Former military President, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has said he knows nothing about the October 19, 1986, assassination of Newswatch Editor, Dele Giwa.

This was as he expressed the hope that the “truth” about the person responsible for the assassination would be uncovered.

Babangida said this in his autobiography, 'A Journey in Service,' concerning Giwa, a fearless journalist, alleged to have been killed by a bomb sent in a parcel bearing the official seal of the president.

“The hysteria of the media did not help the investigation of the Giwa murder. As is typical of the Nigerian media, the direction was marked by an adversarial attitude towards the government, which had remained the hallmark of the Nigerian media from its colonial heyday,” IBB said.

Adding, the former military leader said, “It was an attitude of ‘we versus the government’ that has remained today. It is a situation in which the government is adjudged guilty even before the evidence in a case is adduced.

“When the Obasanjo civilian administration reopened the Giwa case at the Oputa Panel on Human and Civil Rights, I expected that the police and lawyers would come forward with new evidence as to their findings on the Giwa murder over the years.

“Nothing of such happened. The Giwa, like all mysterious murders, has remained unsolved after so many years. I keep hoping it will be uncovered in our lifetime or after us. More often than not, mysterious crimes are solved long after their commission.”

ASA