By Mathias Orhero
\nliterarymathy@gmail.com<\/p>\n
I do not know what to call this. Some may argue that I have written poetry
\nbelow. To me, it is not poetry but an article written in verse form. I
\nused parallelisms and repetitions to emphasise my message. I have tried to
\nmake it as simple as possible so that everyone can access the import of my
\nmessage. This work is written against the background of recent happenings
\nin Nigeria today. On May 29th 2015, the All Progressives Congress
\ncandidates were sworn in at different levels after winning the 2015
\ngeneral elections in landslide victories. APC was able to boot out the
\nincumbent PDP party across all levels due to the perceived dearth of
\nsociety, corruption, insecurity and other endemic issues that plagued the
\nNigerian society. Nigerians were fed up! We knew there were problems but
\nwe did not know what to do about them. We made a choice between the devil
\nand the blue sea and we chose our perceived blue sea.<\/p>\n
President Buhari entered into power on the APC mantra of “CHANGE”! This
\nmantra was accepted by every Nigerian who was fed up with the status quo.
\nWe did not know what to expect and or what we were doing. We only wanted
\nGoodluck Jonathan to GO! This was the perception of the bulk of the
\nmasses. We turned the 2015 election into a tribal feud between the
\nNorth\/West and the South! In any case, APC’s Buhari won the historic
\nelection which has been dubbed Nigeria’s freest and fairest election so
\nfar.<\/p>\n
Post-election reality was anticipated with much hope but to our chagrin,
\nthings were moving quite slow. Most of us were waiting for some sort of
\nmagic to happen. Magic that would instantaneously change Nigeria! We want
\ncorruption to be eliminated, we want corrupt officers to go on trial, we
\nwant good roads, we want electricity, and so much more. The government has
\nbeen slow; too slow but the government cannot perform magic.<\/p>\n
Buhari hit the ground running by fighting the Boko Haram menace that has
\ntaken a lot of lives and properties in the North East. He started to
\nprosecute corrupt officers, although he was tagged as being biased! He
\nstarted to revolutionise Nigerian mind but has all these been successful
\nand appraised? Buhari is working like any president who has the good of
\nthe country at heart. Jonathan would have done better if not for the
\ncorruption in his government. However, this is not a political affair as
\nour youths make it seem.<\/p>\n
We all want change! We want things to change but the irony is that the
\ngovernment is not up to 5% as corrupt as ourselves; the ordinary people.
\nThe government is not up to 5% destructive as the people. The government
\ncan only do its best but NOTHING WILL HAPPEN unless we CHANGE our MINDSET.
\nIn lieu of this, I have scribbled the following verses. Let us look at
\nthese verses without cloaking our minds with APC\/PDP politics because they
\nwill come and go and Nigeria remains ours. Even if Nigeria disintegrates
\ntoday, these problems will not miraculously vanish. They will still be
\nthere. So let us examine these verses and understand their import. This is
\nthe first step!!!
\nWe say we want change yet we give bribes to universities to gain admission
\nWe say we want change yet we pay money and sleep with lecturers to get marks
\nWe say we want change yet we empty our waste bins by the roadside
\nWe say we want change yet we inflate the price of goods and services at
\nevery opportunity
\nWe say we want change yet we tell people to pay us money in other to help
\nthem
\nWe say we want change yet we blow up pipelines and destroy our environment
\nWe say we want change yet we take up arms and rob innocent civilians
\nWe say we want change yet we pay money and sleep with people to get jobs
\nand keep them
\nWe say we want change yet we steal wires and other properties mean for
\nelectrification
\nWe say we want change yet we look for ways to cheat network providers and
\nbrowse for free
\nWe say we want change yet we disobey orders and sell by the roadside
\nWe say we want change yet we cannot stand in and maintain a simple queue
\nWe say we want change yet if we find money or property not belonging to
\nus, we steal it instead of returning it
\nWe say we want change yet bribe immigration officers to import contraband
\ngoods
\nWe say we want change yet we bribe police officers after committing crimes
\nWe say we want change yet we won’t participate in politics and challenge
\nthe thieves
\nWe say we want change yet we celebrate the looters of our collective
\nwealth and burn those who steal things as trivial as fufu
\nWe say we want change yet we cause noise pollution and play songs that
\ndisturb the peace without considering others
\nWe say we want change yet churches spring up at every corner each day to
\ndeceive gullible people and cause noise commotion everywhere
\nWe say we want change yet we organise, sponsor and partake in examination
\nmalpractice at all levels
\nWe say we want change yet we celebrate the destroyers of the nation and
\nthe looters and call them “mentors”
\nWe say we want change yet we tribalise everything and anything and make it
\nan Igbo-Yoruba-Hausa affair
\nWe say we want change yet we are nepotistic and consider only those from
\nour ethnic extraction as humans
\nWe say we want change yet we move around the country with cows, killing,
\nraping and maiming innocent people
\nWe say we want change yet we steal people’s cows and spite them
\nWe say we want change yet we strap bombs to our bodies and kill people
\nWe say we want change yet we we keep silent while militants and criminals
\nare paid monthly from the national coffers
\nWe say we want change yet those of us in the civil service have
\nlackadaisical attitudes to work and sometimes, don’t even show up at all
\nWe say we want change yet we insult our President and his Office
\nWe say we want change yet we sell foreign currency as exorbitant rates
\nWe say we want change yet we cannot exercise patience for change to come
\nWe say we want change yet those of us given contracts to construct social
\namenities, roads, etc, eat the money
\nWe say we want change yet we bribe judges
\nWe say we want change yet we attack the effort of the president at curbing
\ncorruption
\nWe say we want change yet we are happy when our gallant soldiers are
