By Leshi Adebayo
About 26 years ago, a journalist working for News/TEMPO/P.M News embarked on his normal duty of covering and reporting of events but unknown to him, he was fated to never return from this work expedition.
In February 1996, this journalist, James Bagauda Kaltho was nowhere to be found and declared missing, All Africa, a news website reported.
According to the news platform, in a report dated August 25, 1998, the senior reporter was presumed to be dead by observers.
All Africa further reported through anonymous sources that by “18 August 1998, the Nigerian Police Force held a press conference in Lagos which was addressed by Alhaji Zakari Biu, the Assistant Commissioner of the Police and head of the Task Force on Terrorist Activities” at the time.
Biu declared that Kaltho was killed in a bomb blast that occurred at the Durbar Hotel in Kaduna on 18 January 1996.
New revelation
However, a new revelation has surfaced in relation to the disappearance and alleged death of Bagauda Kaltho in Twitter thread published on March 12, 2022.
The post which was made by a Twitter account belonging to a documentary website, @HistoryVille revealed that the journalist was was kidnapped and declared missing December 1995 and presumed dead since February 1995.
It read, “James Bagauda Kaltho, a senior correspondent for “The News”/”TEMPO” magazine in Kaduna, was kidnapped and declared missing around December 1995 and has been presumed dead since February 1996.”
Explaining how the reporter died, the post said, “However, on August 18, 1998, the Sani Abacha military junta claimed that Kaltho died in a bomb blast while carrying out an act of terrorism in Kaduna on January 18, 1996.”
How Bagauda Kaltho Centre came to be
The post continued and stated that the Lagos Press Centre, which was built in 1999, was renamed in honour of the slain journalist as a way of immortalizing him.
“To immortalise him, Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State named the Press Centre at the Alausa Secretariat after the late James Bagauda Kaltho.
“As of the time he was declared missing, Kaltho was survived by his wife, Martha, and two children, Anne and Lessie,” it added.
After 18 years, the Bagauda Kaltho Centre was renovated and commissioned by the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on December 15, 2017. The Centre is currently located at Alausa in the Ikeja area of Lagos, and hosts media briefings.
