Unframed portrait of Dele Giwa.
Dele Giwa was a journalist in Nigeria. Well he was born and raised in Nigeria, went to America to study BA English then worked at the New York Times. After a few years he went back to Nigeria and worked at the Daily Times. In 1984 he co-founded a magazine/paper with some of his friends called Newswatch. The first edition was printed January 1985 and pretty much changed the print / journalism game in Nigeria forever which is why most Nigerians (particularly the older generations) all know who he is. "Newswatch changed the format of print journalism in Nigeria [and] introduced bold, investigative formats to news reporting in Nigeria" is a known quote that has been used since his murder to describe Newswatch.
Long story short the magazine began criticising former military general turned President of Nigeria, Ibrahim Babangida who entered office in 1985 and if you're familiar with the End SARS protests in October 2020 which was fairly global, Nigerian presidents, especially ex-military ones, don't take kindly to being criticised. Dele Giwa was killed on 19th October 1986 in his home when he unknowingly opened a parcel bomb that he received. This is why there are scorch marks painted on his face in the piece that you have, to represent how he died. His death is the biggest Cold Case in Nigeria and really rocked the journalism world. Well, Nigeria in general. We say cold case but really and truly everyone knows what happened.
There's a "nursery rhyme" that kids and adults used to sing:
"Who killed Dele Giwa, If I say Baba and you add Ginda na you sabi."
Dele Giwa was a journalist in Nigeria. Well he was born and raised in Nigeria, went to America to study BA English then worked at the New York Times. After a few years he went back to Nigeria and worked at the Daily Times. In 1984 he co-founded a magazine/paper with some of his friends called Newswatch. The first edition was printed January 1985 and pretty much changed the print / journalism game in Nigeria forever which is why most Nigerians (particularly the older generations) all know who he is. "Newswatch changed the format of print journalism in Nigeria [and] introduced bold, investigative formats to news reporting in Nigeria" is a known quote that has been used since his murder to describe Newswatch. Long story short the magazine began criticising former military general turned President of Nigeria, Ibrahim Babangida who entered office in 1985 and if you're familiar with the End SARS protests in October 2020 which was fairly global, Nigerian presidents, especially ex-military ones, don't take kindly to being criticised. Dele Giwa was killed on 19th October 1986 in his home when he unknowingly opened a parcel bomb that he received. This is why there are scorch marks painted on his face in the piece that you have, to represent how he died. His death is the biggest Cold Case in Nigeria and really rocked the journalism world. Well, Nigeria in general. We say cold case but really and truly everyone knows what happened. There's a "nursery rhyme" that kids and adults used to sing: "Who killed Dele Giwa, If I say Baba and you add Ginda na you sabi."
