By FIDELUS ZWANSON

“Dokun, I Hope I Won’t Die”: Doctor Recounts Dele Giwa’s Final Moments

A Journalist’s Final Hours

NEARLY four decades after the assassination of Dele Giwa, founding editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine, a doctor who treated him has recounted the journalist’s final moments following a parcel bomb attack at his Lagos residence.

Dokun Adedeji shared the account on Monday at the unveiling of Dele Giwa’s Granite Journalism at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism in Lagos. The book preserves some of Giwa’s writings for Daily Times, Sunday Concord and Newswatch.

Recalling the tragedy, Adedeji said a company bus brought Giwa to First Foundation Medical Centre in Opebi, Ikeja, shortly after the explosion on 19 October 1986. He was the doctor on duty that weekend.

“When I heard that they had brought Dele Giwa, I saw people running,” Adedeji recalled. He said the medical team immediately took the injured journalist into the emergency room.

Conscious Despite Devastating Injuries

According to the doctor, Giwa had suffered catastrophic injuries and was bleeding heavily. Nevertheless, he remained conscious and could still speak when he arrived at the hospital.

Adedeji recalled that Giwa recognised him and asked whether he would survive.

“Dokun, se mi o ni ku sha?” Giwa reportedly asked, meaning, “I hope I will not die?”

The doctor said he could not offer a definite answer. Given the severity of the injuries, however, he later concluded that Giwa’s chances of survival were extremely poor.

Giwa died at approximately 1 p.m., less than an hour after arriving at the medical centre, Adedeji said. The journalist was 39.

Reflecting on the experience, the doctor said he had never witnessed injuries of that magnitude again during his medical practice. His account offers a deeply personal perspective on a killing that became one of the most notorious attacks against a Nigerian journalist.

A Personal Loss That Never Faded

For Adedeji, the tragedy extended beyond the loss of a patient. He described Giwa as a brother who treated him with warmth and affection.

The doctor recalled that Giwa’s blood stained his clothes and shoes during the emergency treatment. Rather than discard them, he kept the items in a corner of his room for five years as a reminder of the man he had lost.

He explained that seeing the bloodstained belongings helped him remember Giwa and the circumstances of his death.

That decision reflected the lasting emotional impact of the encounter. Although Adedeji had treated many patients in his career, he said Giwa occupied a special place in his life.

His Final Concern Was His Family

Even while suffering from severe injuries, Giwa reportedly asked about his wife, Funmi, and his youngest daughter, Aisha.

Adedeji recalled that the journalist repeatedly asked whether anyone knew how Aisha was doing. Reports about the incident said the child had crawled into the dining area after the parcel bomb exploded at the family’s residence.

The questions, as recalled by the doctor, added a painful family dimension to the final hours of a journalist whose professional life had centred on investigating public affairs and scrutinising powerful institutions.

Meanwhile, Kayode Soyinka, Newswatch’s London bureau chief, was reportedly with Giwa shortly before the explosion but escaped the blast after leaving to use the restroom.

A Killing That Still Raises Questions

Giwa’s assassination occurred during the military administration of Ibrahim Babangida, who governed Nigeria from 1985 to 1993. The circumstances surrounding the killing have remained a significant and unresolved chapter in the country’s media history.

Two days before the bombing, Giwa had appeared at the headquarters of the State Security Service, now known as the Department of State Services. He had also been questioned by military intelligence officials over allegations concerning discussions about arms importation.

Around the same period, he wrote about the Second-Tier Foreign Exchange Market, a policy designed to determine the naira’s exchange rate through market forces. In that article, he warned that failure could provoke public anger against the country’s leaders.

Reports also recounted telephone contacts involving military intelligence officer Halilu Akilu and Giwa’s household shortly before the bombing. However, those reported events do not, by themselves, establish who planned or carried out the assassination.

Nearly 40 years later, Adedeji’s testimony brings the human cost of the attack into sharper focus. Beyond the historical controversy, it recalls a journalist’s desperate question, a doctor’s helpless response and a family suddenly confronted with devastating loss.

As Nigeria continues to remember Giwa’s contribution to investigative journalism, the circumstances of his death remain a reminder that remembrance alone cannot answer the questions that an unresolved assassination leaves behind.