Iyabo Arinola Ifeoma Awokoya's Blog

President Muhammadu Buhari first came into my orbit in December 1983 when he became Head of State of Nigeria. I was then just 22 years old, fresh from youth corp and working in the Chambers of Chief Gani Fawehinmi. He was this young handsome officer who walked tall and straight and hardly ever smiled. The same with his Chief of staff Supreme Headquarters, Major General Babatunde Idiagbon. The two of them were the most disciplined rulers Nigeria had and have had since memory serves me. They proceeded to govern with the rule of discipline, instituting WAI and issuing Decrees that were extremely rigid and that seemingly trampled on the natural rights of citizens.  As was expected, the civil society was not having this rule at all so the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was at loggerheads with the Buhari regime and took a decision that no lawyer was to appear before any of the military tribunals that were set up to try corrupt politicians. That decision was controversial because the ethi...

Nigerian politicians are still not getting it! We are past or should be past the days of mere Manifestos and are or should be in the era of ‘Actionable’ manifestos, that is; Manifestos that have correlating Action Plans.  A manifesto is simply a written statement of the beliefs, aims, and policies of an organisation, especially a political party. Taken to a higher level of abstraction, a manifesto remains just a statement of intent and herein lies the quandary. We are past the stage of intentions, we need now political parties to state clearly to us their plans for each lofty or not-lofty intentions they have, otherwise their manifestos are as useless and worth not much more that the cost of the paper it is typed on. I have been stating this from onset that with the development strides of the current organisation in all areas of policies contained in laws and Executive Orders, infrastructure (rail, roads, sea ports and airports) Social Investment programmes that gave rise to a Mini...

The Climate Change Hypocrisy: Why Nigeria MUST not ignore Coal  The UK will build its first Coal mine in 30 years in Whitehaven Cumbria it has been decided. The coal mine is expected to be an investment of £165 million, create 500 direct jobs and will emit a whopping 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases. Can you all smell the hypocrisy of the west and so called developed economies. The Vice President has called the West out on this double standards, same with Babatunde Fashola when he was Minister of Power, Works and Housing. Same with the Presidential Candidate of the APC, BAT in the famous "church rat" analogy. My take is this. Let them do 'them' and we do 'we'. What is sauce for the goose is definitely sauce for the gander. We have coal, let use use it to generate power or even to fire some industrial activity. Iran Executes a Protester by Hanging Iran has hanged a protester by name Mohsen Shakari. The legal justification for the death sentence is that the de...

It is very very frustrating to have to deal with Nigerian youth nowadays. It is tiresome indeed! Sometimes I want to blame the quality of education many received, but from the point of view of a social analyst, that is just too easy an excuse and the evidence does not support this. It is the same quality of education that these youth claim entitles them to take over Nigeria, (Father Lord, have mercy). Same education they use in executing successful and unsuccessful 'japa' escapades. Same education they use in securing admission into higher institutions abroad. So, yes, we could demand that the quality of education at all levels be improved, but that will not bring the change in psyche of majority of our youth.  I believe that many of our youth lack moral training and discipline and without these qualities, education means nothing and integrity means zilch. Our youth lack an appreciation of how society works and that there is a sure hierarchical order of growth. The generality o...

  The New Naira Notes and the silly-ninnies You can trust the usual "sad Sams" to be sad and silly as is usual with them. Only God knows who gets the first prize for silliness among them. Past Senator Fellaini, the comedians class captain and many more say that the newness in the new Naira notes is just a change of colour. Yep! That change in colour is the "change" in the Naira. That change of colour is what we need to effect the entire purpose of the policy of a change in the Naira. What did these sad people expect? Did they think the legal tenders which were backed by law in form of the personalities that were depicted on the notes would suddenly change. Did Senator Fellaini expect that his picture would be on the N1000 note? Please, let Nigerian s elf-acclaimed social critics and commentators get a life or at least get better brains. That change in colour which they laugh at laughs back at them. If dem born dem well, make dem go spend their old Naira notes in F e...

Two bonafide Governors from the south east geopolitical zone (one past, the other current) received more than anyone’s fair share of cyberbullying at the hands of Peter Obi’s (himself a former Governor from same zone) adherents.  Honestly, Peter Obi (PO) should be worried about his ‘obidients’ because there is an apparent perfume of unruliness around him that makes him so attractive to people who are just a horde of bullies. I give it to him that he has been able to galvanise all the rightfully and wrongfully disenchanted Nigerians. This he has done! What has worried me and still does is that these supporters could have mobilised and helped to shape PO into a likely future contender if only they themselves had a sense of collective good judgement, passably sound intellect and a true love of Nigeria and the patriotic zeal for sustainable good governance. Why is it impossible to have a discussion with PO’s hordes on issues? Why must everything be a war of words, volley of insults and...

  I have been off the social media for about two months. Many have reached out in private to find out how I have been keeping. To all my friends, frenemies, and unabashed haters, I thank you all and I reassure you that I have been keeping well.  As you are aware, Twitter suspended my account permanently! I had it coming some would say, but I actually could not care less. I had been warned that the axe would soon fall and was ready for it really. I am a stubborn person. I have been stubborn since birth, and I am not about to change in old age. One of the reasons why I have advocated for SM regulation by countries is what is playing out in the world presently. It does not make sense to leave the duty of moderating free speech to the platform that hosts the speakers. You cannot allow a third party to be the sole decider of what can be said or written. Nations of the world have different cultures, norms and ethos and no platform whether they employ citizens of all the nations of t...