Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate, has asked President Bola
Tinubu to reopen investigations into the deaths of Dele Giwa and Bola Ige.
He added that there are significant clues yet to be fully
explored.
The high-profile cases have remained unresolved by
successive administrations.
Bola Ige, former governor of Oyo and ex-attorney general of
the federation, was assassinated on December 23, 2001, in his home in Ibadan.
Dele Giwa, a prominent Nigerian journalist and the founding
editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine, was killed on October 19, 1986, by a
parcel bomb.
During an interaction with journalists at the Freedom Park
in Lagos, Soyinka urged Tinubu to take decisive action on these cases.
He noted the need to “pursue the clues, dust up the files,
re-investigate, call back witnesses”, and to uncover those who may have
obstructed the investigations.
The novelist highlighted the “repeated betrayals” by
previous administrations, including that of former President Muhammadu Buhari,
who promised to investigate “unusual deaths” but failed to deliver.
Soyinka challenged the current federal government to “fulfil
the pledges made by your predecessor” and to bring closure to these cases.
“The clues are there. Pursue the clues, dust up the files,
re-investigate, call back witnesses, find out those who deliberately polluted
the line of clues that would have led to certain answers,” he said.
“Time and time again, we have been betrayed. When Muhammadu
Buhari came, he said he would order an investigation into all the unusual
deaths both within the military and civilians. And we reminded him, ‘Where are
the files? Let us see the results.’
“It is a challenge to the present government to fulfil the
pledges made by your predecessor. Pick up those files, and dust them. It is
part and parcel of the responsibilities of government.
“Let us know what happened. Till tomorrow, we don’t know who
killed Dele Giwa, or who killed Bola Ige, but there are clues.
“Those clues exist. During that Bola Ige period, many things
went unpublicised.”
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