WHO KILLED MY HERO?
By Prince Tunde Aiyekooto
Forty years later, the question remains unanswered.
A deafening silence still hangs in the air. No courageous man on the horizon dares to keep an appointment with the uncertainty that follows. No brave man has been bold enough to brave all odds and unmask the killer.
The late Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memory tried. He boarded the train of justice, but it was derailed before it could gather speed. Then came grave silence. Ray Ekpu, Yakubu Mohammed, Dan Agbese — the surviving musketeers — could not get to the heart of it. And now the candlelight is dimming, flickering before it quenches.
One thing is certain: we all have an appointment with death. However long we live, the transition beyond is undeniable. An answer would give rest to the dead. Perhaps then the executioners will die no more, but remain in eternal shame forever. Then the shenanigans, the deceit, the injustice, the denial and the intrigue will be exposed in the open — like broad daylight on Broad Street, Lagos.
Who killed my hero?
It is a question begging for an answer. Today, forty years and still counting.
The father of investigative journalism in Nigeria. The man who fought with the pen, not with the barrel of a gun. The man whose mind raced faster than his typewriter. Letter, then bomb.
He was murdered while having his breakfast. He vacated his seat to attend to something, to a letter said to have been laced… only for him to exclaim, and what followed remains the darkest day in the history of journalism till date.
That wicked appointment with death was October 19, 1986.
His only crime was daring to unearth classified secrets — a burden too heavy for the powers that be to handle. They chose a convenient silence, forgetting that the wicked never find sleep.
They had their way, but only temporarily. They cannot escape the judgment of Almighty God. Peace has already deserted them; they are now shadows of themselves. The judgment of God still awaits the demonic perpetrators of that dastardly act.
Who killed my hero?
I was barely a teenager in Form 2 in my village when my article caught his eye and he sent for this village boy. This writer had written: “If I Know God’s Address, I Will Petition the Killer of My Hero… Dele Giwa.”
Prince Tunde Aiyekooto
Editor, Aiyekooto Reporters
