Former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), has expressed confidence that the truth behind the assassination of renowned journalist Dele Giwa will eventually come to light.

Giwa, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch magazine, was killed on October 19, 1986, by a parcel bomb—a murder that remains one of Nigeria’s most controversial political assassinations.

The attack, which bore the appearance of an official government document, has long fueled suspicions that Babangida’s military regime was involved.

However, in his newly released autobiography, A Journey in Service, Babangida firmly denies any role in Giwa’s murder. The book, unveiled in Abuja on Thursday, offers deep insights into his years in power, his policies, and key events that shaped Nigeria’s history under his leadership.

Addressing the lingering allegations, Babangida argues that media sensationalism may have hindered a proper investigation into Giwa’s death. He believes that the adversarial stance of Nigerian journalists created an environment that made it difficult to establish the facts objectively.

"The hysteria of the media did not help the investigation of the Giwa murder. As is typical of the Nigerian media, the direction was marked by an adversarial attitude towards the government, which had remained the hallmark of the Nigerian media from its colonial heyday," Babangida writes in his book.

With IBB’s latest remarks reigniting conversations around Dele Giwa’s tragic assassination, many Nigerians continue to hope that justice and the full truth will one day be revealed.