COCORIOKO Newspaper

COCORIOKO is a Somerset, New Jersey, United States based newspaper. It is published from different parts of the world including Sierra Leone. The websites's owner and editor in chief is Rev. Leeroy Wilfred Kabs-Kanu. It is published as an online website that covers political concerns, action news, commentary, editorial, sports and obituary of Sierra Leone, and the African diaspora. The Assistant Executive Officer is Foday Mansaray, Assistant CEOs are Mr. Pavi Jalloh and Bankole Gibson, and Assistant Editor is Jacob Sax-Conteh.
COCORIOKO Newspaper (1973 - 1976)
University of Sierra Leone alumni students including HE Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma had confirmed that COCORIOKO Newspaper was first published in 1973 when the editor in chief Rev. Leeroy Wilfred Kabs-Kanu was a student at the University. Some Sierra Leonean newspaper publishers had also said that the first COCORIOKO newspaper started with a revolutionary student's union government led by the late Boubacar Njai-Bahled, an influential student on campus. Others have affirmed that Rev. Leeroy Kabs Kanu was the Minister of Propaganda in that student's government. To them, COCORIOKO Newspaper was the voice of that student's union when they were concerned with what they described as a "battle of wits and supremacy with the college administration and political powers in the country."
Students from the 1973 to 1977 alumni had stated that COCORIOKO's Editor-In-Chief was Ben Ikeakor, a Nigerian student. They have said that the newspaper's editorial board members were Florence Iscandri, Millicent Macauley, Mohamed Lamin, Anthony Brewah, Princetta Godwin, Joan Mundoma, and Jaiah Kallon, who were student activists. The paper was said to cover the entertainment news on campus as well as the student's goals and aspirations. They claim that the student government aimed to effect change in the welfare of students on the campus.
Many believe that this student government "set the stage for the student revolution in 1977 headed by Hindolo Trye and that the massive students' action against the lethargic political powers forced the government to make wholesale reforms in governance which led to a snap General Elections that brought intellectuals into the national government for the first time. In an "About COCORIOKO" article Rev. Leeroy Wilfred Kabs Kanu stated that the paper folded up in 1976 when the main publishers graduated from college. They attest that the newspaper was very influential on the college campus, attracting the attention of senior government officials and the media of Sierra Leone. However, upon graduating, they discontinued the paper.
COCORIOKO Newspaper from the Year 2002 - 2007
Years later, Rev. Leeroy Wilfred Kabs Kanu was featured editor of "The West African Journal"" between 1995 and 1998 and "Expo Times" between 2000 and 2003. He revived his newspaper from college, COCORIOKO in 2002. According to AllAfrica.com, Kabs Kanu resumed publishing his newspaper at "Leonenet - UMBC", which was the first Sierra Leone discussion forum set up at the advent of the internet, by Claude Meama- Kajue. At the time the newspaper was called "Daily News Inquirer." The Reverend later changed the paper's name to "COCORIOKO," the name of his first newspaper the he published as a student at the University of Sierra Leone. In 2015 he stated that the “present mission of the newspaper is the rebranding of Sierra Leone.”
COCORIOKO Newspaper 2007 - 2018
Some Sierra Leoneans believe that the diligent reporting on Cocorioko newspaper greatly contributed to the regime change that took place during Sierra Leone’s 2007 General Elections. Others gather that an overwhelming number of the Sierra Leone people voted for Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma and his All People’s Congress Party (A. P. C.) during the democratic Presidential and Legislative Elections since the citizens believed Cocorioko newspaper's widely broadcast reports that the Sierra Leone People’s Party (S. L. P. P.) government of the late President HE Dr. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah was inefficient and corrupt.

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