Femi Falana says the killing of Nigerian citizens by the government predates the emergence of the anti-western education terrorist group Boko Haram. 

“Dele Giwa’s brutal assassination marked the beginning of bombing in Nigeria by the government.

“Before the Boko Haram sect took to bombing, the military junta, headed by General Ibrahim Babangida decided to launch attacks on Nigerians,” Mr Falana said on Tuesday.

Mr Falana was speaking at an event to commemorate thirty-five years after the death of Dele Giwa and the one year anniversary of the #EndSARS movement.

The rights lawyer narrated a conversation between himself and the late Gani Fawehinmi, about the Babangida-led military junta’s love for killing Nigerian journalists.

Mr Falana said he and the late Gani discussed how the Babangida regime murdered journalists as a way to pass a strong threat of violent deaths to every Nigerian.

“I asked Chief Fawehinmi who took up the battle to find the killers of Dele Giwa, why did his murderers not attack him anytime he was coming from any of his night parties?

“Chief Fawehinmi told me, “Femi, these criminals wanted to make a point. They wanted to scare people that even if there were going to kill people, they were going to engage in certainly most brutal nature of murder,” Mr Falana disclosed. 

He said the murderous legacy of Mr Babangida was carried on by what he described as another ‘satanic’ military junta led by Sanni Abacha, whose regime was alleged to have bombed another Kaduna-based journalist during his time in office. 

Messrs Babangida and Abacha are former military dictators whose regimes were widely accused of severe human rights violations, especially for clamping down on citizens and dissenting voices as well as several state-sponsored killings and assassinations.

Mr Babangida is also famous for annulling the June 12 1993 general elections, widely considered by Nigerians as the freest and fairest election since independence.