Former IBB's aide weeps at ‘Dele Giwa’s murder book’

Seventy-year-old Debo Basorun, the estranged former aide to ex-military President Ibrahim Babangida, yesterday took stock of his participation in the military rule in the country and said it was a regrettable venture.

Basorun, who served as Babangida’s Press Secretary, was particularly pained by the 1986 murder by a parcel bomb of the frontline journalist, Mr.Dele Giwa.

Basorun broke down in tears as he recalled the murder during the launch in Lagos of the book, Honour for Sale: An Inside Account of the Murder of Dele Giwa, written by him.

“I have an insight into some of the things that the public do not know. That is what I have compiled in the book and is being revealed to them.

“The book actually puts end to all speculations about the murder of Dele Giwa.

“What I want the public to do is to start asking questions; we should be able to ask our leaders questions. All these years people have not asked questions. Nigerians should not be taken for a ride. We should now put our feet down and ask questions,” he said.

He said in the course of writing the book, his life was threatened, even when he was in exile abroad.

He had fallen out of favour with his boss prompting him to flee abroad.

He returned home only after the exit of the military from power.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria and chairman of the occasion, Professor Itse Sagay, said the failure of the state to find Giwa’s killers was a testimony of state’s impunity.

He said government has consistently failed to protect Nigerians.

“People like Suliat Adedeji, Funso Williams, Bola Ige, the Igwes and others were killed. Their murders have not been comprehensively investigated and their killers made to face the law,” he said.

Another Senior Advocate, Mr. Femi Falana, lashed out at the police and other law enforcement agencies for acting with impunity and infringing on “the rights of the people by preventing them from exercising their rights.”

He alleged the involvement of the police and the State Security Service (SSS) in the confinement of the wife of the Enugu State governor, Clara Chime,for “four months” in the Government House ,Enugu.

“I have discovered that the police and SSS helped the governor in confining his wife in a room for four months incommunicado.

“The desperate move to turn Nigeria into a police state must be resisted by all,” he said.

Wife of the late activist, Mrs. Ganiat Fawehinmi, said the book contains the revelations that Nigerians have been looking for over the years. She said her husband’s attempt to write a book on the murder of Mr. Giwa was frustrated by agents of the Babangida administration.

The book reviewer, Mr. Sam Omatseye, said the book is of extraordinary revelations.