Top Ten Unresolved Murders Involving Top Nigerians
Over the years, Nigeria has not been so stable in
providing adequate security. Sequence to that, people are murdered in
cold blood and their attackers are never found. These facts surrounding
murder cases in Nigeria must be something critically resolved to avoid
future occurrences of similar repute. However Factboyz.com have compiled
a list of unresolved murders involving Top Nigerians.
1. Dele Giwa - (16 March 1947 – 19 October 1986) was a journalist, editor and founder of the Newswatch magazine. Prior to his death, Dele Giwa was a writer who often criticized the government with his publications. Two days prior to his assassination; he was invited by the Nigerian State Security Service(SSS) for questioning The Newswatch editor had just written an article on second-tier foreign exchange market (SFEM), a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy introduced at the time. In the publication, Giwa said if SFEM failed, the people would stone “their leaders in the streets”.
Ajibola Kunle Togun, the then deputy director of the SSS, later met with Giwa and said he did not find anything offensive in the story.
However in a different turn of events, Ray Ekpu, a colleague of Giwa, said Togun accused the journalist of planning to publish the “other side” of the story on the circumstances that led to the removal of Ebitu Ukiwe as chief of staff to Ibrahim Babangida, former military head of state.
Giwa was also accused of plotting with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other groups to carry out a “socialist revolution”.
Around the same time, Giwa was quizzed by Halilu Akilu of the directorate of military intelligence (DMI) over an allegation that he had been heard speaking to some people about arms importation.
On the sad day of the assassination, he received a call over the telephone that the matters arising had been resolved after the journalist inquired about his frequent calls.
Not long after the call, a package(letter bomb) was delivered to Giwa which severely wounded him. He was with Kayode Soyinka, London bureau chief of Newswatch, who narrowly escaped the blast after he excused himself to visit the restroom.
Giwa was taken to the hospital but later died from the wounds he sustained from the blast.
Although, Mohammed Buba Marwa, a former military governor of Lagos state, has been accused of being the courier of the bomb, no one has been convicted for Giwa’s murder.
2. Chief Bola Ige: (13 September 1930 – 23 December 2001) was the Governor of Oyo state from 1979 to 1983. He sought nomination from the Alliance for democracy for the presidency in 1999. He also served as the minister for Mines and Power from 1999-2000. From 2000 to 2001 he became Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was also known for vehemently rejecting the imposition of Sharia law in northern states. On 23 December 2001, Bola Ige was shot dead at his home in the south-western city of Ibadan. He had been entangled in squabbles within his Alliance for Democracy party in 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.
3. Chinweike Asadu: CP Asadu, who was the Kwara state Commisioner of police was brutally shot and killed in Abakpa Enugu state. On the fateful 2nd day of March 2013, a man in police uniform attacked the Police Commissioner while driving into his house after dropping a lawyer friend who visited him that fateful evening. The Police Commissioner drove the red coloured Toyota Camry in which they were attacked. CP Asadu was driving to his house, when a bus overtook and blocked his car. The driver, was in front of the car with the Police Commissioner while the police corporal, who was deployed from the Abakpa Police Division to guard the Police Commissioner’s house, was in uniform and at the back seat with his AK47 rifle. According to the driver, “one of the gunmen ordered the commissioner to get down from the car and as he opened to alight, his orderly in mufti in front with him also opened the door apparently to identify themselves but when the heavily armed assailants saw a policeman in uniform in the car, they suspected that he would shoot them and they immediately opened fire. CP Asadu was killed, while the driver and the police orderly sustained bullet injuries. Four years later in 2017, a report suggested that the killers have been identified and arrested.
4. Bisoye Tejuoso: (22 June 1916- 19 September 1996) was a Nigerian businesswoman from Abeokuta, Ogun state. Born into Egba royal family, her grandfather was Oba Karunwi, Osile of Oke-Ona, Abeokuta. She attended the Idi Aba Training college on Abeokuta, and she established herself in the business world dealing with foodstuffs and foams. This made her acquire various real estates in all around the country.
