Inside Nigeria’s unresolved murder cases

Several years after reports into investigations into unresolved murders in Nigeria, are still being awaited. Experts say that some of the cases may have died just like the victims, with no closure.

The unresolved murder cases in Nigeria, include Dele Giwa, James Balgauda Kalto, Olaitan Oyerinde, Bola Ige, Kudirat Abiola, Funsho Williams, Alfred Rewane, Marshal Harry, Aminosoari Kala Dikibo, Dipo Dina, Sunday Ugwu and Tordue Salem.

Dele Giwa

Dele Giwa was a former editor of the Newswatch Magazine, which he co-founded with other prominent journalists, with the burning national desire to fight political and social injustice. On October 19, 1986, Giwa was assassinated through a parcel bomb by assailants who remain unknown.

Thirty eight years later, the killers have not been found. On February 16, 2024, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the federal government to reopen the investigation into the death of Giwa and other journalists killed in mysterious circumstances.

James Balgauda Kaltho

Mr Kaltho, a journalist and a former writer with Tell and Tempo Magazines, was killed in a bomb blast at Durbar Hotel in Kaduna State on November 12, 1995, in inexplicable circumstances.

There were conflicting accounts of the killing. The wife in September 2022, asked the federal government to reopen the probe in the death.

Aminoasari Dikibo

Aminosoari Dikibo was a prominent politician from Rivers State. He was shot and killed in 2007, while travelling from Port Harcourt to Asaba, for a political meeting as he was seeking the office of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Family sources blamed top politicians for the murder. Police investigation into the incident resulted in some arrests of suspects, but there has been no definitive findings or conclusion to date.  

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Olaitan Oyerinde

Olaitan Oyerinde was the Principal Staff Secretary to the former governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, until May 4, 2012, when he was shot dead by unknown gunmen in his residence in Benin City, Edo State.

The police initially charged his fellow activist and friend, Rev David Ugolor, who had joined the wife to rush him to the hospital for treatment. But he challenged the government’s allegation of sponsoring the murder and his detention in court and he was cleared and awarded the sum of N5m compensation against the Nigeria Police Force. Till date, the killers have not been found.

Bola Ige 

He was a former presidential aspirant of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1998, but failed to clinch the ticket. He was later appointed Minister for Mines and Power by then President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. 

On 23 December 2001, Ige was shot dead at his home in Ibadan, Oyo State. Accounts had it that he was then enmeshed in a political conflict with his party, the AD, in Osun State, where the then governor, Bisi Akande, was having a problem with his then deputy, Iyiola Omisore. 

Following his death, the police suspected political assassination and arrested several persons, including Omisore, after President Obasanjo deployed troops to avoid a wider crisis from the death. 

All those arrested and tried for the murder, including Omisore and Baba Fryo were acquitted. The real killers were, therefore, not found. 

Ige was buried in his home town in Esa-Oke, Osun State. In a speech at his funeral, he was quoted as saying that he was sure that Nigeria was worth living for, but he was not so sure that it was worth dying for. 

Kudirat Abiola 

Kudirat Abiola was the wife of Chief Moshood Abiola, the  presumed winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election annulled by the President Ibrahim Babangida’s administration.  Kudirat was assassinated while her husband was being detained by the Nigerian government on June 4, 1996. 

She was fatally shot while travelling with her personal assistant and driver in the car. The driver later died while her assistant was unhurt creating suspicions that led to his arrest among other men. The death was eventually not resolved after many years of investigation and trial of suspects, including Major Hamza Al-Mustapha and Alhaji Lateef Shofolahan, who was acquitted of a murder conviction by the Court of Appeal in Lagos in January 2012.

Funsho Williams

Funsho Williams was an influential politician from Lagos State and former Commissioner under the then Military Governor of Lagos State, Colonel Olagunsoye Oyinlola. In the mid-1990s, he first joined the political party, the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP) but moved to the Alliance for Democracy (AD) after the death of General Sani Abacha.

After a short time, Williams again switched parties to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where he sought the governorship ticket of the party for Lagos State.

On July 27, 2006, Funsho Williams was found bound, strangled, and stabbed at his home in Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, an exclusive and wealthy neighbourhood in Lagos.

Two persons, his campaign manager and fellow contestant for the PDP governorship ticket, Adeseye Ogunseye, were on July 28, 2006, arrested in connection with his death. Till date the killers have not been found.

Alfred Rewane

Alfred Rewane was a businessman and politician, believed to be a major financier of the National Coalition for Democracy (NADECO) and a close associate of Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

On October 6, 1995, he was murdered at his residence in Ikeja, Lagos. This was at the peak of NADECO activities, where his residence was used as the venue for the political meetings.

The police arrested seven persons in connection with the killing, but five suspects died in detention while the remaining two were freed based on weak evidence.

Marshal Harry

Harry Sokari Harry was a Nigerian politician and former National Vice Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) for the South-south region. On March 5, 2003, he was assassinated in Abuja. 

Before his murder, Harry was the chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the PDP, from where he left to the ANPP over lamentations that congresses were not held by the party.

His son, Inye accused both the then President Olusegun Obasanjo and former governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili over the murder. However, no culprit was found in connection to the incident.

Dipo Dina

Dipo Dina was a Nigerian businessman, politician and philanthropist from Ogun State. He was also an administrator, community leader and chartered accountant.

In 2003, he went into active politics by joining the Action Congress (AC) from where he got the 2007 governorship ticket. From his antecedent as a philanthropist, the campaign under ‘Ogunnet’ awarded over four million free exercise books despite having over 400 students on scholarship in universities.

On January 25, 2010, on his way to his home on Dolphin Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos, he was abducted and taken to an unknown destination, where he was assassinated. The assailant reportedly spared the lives of two other passengers, including his driver.

The killers were not found and there was no resolution.

Sunday Ugwu

Sunday Ugwu was a brother to a then-member of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Barrister Nwabueze Ugwu. The lawmaker was involved in a feud with the governor of the state, Chimaraoke Nnamani and a faction of the assembly.

On September 9, 1999, his younger brother, Sunday Ugwu, 38 years old, was murdered in the early hours of the morning by persons believed to be hired assassins on a mistaken identity. The death created crisis in the state assembly, but till date the killers have not been found.

Tordue Salem

A journalist with Vanguard Newspaper, Tordue Salem went missing for over one month in Abuja, after he went out on October 13, 2021, and was later found dead on November 10, 2021. Police arrested and paraded a taxi driver, who claimed in a press conference that he killed Salem in a hit-and-run drive. But not much of heard about the incident after that.

Nasir Rabe

Nasir Rabe was former Commissioner for Science, Technology and Innovation in Katsina State, before he was assassinated by unknown gunmen in his private residence in December, 2021. 

Rabe was an officer of the State Security Service and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Abuja. He also represented Mani/Bindawa federal constituency at the National Assembly from 2007 to 2011.

Following his assassination, concerted efforts were made by the government of the state under then Bello Masari and security agencies to identify the killers without success.