutes after takeoff.

Given the number of military officers on board, rumours spread that the government had orchestrated the crash to eliminate potential coup plotters.

“Mischief makers and rumour mongers were colouring the public perception of this accident. Some speculated that regime opponents in the armed forces had sabotaged the aircraft to vent their anger at the direction of the administration.

“A more wicked version of the rumour was that the administration had somehow plotted to assemble these officers in one consignment for elimination for fear that they might be planning a coup against the military administration’s leadership based on the failed Gideon Orkar coup that had taken place earlier,” Babangida wrote.

He dismissed such theories, insisting that an independent investigation found the crash was caused by technical faults and lapses in aircraft maintenance.

“It was, however, an indication of the level of decay to which our public perception and discourse had descended,” he added, lamenting how political opponents weaponised tragedies against his administration.

Babangida said his government focused on ensuring the welfare and entitlements of the deceased officers’ families while taking measures to prevent a similar tragedy.

 [DailyTrust]