She was murdered in 1996 at age 80 amid controversy over the Obaship of Egbaland. To date, her murder has not been solved and the killers remain unknown.
5. Mohammed Shuwa (September 1, 1939 – November 2, 2012) Shuwa was an army major general was a Nigerian Army Major General and the first General Officer Commanding of the Nigerian Army's 1st Division. In 1966, Lt. Col Shuwa was Commander of the 5th Battalion in Kano during the Nigerian Army Counter coup of 1966 where many Igbo military officers were systematically murdered by their northern counterparts for what the northern officers perceived as retribution for the January 15, 1966 coup (which was led by mostly Igbo officers). Shuwa's deputy at the 5th Battalion, then Major James Oluleye took the initiative by asking his company commanders to lock up the battalion armory and hand over the armory keys in Olulye's armory safe. As a result of Shuwa and Oluleye's leadership, the lives of many Igbo officers during the July mutiny were saved. Pretty heroic right? He was unfortunately killed by perceived Boko Haram insurgents in his home in Maiduguri Borno state on November 2, 2012. No one knows for sure how he was killed.
6. John Otunba Payne: (1839-1906) Payne was born in 1839, his father was from a royal house in Ijebu Ode. He was a Nigerian sheriff; and administrator who was a prominent personality in Lagos during the nineteenth century. He was a Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Lagos and he also served as a registrar in various colonial departments such as the Police Court, the Chief Magistrate's Court, the Court of Civil and Criminal Justice and the Petty Debt court. Otunba Payne was murdered in his residence in Lagos by an unknown assailant in 1906. His murder was never solved till date.
7. Odunayo Olagbaju: was a Nigerian politician who was an Osun State legislator. In December 2001, Odunayo Olagbaju was bludgeoned to death in broad day light in his Ile-ife home town, sparking riots in which at least five people were reported killed. His death may have been related to a bitter quarrel between governor Bisi Akande of Osun State and deputy governor Iyiola Omisore. Odunayo Olagbaju was a staunch supporter of Iyiola Omisore. The murder was followed a few days later by the killing of Bisi Akande's supporter, Bola Ige, the Justice Minister of Nigeria. After an emergency cabinet meeting, the Nigerian government deployed troops to prevent further violence.
8. Major Isaac Adaka Boro: (September 10, 1938 – May 9, 1968), fondly called "Boro", was a Nigerian nationalist, Ijaw, and soldier. He was one of the early pioneers of minority rights activism in Nigeria. An undergraduate student of chemistry and student union president(SUG President) at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he left school to lead an armed protest against the exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta areas which benefited mainly the federal government and Eastern region with capital in Enugu and nothing was given to his own people in the Niger Delta. He believed that the people of the area deserved a larger share of proceeds of the oil wealth, since the crude oil came from their land. He formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, an armed militia with members consisting mainly of his fellow Ijaw ethnic group. They declared the Niger Delta Republic on February 23, 1966 and fought with federal forces for twelve days before being defeated. Boro and his comrades were jailed for treason. However, the federal regime of General Yakubu Gowon granted him amnesty on the eve of the Nigerian civil war in May 1967. However he was killed in Rivers state on the 9th of May 1968 under mysterious circumstances as no one knows for sure how he was killed. He was just 29.
9. Alfred Rewane: Rewane's full name at birth was Ogbeyiwa Erewarone, he was born in Warri to the family of Jemide Erewarone. His father was a trader who was based in Agbor. He was a politician whose residence served as the venue for the formation of th NADECO political party. He was known as a major financier of the group which was vocal in its opposition to the military regime of Sani Abacha. He was murdered on October 6 1995 in his Ikeja residence.
10. Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi: (3 March 1924 – 29 July 1966) was a senior Nigerian military officer and the first Nigerian Military Head of State. He seized power in the ensuing chaos following the 15 January 1966 military coup, serving as the Nigerian Head of State from 16 January 1966 until his assassination on 29 July 1966 by a group of mutinous Northern army soldiers who revolted against his government in what was popularly called the July Counter Coup. The circumstances leading to Aguiyi-Ironsi death still remain a subject of much controversy in Nigeria. Some folks in Nigeria have it that he was killed by being tied to a car and dragged and thus, his body was later discovered in a nearby forest. No one knows for sure who killed him.
