Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has challenged President Bola Tinubu to reopen investigations into the unsolved assassinations of former Attorney-General Bola Ige (2001) and journalist Dele Giwa (1986). Speaking at Lagos' Freedom Park, Soyinka revealed there are "unpublicized clues" and accused successive governments, including Buhari's, of betraying promises to solve these iconic cases.
• Ige was shot dead in his Ibadan home; Giwa was killed by a parcel bomb in Lagos
• Soyinka claims evidence was "deliberately polluted" in both cases
• Buhari administration failed to act despite 2015 pledge to probe "unusual deaths"
Why do these cold cases still matter? Beyond personal tragedies, they represent Nigeria's culture of impunity for elite violence. Ige's murder as AG and Giwa's bombing as an investigative journalist bookend Nigeria's darkest democratic contradictions. For Soyinka, reopening them isn't about revenge - it's a stress test for Tinubu's reform claims. Can a president who himself survived the Abacha era break this cycle?
