by Anayo Dioha
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“Why are Nigerians protesting? Young people were roused by events in Kenya.” —The Guardian, August 3, 2024 |
You and your peeps pillage the purse of the people;
State proceeds hang beyond the reach of the people.
Passing frivolous bills, paying frivolous bills;
A despot’s impunity in full glare of the people.
Yesterday, presidential yacht. Today, presidential jet.
What frivolity awaits tomorrow? ponder the people.
A new SUV to distinguish a senator. A new
Minimum wage? Uncalled for; can’t pay the people!
In this theatre of independence, the noose of nostalgia
Dares favour the colonist’s over the anthem of the people!
And now the streets rage with chants of hunger,
Tell, who can quell the anger of the people.
Certainly not those traditional stools that have stood
As stooges. Not those episcopal enemies of the people.
Why buy the institutions and become a monopolist
When you could buy hearts and be a man of the people?
On where lays your heart, Lord? Where else
Do your feet stand but on the ground of the people?
Anayo Dioha is a Nigerian and has been previously published in the The New Verse News among other online and print literary journals.