1. Dele Giwa - (16 March 1947 – 19 October 1986) was a journalist, editor and founder of the Newswatch magazine. Prior to his death, Dele Giwa was a writer who often criticized the government with his publications. Two days prior to his assassination; he was invited by the Nigerian State Security Service(SSS) for questioning The Newswatch editor had just written an article on second-tier foreign exchange market (SFEM), a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy introduced at the time. In the publication, Giwa said if SFEM failed, the people would stone “their leaders in the streets”.
Ajibola Kunle Togun, the then deputy director of the SSS, later met with Giwa and said he did not find anything offensive in the story.
However in a different turn of events, Ray Ekpu, a colleague of Giwa, said Togun accused the journalist of planning to publish the “other side” of the story on the circumstances that led to the removal of Ebitu Ukiwe as chief of staff to Ibrahim Babangida, former military head of state.
Giwa was also accused of plotting with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other groups to carry out a “socialist revolution”.
Around the same time, Giwa was quizzed by Halilu Akilu of the directorate of military intelligence (DMI) over an allegation that he had been heard speaking to some people about arms importation.
On the sad day of the assassination, he received a call over the telephone that the matters arising had been resolved after the journalist inquired about his frequent calls.
Not long after the call, a package(letter bomb) was delivered to Giwa which severely wounded him. He was with Kayode Soyinka, London bureau chief of Newswatch, who narrowly escaped the blast after he excused himself to visit the restroom.
Giwa was taken to the hospital but later died from the wounds he sustained from the blast.
Although, Mohammed Buba Marwa, a former military governor of Lagos state, has been accused of being the courier of the bomb, no one has been convicted for Giwa’s murder.
2. Chief Bola Ige: (13 September 1930 – 23 December 2001) was the Governor of Oyo state from 1979 to 1983. He sought nomination from the Alliance for democracy for the presidency in 1999. He also served as the minister for Mines and Power from 1999-2000. From 2000 to 2001 he became Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was also known for vehemently rejecting the imposition of Sharia law in northern states. On 23 December 2001, Bola Ige was shot dead at his home in the south-western city of Ibadan. He had been entangled in squabbles within his Alliance for Democracy party in 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.
3. Chinweike Asadu: CP Asadu, who was the Kwara state Commisioner of police was brutally shot and killed in Abakpa Enugu state. On the fateful 2nd day of March 2013, a man in police uniform attacked the Police Commissioner while driving into his house after dropping a lawyer friend who visited him that fateful evening. The Police Commissioner drove the red coloured Toyota Camry in which they were attacked. CP Asadu was driving to his house, when a bus overtook and blocked his car. The driver, was in front of the car with the Police Commissioner while the police corporal, who was deployed from the Abakpa Police Division to guard the Police Commissioner’s house, was in uniform and at the back seat with his AK47 rifle. According to the driver, “one of the gunmen ordered the commissioner to get down from the car and as he opened to alight, his orderly in mufti in front with him also opened the door apparently to identify themselves but when the heavily armed assailants saw a policeman in uniform in the car, they suspected that he would shoot them and they immediately opened fire. CP Asadu was killed, while the driver and the police orderly sustained bullet injuries. Four years later in 2017, a report suggested that the killers have been identified and arrested.
4. Bisoye Tejuoso: (22 June 1916- 19 September 1996) was a Nigerian businesswoman from Abeokuta, Ogun state. Born into Egba royal family, her grandfather was Oba Karunwi, Osile of Oke-Ona, Abeokuta. She attended the Idi Aba Training college on Abeokuta, and she established herself in the business world dealing with foodstuffs and foams. This made her acquire various real estates in all around the country.
She was murdered in 1996 at age 80 amid controversy over the Obaship of Egbaland. To date, her murder has not been solved and the killers remain unknown.
