Veteran journalist and Newswatch co-founder, Yakubu Mohammed, has dismissed claims linking the assassination of Dele Giwa in 1986 to the late Gloria Okon, a suspected drug courier.
Mohammed, who alongside Giwa, Ray Ekpu, and Dan Agbese founded Nigeria’s first weekly news magazine in 1984, addressed the long-standing speculation in his memoir, Beyond Expectations.
Giwa, one of the country’s most flamboyant journalists, was killed on October 19, 1986, when a parcel bomb was delivered to his Lagos residence. His murder remains one of Nigeria’s most controversial assassinations.
After his death, rumours spread that Giwa was working on a story about Okon, who was arrested for drug trafficking at the Aminu Kano International Airport and later reported dead. The conspiracy theory alleged she had been secretly freed and was living in London, and that Giwa had interviewed her before his death.
Mohammed, however, described the theory as unfounded.
“Was Dele Giwa doing a story on Gloria Okon? And did he interview her in London and the tapes of the interview along with pictures brought to Lagos by Kayode (Soyinka)? In discussing these theories, I am mindful of the fact that I am accountable to only God, my creator,” he wrote.
He stressed that Newswatch never planned any story on Okon.
“Not by any of our reporters, not by any of the editors, and not by any of the directors – Dele, Ray, Dan and Yakubu,” he said.
According to him, the idea was once casually suggested by a young staff member, Bose Lasaki, during an editorial meeting but was quickly dismissed after she admitted there was nothing to it.
Mohammed added that Giwa and Ekpu were not present at that meeting and knew nothing about the suggestion.
“But she (Okon) came alive as possible reason why Dele Giwa was killed. Dele was said to have travelled to London some weeks before his death and interviewed Gloria Okon. The fact is that Dele Giwa did not meet any Gloria Okon on the trip in question. I know this for sure because I travelled with him to London,” he said.
