A POEM FOR NIGERIA AT 59_John Otogbo

A SUCKLING AT 59

Once upon a rancorous country
An amalgam of strange bedfellows
A fusion of countless distinct nations
A state perpetually in lethargy
A sleeping and slumbering giant
Conscripted to serve the imperialists
Who foist their lackeys on the people
And rule by proxy from far away lands
With the sole aim of bleeding the country
And disembowelling her of her endowments
Not without the cooperation of the elites
Who bow perpetually in reverence to aliens

Ours is a state without statesmen
Where crooked persons hold sway
And stealing elevated to an art
Where ethnic jingoists are deified
And demagogues are gods personified
Where abnormality is the norm
The less educated, the better
And unwilling rulers railroaded to power
At the behest of common criminals
And insignificant good deeds is surprising
And almost always accompanied by cameras
Recorded and displayed to earn applause

A country perpetually in reverse gear
Growing retrogressively
Where the yesteryears are better than today
Bleeding profusely from self inflicted injuries
And dying of excruciating pangs of pains
Playing the ostrich while agonising
But prides herself as the giant of nonsense
The electorates are fractured and helpless
And justice hawked on the streets
By a cowed and helpless judiciary
Court orders flagrantly disobeyed
With zero consequences to defaulters

A country that prides herself as a democracy
But practices kakistocracy
Where the only thriving industry is politics
And the voters are at the mercy of the rulers
Thieves applauded in proportion to their loot
Flaunting of filthy lucre a past time
And decayed infrastructure a national pride
The legislator an appendage of the executive
Perpetually weighed down by excessive pay
And a cowed judiciary kowtows in reverence
To have a share of the crumbs from the pie
While betraying a CJN to satisfy the executive

A country that worships wealth
Not minding the source
After all the end justifies the means
Kidnapping has been elevated to occupation
Ritual killings a new religion
Banditry on equal standings with government
Armed herdsmen superior to the military
Paedophilia a new form of sensuous pleasure
The roads now death traps and impassable
And constant electricity a taboo
Infrastructures in parlous state
While sheepishly yearning for attention

Religious banditry has taken over the land
Some men of god turned god of men
Who depend on sorcerers for magic powers
Brazenly daring and mocking the gods
Intimidating the indigents with scriptures
While persistently smiling to the banks
Owning private jets and choicest properties
After all, their god is not a poor god
Yet stands the scriptures on its head
And never forget tithing during sermons
As they grow their private enterprise
By exploiting members in God’s name

Country that sees her population as a burden
And have no qualms about her decimation
Boko, Bandits, herders are having a swell time
Not without the indifference of the rulers
Who see it as less competition for their wards
And more available resources for stealing
While they cocoon themselves in fortresses
Built from the common wealth personalised
Jobs are now for the affluent and their wards
Meritocracy sacrificed on alter of mediocrity
Preserving lucrative MDAs jobs for their wards
While referring the indigents to the farm

Her citizens are described in derogatory terms
Meriting the degrading pseudonym of
Common, poor and ordinary Nigerians
The man and common man on the street
The masses and the poor masses
Average and average Nigerian on the street
The poor and poor man on the street
Roaming and roaming masses on the street
The idle and idle masses on the street
Commoners and commoners on the street
The lazy Nigerian youths
The beggarly Nigerian youths

Her education is now bastardised
And certificates hawked to highest bidder
Where certificates are valued over knowledge
And harvest of certificates not uncommon
Certificates flaunted for societal recognition
Translating to Intelligence without wisdom
Certificates that adorn offices as ornaments
Teachers are poorly remunerated
After all, their rewards await them in heaven
And the teachers vent their anger on students
In direct proportion to government oppression
Fleecing the students of scarce resources

Minimum wage cannot feed rich man’s dog
Earnings that cannot purchase neccesities
A take home that cannot take one to bus stop
A wage that cannot rent a descent abode
A salary that cannot fund basic education
A stipend that is consumed before it’s arrival
Servicing loans & debts at forbidden interests
In an import dependent economy
While the rich dip their hands in country vaults
To refill their depleted and hollow pockets
And perpetuate themselves in power
To continue their reverie of hedonism

Favouritism is now the norm
Nepotism a fad
Regionalism is remorseless
Ethnicity is rife and trudges her streets
An ignoble grass cutter a free man
An unelected chief of staff a majordomo
The elected held hostage by a cabal
And a president’s tribe immune to prosecution
Mothers belong to other room and kitchens
Justice is now selective to cow opposition
Who’s ideas are not in tandem with theirs
Aiming to achieve a unitary system

59 years later:
Her hospitals are not good enough for rulers
Her schools too substandard for her rulers
Knows only patriotic act when booty is shared
She abhors and is allergic to accountability
She remains an import dependent economy
She’s relapsing to a primitive society
A country peopled by mostly mediocres
Where intended revolutions are announced
And a president abdicates his responsibilities
On a job that’s already a sinecure
We have a country devoid of cohesion
And a people bedevilled by mutual suspicions

After 59 years of seeming independence
The giant of Africa has remained:
A suckling at 59!
A toddler at 59!
A baby at 59!
An infant at 2 score years and 19!
Stunted at 9 and 50 years!
Remained a dwarf at 59!
A crawler just a year shy of 3 score years
Orphaned at 59!
A child at 59!
A lilliputian at 59!
A state of anomie
A misgoverned country
A debt ridden country
A poverty ridden society
A misguided country
A country of misery
A dumping ground for junks
A country of insatiable appetite for imports
A country of shattered promises
A primary target of xenophobia
Seem to have attained menopause
Unsecured & invite the gods to eliminate boko
Country of a great people with bad leadership
Country of great potential waiting to explode
A country waiting to be jerked out of lethargy
Africa mourns her ignominy
The black race patiently awaits her leadership
The land continues to bleed
Her past heroes sigh from the grave
The gods weep in sympathy
It’s another deferred hope at 59!