40 Years After Dele Giwa’s Murder, IPC Demands Reopening of Investigation
The Safety and Protection of Journalists (SPJ) Hub of the International Press Centre (IPC) has demanded the reopening of investigation into the parcel-bomb murder of Dele Giwa, founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch Magazine, 40 years after his assassination.
In a press statement signed by its Press Freedom Officer, Melody Akinjiyan, and released on Sunday, October 19, 2026, to mark the 40th anniversary of the murder, the IPC said the continued failure to resolve the case is an indictment of Nigeria’s commitment to justice and press freedom.
Dele Giwa, 39, was killed at his residence in Lagos on October 19, 1986, when a parcel bomb was delivered to him. Four decades after, no one has been held criminally accountable.
The Centre noted that Giwa, who was Sunday Editor of National Concord before founding Newswatch, reshaped Nigerian investigative journalism and championed the public’s right to know.
Reacting, the Executive Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, said Giwa’s assassination was not just a personal tragedy but an attack on the fundamental principle that journalists must be able to investigate and question authority without fear.
“Forty years without justice is far too long. Silence cannot substitute for accountability, and the passage of time must not become an excuse for abandoning the pursuit of truth,” Arogundade said.
