Dele Giwa

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Dele Giwa was a Nigerian journalist (editor and founder of Newswatch magazine) who was killed by a mail bomb in his home on October 19, 1986. His wife and infant daughter were upstairs when the bomb exploded. They were unharmed.

According to Giwa's lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, State Security Services (SSS) officials summoned the popular editor to their headquarters on October 17, just 48 hours before he was killed. Giwa was accused of planning a social revolution and of smuggling arms into the country.

The government's coat of arms appeared on the outside of the package, according to Nigerian press reports. Although police investigated the murder, no one was ever prosecuted.

In 2001, former Nigerian dictator Ibrahim Babangida, who ruled the country from 1985 to 1993, refused to testify before a national human rights commission about the Giwa murder. No one has been brought to justice for the crime.

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