"In the Country, we Dwell"
In the country, Nigerbenue River
We dwell inhabitation
Surrounded in oceans, mountains, hills, and lands
Rich in crude, agro-wealth, and man capacities
Gifted in nature, mineral and human resources
Adored in gold, clothed in precious stones
Like Havilah, the land of Eden
Watered all corners, like the Euphrates
fertile like Paradise, the Garden of Eden
Born separately until colonization
Amalgamated in Nigerbenue river
Proceeds in name by her mouth
Flora Shaw of Frederick Lugard
Multitude in tribe, language, religion, culture, and tradition
But one in name, politics, and government
In peace in time past
United in history, but civil war
Once in one mind
And in the fight of independent
Freedom for all
But she arrived, politics
And we missed it all
In her politicking, we failed
Failed and failed woefully
Who we are, forgotten
The true reason for together missed
Defeated, totally defeated the goal of existence
No way forward it seems
Wrong ideology, mindset, judgment, and sentiment, the epidemic of the heads of all arms
Political flaw embraced the heads
Committed to religion in ungodliness
Professed love in vehement hate
Togetherness in disunity
Care in acute rejection
Security in desolation
Afraid in heart
Panic in the soul
Her seeds are left
In the uncertainty of what the future entails or holds
Once an icon of hope
Believed to one day become the glory of Africa
It seems defeated, the dream by the heads
Now glory in undevelopment
Grows in jobless-unemployment
Wrecked in poverty
Glows in mismanagement, fraud, and embezzlement
Homeless home of the poor, unlearned and less privileges
The Jungle and den of reckless lions she becomes
Survival of the fittest
The richer the rich
The poorer the poor it gets daily
In the country, we dwell
No political saints
All have skeletons in their cupboard
Though some are more human than the others
But far from saints
True patriot to Mandela his people
What is the way forward?
Is there a way forward?
Cos hopeless it becomes daily
Locust in herdsmenia
Brutalized in Bokoharamenia
Invested with religeo-political killing
Pulviosity of blood
Drainage of lives into the dam of Sheol
Things fall apart
The anchor holds only on inimical politicking
That seems to be the last man standing
Every other, good and positive, on the ground
Towards Sheol
Last hope, God
So help us, God!
“THROUGH THE VEIL OF POLITICS”
I heard about you
Your story was so appealing, sweet and also plausible
In theory, you smell like Christ-feet-anointed ointment
Dazzle like sun behold via mirror
From afar you look innocent, innocuous
Like a sleeping gentle dove
Like a pulchritude rose🌹
Moving gently in the incessant move of a gentle breeze
I was wedded with the curiosity to know more of you
I heard of you from afar
I saw you from afar
I resolved to take closer gaze of you
Coming to you with the eyes of a smiling face
But your shock on me
I look more with a sad face and tearful mind
Like research, you became a phenomenon
Curiously and critically searching for hypothesis for theory
I frown more at my findings
You breed founders, formulators, designers, and distributors of falsehood
You are hyperbole and exaggerator of your being
I will make the earth like heaven
You say when our power you are looking for
I will make a stable light in the thickest darkness
I will make the airplane to use air
Motor to use water
I will make a bridge on a partway
And a partway on the sea
You over-promised when our support you anxiously needed
I will be a servant at your service
I will echelon the hill between the rich and the poor
No man shall I raise above the law
Poverty I shall annihilate
I will give maximum education
In my time shall no mortal sick
In my power shall I shelter all men
In my bane shall you harvest
In my garden shall you eat fruit
In my table shall all men feed
In my garment, I shall dress all men
In fact, the kingdom of the earth shall be better than the kingdom of heaven
You boldly, mockery-ly promised
When our authority you curiously needed
But at your grab at all, you needed from us
Another tone you play and dance
I heard of you not from afar
I threw a sight photographically at you
On a close gage
Another microscopic sight magnified your real image
A lethal lion in a sheep garment
An inimical python in the image of a wall-gecko
A green snick in a green grass
A dark demon in the white apparel of an Angel
With much strength
Much boldness and a fearless mind
I look through the deceptive veil of Politics
I behold image havoc-like being
You are too generous
That you can take from the pauper
You are too faithful and committed
Especially with matters unconnected
With benevolence, equality, peace, and tranquility
With matters unconnected with quality knowledge
Durable infrastructure, helping the paupers and less privileges
In your too much generosity
You make richer the rich, and poorer the poor
To your selfish claimed selfless gain
You empower and strengthen the underworld beings
Out of the plenty of the masses-more of the weak and the poor
You feed them a little
In your development commitment
You re-beautify the built-good roads
And lay waste the bad ones
Introducing yourself as the Angel of light, salvation, peace, hope, and solution publicly
You become Angel of darkness, bondage, conflict, despondence, segregation, nepotism and fraud, in the clandestine place
Oh! Politics
Looking at you severely
Other names; should I say real names I discovered
Poli-tale, poli-lies, and politricks
What a pitiable pessimism and a regrettable lugubrious?
