*Failure to resolve Giwa, other journalists’murders mock FoI Law

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE & GBENGA OKE

LAGOS—“THESE days Nigerian journalists are not keen in doing deep investigative reporting like we had during the Dele Giwa era and the Economist magazine today gives an insight about what investigative reporting is all about because it discusses the future of world economies.”

With these words, President of Nigerian Guild of Editors and Editi-in-Chief of Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, yesterday, extolled the virtues of pioneer editor-in-chief and co-founder of Newswatch Magazine, Mr. Dele Giwa, who was killed 25 years ago through a letter bomb.

Adefaye’s views were re-echoed by a cream of leading journalists, rights activists and others, who gathered at Renaissance Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, to mark the 25th anniversary of Giwa’s assassination just as the Campaign for Democracy,CD, warned that failure to unearth and prosecute the late journalism icon’s killers was making a mockery of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Law.

Organised by the Nigerian Union of Journalist,NUJ, Lagos State Council, the event attracted dignitaries such as President of Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, Malam Garba Muhammed; Mr Dan Agbese, Mr Femi Falana, Mr Fred Agbaje, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, Mr. Dele Odebiyi, Mr Femi Adesina, Mr Richard Akinnola, Mr Deji Elumoye, Waheed Odusile and Mrs Banke Osho, who represented Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mrs Toro Oladapo, among others.

Speaking on the theme: “Hazards of Journalism Profession and Challenges of the FOI Law,” Adefaye, who said, “I do not know too many things about Dele Giwa aside his flamboyance in journalism and the truth he stood for as far as journalism is concerned,” lamented that most journalists were no longer embarking on courageous and investigative journalism as Giwa did.

From left Mallam Garba Muhammed, NUJ President, Dr Fred Agbaje,Chairman at the Occasion, Mr Gbenga Adefaye, President Guild of Editors and Mr Femi Adesina,Managing Editor, The Sun at the Dele Giwa 25th Memorial symposium held in Lagos, yesterday.

Speaking extempore, he stressed the need for reporters to test the new FOI Law to deepen democracy and development in the country.

He said: “The Freedom of Information Law is about transparency, accountability and the law is a good law that keeps public office holders on their toes if journalists will live up to expectation.

“The press cannot be the Fourth Estate of the Realm without Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution and the law expands the scope of the right of freedom of expression and the right to own the media and the obligation to do the right thing.

“The FoI law is good but it will be meaningless if journalists do not live to expectation by trying the law in the court, it will also be meaningless if we cannot put facts and figures in proper perspective and it will be of no value if we do not consider the public interest.”

Giwa’s colleague and co-founder of Newswatch, Mr. Dan Agbese, lamented that invaders had taken over the journalism profession in Nigeria.

He regretted  that since the demise of Giwa, the magazine had been finding it so hard to replace him due to his wealth of experience as the editor of the paper.

“It was unfortunate that less than two years the magazine was created, he was assassinated and the magazine never remained the same until recently when power changed hands from the original owners.”

On his part, Muhammed, who criticised the government over the arrest of The Nation Newspaper jounalists last week, urged the Federal Government to re-visit all unresolved assassinations of journalists since 1986 when Giwa was killed till date.

Constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Mr Fred Agbaje, wondered whether investigative journalism died with Giwa. “After 25 years of Dele Giwa’s death, can we rightly say Investigative journalism died with him? Where are those head shaking exclusive stories we used to have, what happened to them? They have disappeared. Is it that with the death of Dele Giwa, most journalists are afraid of writing so as not to end like him or are we scared of being kidnapped or scared of parcel bomb?” he queried.

Stressing the need for Nigerian journalists to practice investigative journalism in spite of the job hazards, Agbaje, however lamented: “It is unfortunate that there is no law that protects the Nigerian journalist even in the 1999 Constitution and I believe journalists deserve a special court,” adding that the “FOI Act does not guarantee free information on government activities under the circumstances which Nigeria is being run as a country”.

He called on the NUJ to make October 19 a national day for journalists that had been assassinated in Nigeria in the course of their job.

In a tribute to Giwa, CD, in a statement by its President, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, lamented that the killers of “one of the brightest pen-pushers in the history of Nigeria” had not been fished out 25 years after.

It stated that failure to unmask Giwa’s murderers was making “mockery of the freedom of Information Act” because the fear of the assassin was now the beginning of wisdom for journalists in Nigeria.”

Okei-Odumakin said: “Twenty five years down the line, the question ‘who killed Dele Giwa’ remains unanswered and many more journalists have joined Giwa in the grave through assassins’ bullets without their murderers being brought to book.

It is incumbent on the Nigerian State to discharge itself of the charge that the killers of Giwa and other murdered journalists remain at large because their murderers have the protection of the state.  The surest way to do this is to unmask the killers of Dele Giwa and all other felled journalists.”