POEM: Really, Nigeria Is Independent?

POEM: Really, Nigeria Is Independent?
By Emeka Chiakwelu

Arbitrary winking as set free in 1960
Given a flag to hoist without metaphor
Given a national anthem to sing without clarity
Given a pledge of allegiance to recite without thought
Given a foreign language to speak, dream, cogitate
Hinged in freedom symbols devoid of significance
While fisted chains of bondage speaks volume, rattling
For the eye to see, ears to hear

Where is your identity?
Paraphernalia, accessories of country does not make a nation
Nation is organic with soul and blood
But are you capable of nuanced thoughts?
Too complicated for a simpleton to comprehend

What do you know about Independent?
What do you know about freedom?
Shallow in thought, dim in vision
For you do not know how to be free
You accepted the name they gave you
For they called you Nigeria
Have you ever ask yourself
What does Nigeria means and where did it come from?
Like an obedient servant you nodded

But who are you?
A sunset in the west
Or a rising star in the east
Morning dew in dry season
Or a shivering rain in wet season
Like a light you arose from a forest
But like a meandering wind you disappeared in the moistly sun

The given flag raps Green White Green
They said green is for agriculture
Yet not enough food to feed teeming population
Where abundance of fertile land begs for crops
Yet hunger reigns in the land
They said white stands for peace
Yet mesmerized by endless war
Where is the peace? Yes peace Vaporizing
They gave you arms to kill your brothers and sisters
Starving children to death with acrimony
Rejoicing on starvation policy as weapon of war
There is war in North
There is war in the south
There is no peace in the land
When will white become peaceful?

You are an African
You are the blackest of Black
Where is Black in your flag?
Where is Africa in your Flag?

You were enslaved
You were colonized
Where is your history on the flag?
Where is slavery in the flag?
Where is colonialism in the flag?

Where is your history?
It is not in your textbooks?
It is not in your constitution?
You have no history? You tell us
You do not teach your children history
Yes, your history?
Then who are you?
Then where did you come from?
Then where are you going?

You have a great history
You came from the historical Nok culture
You came from great Igbo- ukwu
You came from great Oyo
You came from great Benin kingdom

Speaking cold foreign tongue in the heart of tropics
What happen to your mouthful spicy languages?
They said your native language is primitive, outdated
That is not universal and intelligent
Like a drowsy elephant you accepted

Look at how you name your children
With a foreign name you labeled them
When you were sick? Where did you go? To a foreign land
Where did you children go to school? In a foreign land
Where did you go on vacation? Of course in a foreign land
Even your money currency is not good enough?
Currency printed in foreign land, rejected in the native land

They lie to you
But you chose to believe the lie
For you bury your head in sand
No! you are not free
No! you are not independent
The scalding bundle of wind
Sweltering heat of deception
Exposed in the nakedness of daylight
Dawn has manifested, darkness not ceased
Tell truth without mince
Bitter veracity, yet it impels reality
Yes, you are shackled, still a colony?

Copyrighted EChiakwelu

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