Ibrahim Babangida
In 2001, Mr. Babangida was summoned before the Justice Oputa panel based on a petition sent by Gani Fawehinmi, Giwa’s lawyer. Mr. Babangida refused to appear, and went to court to challenge the legality of the panel asking that it be barred from compelling him to appear before it.
Both the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court (2004) ruled in his favour. In October 2008 he told a Lagos-based television station: “I feel really pained that the cold hands of death snatched him... The killers of Dele Giwa were not found because Nigerians had already made up their minds on who the killers were... Nigerians did not co-operate with the government, that is why it has proved difficult to apprehend the killers of Dele Giwa.”
Kayode Soyinka
Kayode Soyinka, the London Bureau Chief of Newswatch, survived the blast that killed Dele Giwa. He fled to the United Kingdom, and remained in exile for eight years. In 1994, he founded a monthly newsmagazine, Africa Today. In recent years he has been visible on the political field, with gubernatorial attempts in Ogun State on the platform of opposition parties. He has indicated interest in contesting the 2011 governorship election.
Ray Ekpu
Dele Giwa’s friend and deputy at Newswatch. Both men were also neighbours in Ikeja. He took over the management of Newswatch Communications after Dele Giwa’s death, and remains its Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-chief.
Kunle Togun
At the time of Giwa’s death he was a Lieutenant Colonel and the Deputy Director-General of the State Security Service. Mr. Togun went on to retire as a Brigadier-General, and in 2004 published a book on the Dele Giwa assassination, “Dele Giwa: The Unanswered Questions”, in which he denies complicity in Giwa’s death.His book includes a public letter to Giwa’s mother, in which he says: “I swear to you in the name of the Living God that I knew nothing and have no hand in the death of your dear son, Dele.” Togun is currently active in the clamour for the creation of Oke Ogun State out of the present Oyo State.
Halilu Akilu
He was Director of Military Intelligence at the time of Giwa’s death. He later went on to become Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, and then National Security Coordinator. He was among a batch of 17 military officers retired by Abacha on November 27, 1993.
Gani Fawehinmi
Gani, Dele Giwa’s lawyer, instituted 38 court cases and made more than 200 court appearances in his quest for justice regarding the assassination. In January 1990 he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for contempt of court, a fallout of a libel case brought against him by Mr.Akilu and Mr.Togun. Gani testified before the Justice Oputa Panel on December 11, 2000 and July 11, 2001. Fawehinmi died of lung cancer on September 5, 2009.
Chris Omeben
At the time of Giwa’s death he was the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police heading the Criminal Investigations Department, and therefore in charge of the investigations into the bombing. At an Oputa Panel sitting he was mentioned by Abubakar Tsav as the person who knew what happened to the Dele Giwa murder case files. Now RT. Rev. Dr. Chris A. Omeben, he is the Archbishop of Jesus Family Ministries Church, and President of All Neighbours Institute of Theology, Lagos.
Mohammed Buba Marwa
In June 2009 Mr. Marwa was accused, in widely publicized interviews with at least two media houses, by Taiyemiwo Ogunade of being the courier of the bomb that killed Dele Giwa. In Marwa’s defence, a statement was issued by Bayo Yusuf, his Personal Assistant, saying that between September and November 1986 Marwa (who took command of 233 Tank Battalion in August 1986) was involved in the annual battalion test exercise in Bauchi State.
Mr. Marwa is Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa, having previously served as Military Administrator of Borno and Lagos States.
James Oduneye
A 1968 graduate of the Nigerian Law School, he was the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions at the time of Giwa’s death. He later became the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, and then a Judge of Lagos State. In 1993 he ordered Classique magazine to pay ₦10 million to Mr. Akilu, as damages for libel. He retired in February 2004 as a Justice of the Ikeja High Court.
Eniola Fadayomi
She was the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice when Giwa was murdered. In February 1988 she filed murder charges against Akilu and Togun. On the day the case came up for hearing she agreed with the defence that the accused had no case to answer. She is the chairperson of Millennium Harvest Limited, Publishers of Financial Standard Newspapers, and Principal Partner, Eniola Fadayomi & Co. She is also the 2nd Vice President of the Institute of Directors.
Abubakar Tsav
He was the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) assigned to the Dele Giwa murder case. He later became Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Oyo, Abia and Sokoto states. In his statement to the Oputa Panel he said:
“I submitted an interim report high lighting my preliminary findings ...and recommended that both Col. Haliku Akilu and Lt. Colonel A. K. Togun against whom there was strong circumstantial evidence for conspiracy and murder, be made available for interrogation and voice identification… He is now an outspoken social critic and commentator on national affairs.