That of all these you care not to know
Of all the sadness about you
In this, I console my soul
You shall not be forever
Though you die a tenure to rise another tenure
But time is near when the Master of the universe shall descend for account
There I take console
You shall die forever to rise no more
"The Voice of Nigeria"
I am the voice that cries in Africa
The voice that spoke for her freedom
The voice that advocated against her inhumanity
And now, I call for her peace and unity
I am the voice that cries out of the valleys
The voice that calls from the mountains
And now, I call on my child Nigeria
And his children Nigerians
Who is my firstborn
The apparent heir to the throne of Africa
From the continent of Africa
I conceived you
In the west of Africa
I bore you
Unique and great among your brethren I made you
With many talents and gifted hands, I endowed you
With numerous descendants and multicultural-language, I ornamented you
And with numerous gifted hands and gift of nature, I beautified you
The jealousy of them on the mountains
I made you be
The envy of them in the valleys
I bore you to be
The earnest desire and dream of them around
I fashioned you to be
Oh! My beloved son-Nigeria
What went wrong?
Do not use your armor of defense
As armor of offensive attack on one another in brutality
Seek not division that leads to destruction
Rather, work/walk towards unity that leads to strength
Do not destroy what your fathers
Suffered and struggled to build
Freedom, peace, and unity
Rather, stand on that strong foundation
And build a nation
Worthy of emulation
A reliable icon for the envy of other nations.
I am the voice that cries out of the valleys
The voice that calls from the mountains
And now, I urge you my son- Nigeria
And his children- Nigerians
Hearken to my voice of goodness
That brings togetherness
Where the rivers of gladness flows
Take not the path of division
That leads to destruction
The easy way to fall apart
In collapsing of protection walls
For the intrusion of the enemies within and without
The desire of the wicked
The laughter of the evil minds
The happiness of the ferocious souls
Oh! Nigeria
Do not forget
It was on your soil that it occurred
The misunderstanding of the need for peace and unity
The tremendous havoc
The fall of the mighty
The merciless crush of the weak
The helpless whaling of children
The pain and regret of the loss of lives, properties, talents and gifted hands
Of which full recovery is denied till date
Why trade again upon that dangerous-destructive path
Even if conscienceless as Nero
Remember your children
Even if mighty like Sampson
Remember the weak
Even if rich as Solomon the King
Remember the useful poor
Regrets abide by incautious action-mistake
Whatever that is violently lost cannot be regained
There is no unity in division
No progress without unity
No success in conflict
No achievement in war
War is the absence of peace, unity, tranquility, and justice
Calm down, reason and think
Solution lies in sincere peace, tolerance, and understanding
The leaders, hear the cry of the lead
Hearken to the voice of the agitators
They are also yours to love and care for
In every nonsense, there may be a sense
The lead, understand and cooperate with the leaders
Over you, they are placed for the moment
To guide, correct and supervise affairs
Worthy that you must note
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown
You can do no better than they are
The agitators seek not the nation's flesh
For selfish gain, dream, and desire
Consider others
We are one
No one is less important
No one is most important
We need one another
We are one
My son - Nigeria
To regain your beauty and glory
Justice must take it full cause
When there are sincere repentance and a positive change of attitude
Justice must be tempered with mercy
Make good use of the talents and gifted hands
Putting aside religious, cultural and language vaudeville
For we are one
Live together
Work together
In this are your strength and salvation
Power and might
For them on the mountains
Are jealous of you
They in the valleys
Are envious of you
Them around who surround
Desire to be like you
All waiting anxiously for your division, disintegration, and fall
To take over and glory on
I am the voice of freedom
The voice of peace
The voice of tranquility
The voice of unity
The voice of growth, general and equal development
The voice of justice
The voice of love
I am the voice of the Maker
The voice of Nigeria
God bless Nigeria.
All Rights Reserved
Nwoko Solomon Ikechukwu (the Poet)
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