Madam President is back on her own terms

 

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 the world can fairly act as umpire. This is what has played out with the way Twitter suspended my account. I was targeted for reporting by those who see me as a threat to their views. Many of those who reported my account did so after I stood against some tweet that was against @abikedabiri. In particular my tweet against the views of Madam Oby Ezekwesili angered her minions. Also, I tweeted against her repeating the long-decimated tissue of lies that anyone was killed in the so-called Lekki Toll Gate ‘non’ massacre. The axing by Twitter was obviously wrong and it was taking sides with an opposing camp and not a protection of against any kind of harassment. But Yorubas will understand this song of mischief (Ọ̀tẹ̀), that if NEPA take light, candle is still available, abi? 

Nations should regulate the activities of the SM and allow the injured to seek redress from the courts or the justice system of the country that the tweets concern as they are the ones who can rightly understand context and nuance. In any event, I chose to use my inalienable right to responsible free speech responsibly, but the ones who are lords and masters of Twitter Africa, those who are of Nigerian extraction who used to sit over the affairs of Twitter Nigeria had it in for me for ages and they wielded their vicious and mischievous stick and cut me off the platform. But Karma is real. Guess what? Elon Musk ‘happened’ to them (lol) and I understand that many of those overlords are also out of Twitter, having been axed by ‘crasie’ Melon without the ‘M’. 

Now, if you ask me how I feel about the Twitter axing, my answer will probably surprise you. I feel a sense of relief. It is like being released from jail. You see, SM is addictive. I have always been afraid of the power of SM over me and for that reason, I had made sure to take compulsory breaks every quarter. But even during those breaks, I found that I still checked in all the time but would refrain from commenting as a form of self-restraint and discipline. Being active daily on Twitter has meant that a lot other important and elevating activities were not getting done. I had reflected many times on whether or not to completely leave the Twitter Street, but one always arrogates to oneself, some importance that makes one think that one is actually a titan of some sort on Twitter and that one is making impact. Descending from that profusion of self-adulation and being deprived of that euphoric grandiosity sobers one up quickly. Luckily for me, there has always been and will always be life outside Twitter or SM. This is because as much as I like the great numbers of followers on SM, I also have a great number of real friends and acquaintances and these ones will always form my real audience. 

Another craziness about SM is that every Tom Dick and Silly find a voice on SM and use it. The ‘Obidients’ are a class on their own, a group of people united in tomfoolery, whose only objective in fielding a candidate to run as President of Nigeria is not because of his competence or veracity (the jury is out on the first and the Jury’s verdict is in on the second and it is not favourable to the man they would foist on us), but because they are angry at the establishment. Such a rudderless group of people pursuing a rudderless agenda. The SM has been filled with so much bile and hate from this group of ‘rebels’ that one fears for Nigeria should the unfortunate happen. Like we say in Yoruba, Àgbẹdọ̀, Ọlọ́run majẹ. 

I have made up my mind not to return to Twitter unless Twitter reinstates my account. To me, integrity is the main thing in all this. I have a name and it is @iyaboawokoya (Madam President). When I tweet on my handle it is me speaking. I will not adopt another name and play the game of subterfuge by tweeting incognito. Nothing is worth losing integrity for. There are many other ways to communicate with Nigerians and the SM space has wide skies that can accommodate as many birds as possible that wish to fly in them. 

In the past couple of months since staying off Twitter, I have been able to complete a book that had been in the pipeline for over a decade. That is one tangible benefit of the Twitter ban. I have also returned to equilibrium and equanimity of spirit. I was able to detoxify from the bile and the venom of fighting with people in the main, that I would never have related with in real life. It has been a truly cleansing experience. I have been able to reflect on the personality changes that Twitter was bringing to me. I was in England for 6 weeks and it was such a pleasant time spent in my daughter's company. I cooked loads of food for her and for Tolulope, my ward. I visited Tolulope at the Said Business School, Oxford University and took a picture for record purpose. Even if I did not study in Oxford, at least I visited the Business Schoo. I went on long walks daily interspersed with gym workouts. I even tried my hands on learning how to take good selfies. The young ones would find this amusing, but we oldies are discovering so many simple pleasures of life from the activities that you all count par for the course.

So how will friends, frenemies and unabashed haters hear or read from me. I chose to communicate from my blog, this one that you are on: https://iyaboawokoya.blogspot.com/ You can access the blog from my website also: https://iyaboawokoya.com . My friends will also help to publicise my writings on Twitter. To bring anything to my attention quickly please reach out to my Personal Assistant (PA) on Twitter under the handle @gentle_lawyer or to @Tunde_Sosina who is my colleague at work. I have also registered a handle on Facebook but have not yet had the courage to explore that street. Let me say that there are business handles that are still on Twitter that I have interests in. Like I said, I will not be tweeting from any handle other than my personal handle which is axed as at present. 

Let me also alert you on events and actions you will soon experience from my activities. I am a columnist, writing on Law, Policy, and Governance on a new online media https://verityreporters.com/ which will debut shortly. I will also be hosting a YouTube channel (AllAboutNigeria) which will continue my advocacy for Nigeria. I will conduct interviews on issues that concern the progress of our nation. 

In the next few days, Madam President will address issues concerning the political scenes, manoeuvrings, missteps from the various parties, Soludo’s bombshell, the Atiku non-starting agenda, the ruckus that never will be of the ‘obidiency’ movement and the silly ninnies that make up the motley crowd of noisemakers. It promises to be fun reading, so stay tuned to this blog. Check in here every two days and make comments. If you do nothing else, do check in every Monday and the weekend always brings my best inspiration. 

Permit me to lay some ground rules of engagement on my blog though: The blog is mine and I will moderate comments. Comments that disagree with my views are welcome and will be published so long as they are not laced with insults. Any insulting comment will NOT be published. This is not an all-comers affair. It is not Twitter.

Stay well friends. 

God Bless you.