Co-founder of Newswatch magazine, Ray Ekpu has dismissed the allegation of retired police officer, Chris Omeben who accused him of hiding the prime suspect in the murder of late Dele Giwa.
See also How High Profile Personalities Frustrated Dele Giwa’s Murder Investigation
Omeben accused Kayode Soyinka, London correspondent of Newswatch at the time, of being behind Giwa’s death, saying Ekpu shielded Soyinka from justice. “I have enough evidence to quiz Soyinka now. Please, Ray Ekpu can I have Soyinka now?” he asked in an interview with Newsmen.
“They resisted up till today. Up till today, Soyinka never appeared before the police. They started to insinuate that the assassination was masterminded by Babangida, Akilu etc.” But in an interview with a reliable news source, Ekpu said the truth about the death of Giwa is in the open, that Nigerians know who his killers are.
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“This man thinks that people’s memories have faded, so he can twist and turn as he likes, but I don’t think people’s memories are that short,” he said.
“Kayode Soyinka was in the country for more than two months, the police interviewed him and also interviewed us, so I don’t know at what point we shielded him.
“As our correspondent in London, Kayode only came for consultation a few days before this incident happened and stayed with Dele just the same way, we stayed with him anytime we went to London.
So, there was nothing, absolutely nothing unusual about that. “Will a guy who wants to use a bomb and kill someone stay in the same room with him? Would he stay in the same room while the bomb explodes? Will he know the extent of the damage that the bomb will create? I’m not a security man but I doubt it, except you are a suicide bomber. “Besides, Kayode’s ears were perforated and he couldn’t hear for months.
The bomb had an effect on him. You know he was seated opposite Dele as he opened the parcel. They were together; now tell me how it is possible for a man who knows something about bomb to sit inches away from the man who was opening the parcel? Does that sound credible? Doesn’t that sound preposterous to you? Who knew anything about parcel bombs at that time?
Who ever thought that a bomb could be sent through a letter in 1986 Nigeria?” Ekpu said Soyinka had nothing to gain by taking Giwa’s life and went down memory lane in recalling that the parcel sent to Giwa was from Ibrahim Babangida, who was then the commander-in-chief. Ekpu added that Giwa had been receiving parcels from Babangida before the incident of his death. “I remember at least two incidents when Dele called me to say, ‘I just got a letter from the president’ and what did he normally send? He sent parcels, that is if he was going to deliver a speech, he will send an advance copy so that Dele can put it in the magazine to meet our production time,” he said.
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