5. Mohammed Shuwa (September 1, 1939 – November 2, 2012) Shuwa was an army major general was a Nigerian Army Major General and the first General Officer Commanding of the Nigerian Army's 1st Division. In 1966, Lt. Col Shuwa was Commander of the 5th Battalion in Kano during the Nigerian Army Counter coup of 1966 where many Igbo military officers were systematically murdered by their northern counterparts for what the northern officers perceived as retribution for the January 15, 1966 coup (which was led by mostly Igbo officers). Shuwa's deputy at the 5th Battalion, then Major James Oluleye took the initiative by asking his company commanders to lock up the battalion armory and hand over the armory keys in Olulye's armory safe. As a result of Shuwa and Oluleye's leadership, the lives of many Igbo officers during the July mutiny were saved. Pretty heroic right? He was unfortunately killed by perceived Boko Haram insurgents in his home in Maiduguri Borno state on November 2, 2012. No one knows for sure how he was killed.
6. John Otunba Payne: (1839-1906) Payne was born in 1839, his father was from a royal house in Ijebu Ode. He was a Nigerian sheriff; and administrator who was a prominent personality in Lagos during the nineteenth century. He was a Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Lagos and he also served as a registrar in various colonial departments such as the Police Court, the Chief Magistrate's Court, the Court of Civil and Criminal Justice and the Petty Debt court. Otunba Payne was murdered in his residence in Lagos by an unknown assailant in 1906. His murder was never solved till date.
7. Odunayo Olagbaju: was a Nigerian politician who was an Osun State legislator. In December 2001, Odunayo Olagbaju was bludgeoned to death in broad day light in his Ile-ife home town, sparking riots in which at least five people were reported killed. His death may have been related to a bitter quarrel between governor Bisi Akande of Osun State and deputy governor Iyiola Omisore. Odunayo Olagbaju was a staunch supporter of Iyiola Omisore. The murder was followed a few days later by the killing of Bisi Akande's supporter, Bola Ige, the Justice Minister of Nigeria. After an emergency cabinet meeting, the Nigerian government deployed troops to prevent further violence.
8. Major Isaac Adaka Boro: (September 10, 1938 – May 9, 1968), fondly called "Boro", was a Nigerian nationalist, Ijaw, and soldier. He was one of the early pioneers of minority rights activism in Nigeria. An undergraduate student of chemistry and student union president(SUG President) at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he left school to lead an armed protest against the exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Niger Delta areas which benefited mainly the federal government and Eastern region with capital in Enugu and nothing was given to his own people in the Niger Delta. He believed that the people of the area deserved a larger share of proceeds of the oil wealth, since the crude oil came from their land. He formed the Niger Delta Volunteer Force, an armed militia with members consisting mainly of his fellow Ijaw ethnic group. They declared the Niger Delta Republic on February 23, 1966 and fought with federal forces for twelve days before being defeated. Boro and his comrades were jailed for treason. However, the federal regime of General Yakubu Gowon granted him amnesty on the eve of the Nigerian civil war in May 1967. However he was killed in Rivers state on the 9th of May 1968 under mysterious circumstances as no one knows for sure how he was killed. He was just 29.
9. Alfred Rewane: Rewane's full name at birth was Ogbeyiwa Erewarone, he was born in Warri to the family of Jemide Erewarone. His father was a trader who was based in Agbor. He was a politician whose residence served as the venue for the formation of th NADECO political party. He was known as a major financier of the group which was vocal in its opposition to the military regime of Sani Abacha. He was murdered on October 6 1995 in his Ikeja residence.
10. Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi: (3 March 1924 – 29 July 1966) was a senior Nigerian military officer and the first Nigerian Military Head of State. He seized power in the ensuing chaos following the 15 January 1966 military coup, serving as the Nigerian Head of State from 16 January 1966 until his assassination on 29 July 1966 by a group of mutinous Northern army soldiers who revolted against his government in what was popularly called the July Counter Coup. The circumstances leading to Aguiyi-Ironsi death still remain a subject of much controversy in Nigeria. Some folks in Nigeria have it that he was killed by being tied to a car and dragged and thus, his body was later discovered in a nearby forest. No one knows for sure who killed him.
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