Here is a masterpiece written by the very articulate poetess. So embellished with rib-cracking puns, rhymes and rhetorics.... This poem is so good that it can so dance well on stage and as well bust brains on page.
What Is Left Of What Is Right?
Where is Nigeria’s
true reflection?
I ask a million
Naira question
What is left in the
jar of what is right?
Why is the right now
considered left?
Now, this is no
NEWS, so I laugh in present tense
The future before us
is sugar-coated in wailing pretence
Begging to be free
from this societal wackiness
Everyone has a part to
play in this blindness.
Our states are
littered with guber-criminals
The show of absurdity
follows in their scaffolds
You were catapulted
into the highest office to rid off corrupt-cancer
But, you traumatized
us with your reckless plunder
Your offices are
exalted
Misfits, miscreants
elected
Causing havoc with
stark dishonesty
Your die-hard
pessimism is an OX-ye-MORON apparently.
Then, i breathe above
the head of a tired democracy
When potbellies and
agbadas prefer kleptocracy
You flag off
Partocracy; where the part is larger than the whole
Your finger points the
vault into a deep pocket hole
Your consciences need
scrutinizing
You are constantly a
bowler, your hands need sanitizing.
Our educational system
shook hands with the leprous
Our teachers glorified
illiterates, very erroneous
How then can our
children survive this strait-jacket?
They are no violent
patients to be stuffed into a confined casket
The VCs clink their
glasses behind closed doors
They have joined in
the act of (P)eople (D)eceiving (P)eople it harbors.
What is left of what is right
At forty one years old
The NYSC is still not
bold
That mind-boggling
scheme wears a mask
Rending hearts for the
sake of servitude task
Our graduates, now
glorified slaves, figures of disguised unemployment
Our freshly graduated
aunties and uncles make the list longer
They steal with their
exempted age, enjoying every bit the drama
The government may no
longer pay allowance for THIS(dis)agreement.
ASUU Strike, DOCTORS
strike, NASU strike
The entire sector want
their fair share of the hike
This is the way of
life for selfish conflict
Give us this, sign on
that agreement
Can NEPA-PHCN join in
this strike action?
Don’t they always go
on per second ration?
No one cares again if
they hold power till rapture takes place
Once again, I laugh in past-present-continuous tense.
Nigerians, stop this
theatre of the absurd
For the good of
generations yet
Where is the limit of
our good luck nation?
Should we pretend
while the center caves in?
The villa rocks are
murmuring
Our sins constantly
screaming
The flames of
normalcy, depleting
We need to bite the
lips that’s lying
Let our candle of hope
burn in our minds
Let our pens and
voices prove mightier than bombs
For us to do what is
right.
(2014)
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'Agbada' is an African dress, usually beautified with embroidery work, worn on 'buba' (men's blouse)(2014)
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NASU - is an acronym for Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities
ASUU - Academic Staff Union of Universities
NEPA - National Electric Power Authority (now, PHCN)
PHCN - Power Holding Company of Nigeria
NYSC - National Youth Service Corps
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