Dele Giwa’s Death Led to Mama’s Slow Death-Daughter

Late Dele Giwa 

Note: It's no news that the Late Dele Giwa's mum died this morning but I was opportuned to go to their family home in Ikorodu today to speak with her children about her last moments, her reaction to Dele Giwa's death amongst other things. Enjoy 

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

Mrs. Elekiya Ayisat Giwa, the 87-year-old mother of the late Dele Giwa, yesterday gave up the ghost at a private hospital (Aruna Ogun) at the Ikorodu area of Lagos State after a brief illness.

She might not have died with her son Dele Giwa nearly 27 years ago but Madam Elekiya Ayisat Giwa lived with the memory of how he was brutally murdered, a memory according to her family that slowly killed her spirit until her body gave up finally yesterday.

Dele Giwa, a veteran journalist and the editor and founder of Newswatch Magazine, whose name still causes ripples in the journalistic world was killed in October 19, 1986, by a letter bomb, the first of its kind in Nigeria.

After depositing the corpse at the Ikorodu General Hospital, the family picked February 9, as the tentative date for the deceased’s burial at their home town, Ugekpe Ekperri, in Auchi, Edo State.

For the 87-year-old octogenarian, the death of her first son whom she had come to rely so much on after the death of her husband in 1977 was a heavy blow that she couldn’t handle. While her body was visibly okay, his death tore up her insides.

 “Mama’s death was the build-up of the crisis she suffered when Dele Giwa was brutally murdered. She was always a healthy woman until Dele’s death. His death broke her up. It was then she became hypertensive,” Mama’s last born, Mrs. Abibat Ronke Giwa-Aboaba said.

According to her, more than his brutal and senseless death, the fact that more than 25 years after, his killers were yet to be found and brought to book did more harm to mama’s spirit. Giwa’s assassination occurred two days after he had been interviewed by State Security Service officials during the regime of the former president, Ibrahim Babangida.

She added, “It was a very sad incident. If you are a mother, you will know how it feels to lose a son in that brutal manner. The experience was most traumatic for her and she did not get over it till she died especially since they were not able to locate the killer.

“She always cried bitterly each time she remembers him at least until few months ago when she started letting go but by then the damage had be done. Asides that glitch, she lived a full life with her five remaining children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

Narrating the chain of events that led to the death of the mother, Mrs. Ronke Giwa-Aboaba, whose house mama stayed till her death, said the deceased had suffered a stroke on December 22, last year and was expected to recover after treatment.

She said, “Mama had a stroke on December 22 and I initially took her to the General Hospital in Ikorodu where she stayed for a week. But when I discovered that their services were not okay for me, I moved her to a private hospital and she was there for one week too before she died this morning (yesterday).”

Mrs. Giwa-Aboaba described the deceased as a wonderful woman, very gentle and tolerant. “She was always concerned about her children. She was always happy but the only thing she was not happy about the only sorrow she had was Dele’s death.

“However, months before she died, she made her peace with his death and said she had forgiven those that wrongful killed him in his prime. She also prayed for Nigeria that all those things her son fought against will be completely eradicated,” she said.

On the actions carried out by the family with Giwa’s death, she said they tried to bring the killers to book but gave up later after deciding to leave them to God’s judgment.

She however said the Late Gani Fawehinmi had truly championed for the cause, a fact that led to his death. “Gani was one of the major persons that spearheaded the fight to fish out those that caused my brother’s death.

“He was even imprisoned for this sake and it later led to his death because he became ill as a result of the continuous imprisonment. Before he died, he gave his family instructions to hold a rally at Edo State in his honour.

“He also demanded that my mother be brought to that rally so that the nation can be reminded that Dele Giwa’s death should not be swept under the carpet. We are still waiting for justice and God the Righteous Judge will see to it.”

For Mrs. Giwa-Aboaba, having look after the mother since 1999, the only pain she feels about the mother’s death was that justice was not done. According to her, she would have loved to give her mother the one thing she truly desires; justice for Dele’s death.

She said, “I truly wish justice was done before she died. At least she would have died happier. She had always been there for us since our dad’s death and it would have been lovely to pay her back with achieving her goal.”

With the octogenarian’s death, the family moved her corpse to the General Hospital morgue in Ikorodu. They however complained bitterly about the state of the morgue.

According to one of the sympathisers at the morgue, the state of the corpses was an eyesore. Corroborating, Mrs. Giwa-Aboaba said they had wanted a private morgue but since that wasn’t readily available; they had no choice but to deposit the body at the General Hospital.

She however quickly added that have put plans on ground to have her moved to the morgue of a military hospital in Lagos today. “No, mama wouldn’t have wanted her body to be kept at the general hospital, especially in its present state,” she muttered almost to herself.

The deceased eldest daughter, Mrs. Veronica Omomole said although they were amazed at their mother’s resilience to live after Dele Giwa’s death, they had thought she would recover from the stroke.

Speaking on behalf of her grandsons, Mr. Sunday Edward Tiamiyu, said mama’s death has created a vacuum that might not be filled even with time. He said, “Mama raised me from when I was a child.

“She was a very kind woman. She cared for me and raised me. I would sorely miss her vivacity. Despite her age, she was very strong. She could walk on her own until stroke cut her down about three weeks ago.”