\nkilled up north
\nWe say we want change yet we are vengeful and think the failure of the
\nPresident is a thing to be happy about. Only if we knew better…
\nWe say we want change yet we kidnap children, wives and women for
\nunspeakable things
\nWe say we want change yet we say Aba made is fake. We’d rather buy from China
\nWe say we want change yet we can’t even sweep our own surroundings and
\nstreets
\nWe say we want change yet we task the government to settle us when roads,
\nbridges, etc, are constructed
\nWe say we want change yet we don’t know the name of our LGA chairman,
\ncouncillors, HoA member, HoR member & Senator
\nWe say we want change yet we build illegal refineries, destroy the
\necosystem and say the government is incompetent
\nWe say we want change yet we hunt and poach rare almost extinct animals
\nand call them bushmeat
\nWe say we want change yet we sing panegyrics to those persons against
\nprogress and change
\nWe say we want change yet we are the first to scoop free fuel & diesel
\nfrom a tanker that had an accident
\nWe say we want change yet we hit innocent people with our cars and run away
\nWe say we want change yet we snap accident victims and put them on video
\ninstead of helping them
\nWe say we want change yet we spread rumours, propaganda and outright lies
\nWe say we want change yet we chase companies away from the country by our
\nactions
\nWe say we want change yet we cannot query our local chiefs that eat
\ncommunity money
\nWe say we want change yet we cannot even come together with one voice
\nwithout calamity befalling us
\nWe say we want change yet we are self-centred, deluded and greedy
\nWe say we want change yet we are the first to run away from the country
\nrather than be patriotic
\nWe say we want change yet we harass women, rape them, victimise them and
\nassault them
\nWe say we want change yet we can’t even air our intentions without
\npartisanship and personal\/ethnic colouration
\nWe say we want change yet our only language is violence
\nWe say we want change yet our neighbours are suffering in penury without
\nsuccour. What have we done to ameliorate their plight?
\nWe say we want change yet we hoard fuel and create artificial scarcity
\nWe say we want change yet we engage in activities that negatively affect
\nthe economy and make the poor, poorer
\nWe say we want change yet we do not think that the things we do only come
\nback to haunt us and not the people we try to spite
\nWe say we want change yet we enter the internet, even on ground, and dupe
\npeople of their hard-earned money without conscience
\nWe say we want change yet we cannot even wash our own public toilets
\nWe say we want change and we steal properties meant for our collective use
\nWe say we want change and we can’t even maintain the little infrastructure
\nwe have left
\nWe say we want change and we can’t think of business ideas to develop the
\neconomy. We’d rather attack the president in power
\nWe say we want change yet we call the president clueless
\nWe say we want change yet we know we cannot rule the country better and
\neven lack any progressive idea whatsoever
\nWe say we want change yet we are filled with hate
\nWe say we want change yet we cannot practise the virtues of our religions
\nWe say we want change yet we insult the president whenever he travels
\nabroad for our own good
\nWe say we want change yet we are pessimistic about the nation
\nWe say we want change yet we want to create our own country. Do we really
\nthink problems vanish overnight? Or are the new leaders saints?
\nWe say we want change yet we embrace Westernisation over our own African
\nroots! How silly this is
\nWe say we want change yet we cannot change our ways! How ironic change is!
\nWe say we want change yet some will read this and move on with their evil
\nways. Some may even attack me and call me a zombie!
\nWe say we want change yet we are blind to the change going on without our
\nintervention
\nWe say we want change yet we drink and drive
\nWe say we want change yet we break traffic rules
\nWe say we want change yet we drug girls and molest them
\nWe say we want change yet we are pretentious about ourselves
\nWe say we want change yet we cannot maintain our environment
\nWe say we want change yet we use the guise of protest to loot and cause
\nwanton destruction of other people’s businesses and shops
\nWe say we want change yet student union governments steal money from accounts
\nWe say we want change yet bank managers steal money and some go scot free
\nWe say we want change yet WE KNOW WHAT TO DO TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT AND
\nEFFECT THE CHANGE WE NEED!
\nWe say we want change yet…<\/p>\n
This list is endless, virtually all our us and every part of life is
\nconcerned in this change affair. The government, whether APC or PDP; GEJ
\nor PMB, can only do so much but without our collective cooperation,
\ngovernment effort will be futile and things shall remain the same.
\nNigeria’s situation is like the quip of “soldier go, soldier come but
\nbarrack remain”. Presidents and parties will go and come but our problems
\nwill remain with us. Look at GEJ today whom we called clueless and
\ncorrupt, he is enjoying his retirement and has peace of mind! Fuel crises
\nwon’t affect him, nothing he may be laid the foundation for will affect
\nhim. So also with PMB! When he leaves, he’ll enjoy his life! We’ll be the
\nones to live with the consequences of our actions. This is not a political
\nissue! I am trying to conscientise us about the effects of our actions! We
\nalone shall face environmental degradation, loss of lives, properties,
\nmass havoc, unrest, etc. When the civil war was fought in Nigeria, Ojukwu
\nand Gowon were in hallowed enclaves and it was innocent people that fought
\nthe war. Let us learn from that. Let us CHANGE NIGERIA one day at a time.
\nCHANGE is a state of the mind. Let us be patriotic and learn from
\nAmericans on what it means to be proud of one’s nation.<\/p>\n
Mathias Orhero is a postgraduate student who writes from Warri, Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Mathias Orhero literarymathy@gmail.com I do not know what to call this. Some may argue that I have written poetry below. To me, it is not poetry but an article…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n