Remembering Dele Giwa

October 19, 2026, marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of our dear brother, Dele Giwa, founding Editor in Chief of Newswatch magazine, by a parcel bomb, at his house on Talabi Street, Ikeja, Lagos.

To mark this occasion, Newswatch Plus Limited and the entire Newswatch family would be presenting a book, Dele Giwa’s Granite Journalism, to the public. The book presentation would hold at the Kessington Adebutu Auditorium, Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), at Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos, at 12 noon and would be chaired by Uncle Sam Amuka, founder and publisher of Vanguard Newspapers.

In a release, Soji Akinrinade, Editor-in-Chief, Newswatch Plus, said the book presentation gives the Dele Giwa media family an opportunity to remember the murdered journalism icon, showcasing his works and writings from Daily Times, Sunday Concord and Newswatch magazine.

The release said further: “The book, edited by Ray Ekpu, also features tributes from many eminent journalists, particularly Giwa’s peers and friends.

“Dele Giwa’s assassination on October 19, 1986, remains an unsolved case till date. The celebrated journalist, in partnership with Ekpu, Yakubu Mohammed and Dan Agbese, brought the lively and history-making Newswatch to life in early 1985, with Giwa as the Editor in Chief and Ekpu as his deputy. From the magazine’s inception and under Giwa’s editorship, it breathed a new life into investigative journalism in Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, two other founding editors of the magazine, Agbese and Mohammed, died in November 2025 and January 2026, respectively, leaving Ekpu as the last man standing among the quartet

of founders.

“Newswatch family mourns the departed journalism icons but remembers Dele Giwa with the presentation of Dele Giwa’s Granite Journalism on the anniversary of his death on October 19, 2026.”