Dele Giwa’s bomb explosion left my hearing permanently damaged- Soyinka

Kayode Soyinka was with Dele Giwa at the time of the blast.

Twenty-Seven years after he narrowly escaped being killed in a bomb blast, Kayode Soyinka, a journalist, said he still suffers from the effect of the blast.

Mr. Soyinka’s colleague, Dele Giwa, was killed in the blast at the latter’s home on October 19, 1986

Recalling the incident while featuring on a live radio programme on Rockcity FM station in Abeokuta on Monday, Mr. Soyinka said the blast made him lose his hearing ability for a few years before medical treatment abroad restored his hearing ability.

Mr. Soyinka, publisher of Africa Today Magazine, said the explosion left a permanent dent on his left ear which is no longer as effective as that of the right.

“The power of the blast threw me out from the chair, the chair was completely damaged. I went into trance and even lost my hearing for years.

“But following medical experts intervention abroad I got healed up, however, till date my left ear is weaker than the right,” he said.

Mr. Soyinka, a three-time governorship aspirant in Ogun State, said the Ibrahim Babangida administration cannot exonerate itself from the explosion that killed Dele Giwa, recalling that; as hours before the incident were telephone calls to Mr. Giwa by the then Director of Military Intelligence, Halilu Akilu; who wanted to know the description of the deceased’s house.

He said the envelope that carried the bomb had the inscription ‘cabinet’ on it, and was addressed to Dele Giwa. Mr. Soyinka, who was a guest of the late journalist then, said both of them thought it was an ordinary mail with the deceased saying, ‘this must be from the presidency.’

He said the envelope exploded as Mr. Giwa tried to open it.

Mr. Soyinka, who was almost in tears while narrating the incident, said, “I survive the bomb blast not through my efforts, but God’s intervention and I know I can’t go before my time.”

He denied reports that he and late Dele Giwa were working on a story on Gloria Okon, a drug suspect allegedly close to Mr. Babangida; which didn’t go down well with the military ruler then.

“We were not working on any story on Gloria Okon as being speculated. That was not true and there was nothing like that,” Mr. Soyinka said.

Several human rights activist blamed the Babangida administration for the blast and have called for Mr. Babangida’s trial; although he has denied any responsibility for it.

Nobody has been prosecuted for the explosion and the death of Dele Giwa.