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It has been more than one year since I last wrote anything on this blog, it has been a long year of hustle, troubles and the unending quest for survival in the contraption called Nigeria.
My absence from writing and what I considered my daily routine will only prove how much lasting impact could be made through a slight disruption in one's life.
I was arrested on January 23rd 2020, and what followed was a long tumultuous journey of legal battles, with various court appearances.
On the day of my arrest, the things that were first taken from my hostel were the things the government considered to be a more dangerous weapon than the AK-47s or the RPGs that bandits or Boko Haram insurgents wield - my smart phone and laptop.
At that time, I found it more comfortable to type using an external keyboard with my laptop, the DSS agents who ransacked my room took the keyboard along.
In part of their words, ''Na part of wetin him dey use be this.'' My laptop and phone was taken and even when I came back from prison remand, the items were still held for close to ten months. By the time they were returned, they were all damaged and unusable.
Not to bore you with the many hurdles of recovery that I went through, we should focus on the bright side and that is I am back.
While I was away, I wrote the entrance exam of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, I passed and was given admission to complete my graduate degree in journalism.
Let me at this point express my profound gratitude to those who made this possible and who in one way or the other continue to contribute to my personal and academic progress.
Mrs Rayo Adebayo, Dr Idris Ajia, Dr Chido Onumah, Mr Dele Farotimi, Inibehe Effiong ESQ, Engineer Israel Eteak, Omoyele Sowore, Kayode Babalola, Adeyeye Olorunfemi, Olawale Adebayo Mandate, and every other person that time and space will not permit their mention.
Just yesterday, I read about the sanction place on Channels TV for conducting an interview with a member of the Indigenous People of Biafra, this is one of the many other attacks that free speech and press freedom has come under since the beginning of this regime.
Time and time again, it continues to reflect that the greatest fear of this incompetent government is the ability of the media to empower the citizens with information.
I am already tired with this few lines that I have written, it's been more than a year. The summary of what I am saying is that, press freedom and free speech is not just a right in Nigeria, it is a tool to inform the oppressed and to set them of the path of liberation.
This fact has been severally proven by the attempts of the government to shut down free speech and press freedom. Some of us have been jailed, tortured and punished for realizing how much power we have in our speech even in our infancy and incoherence.
The government will not stop coming after us but let us write, and even now that we can, let us write again.
This thread can be read here: https://babalolaayoola.wordpress.com/2021/04/27/let-us-write-again/
