Poem by Solomon Onunoja Akobe
(Part One)
They are killers of our democracy
Those who like biblical Jacob buy
And like Esau, sell their birthrights – their votes
Just for a day’s meal or for a little token
Trade out their future and those of their children’s children
Bequeathing to them legacies of hunger, servitude and death
Even in the midst of plenty in their own land.
They are killers of our democracy
Those who keep their children overseas
In the most beautiful sceneries of Greece, Tokyo and Tallahassee
Flying them joyfully from Moscow and Rio de Janeiro to Solomon Island and Washinton D.C.
And from Dubai and Beijing to Berlin and Buckingham Palace
But return home to recruit others’ children as thugs and bandits
Just for their own selfish ambitions
Which to them is worth the blood of all
Except theirs and that of their households
Why not turn the tides and let their children return to bear their arms?
They are killers of our democracy
Those who snatch ballot boxes, disrupt elections
And run away with voting materials
They have set stumbling blocks for their children
Even for the generations unborn
And Like Canaan who got cursed for the sin of Ham
They will be liable for the sins of their own fathers!
(Part Two)
But they are martyrs of our democracy
Those whose sonorous voices were silenced to suppress truth
Maimed and imprisoned to truncate freedom
And with their lives, paid the supreme price
For the good and liberty of all
They are martyrs of our democracy
Those whose innocent bloods stained the ballot papers
Already scattered by party scribes bearing arms in a broad day light
Who were fatally wounded by stray bullets from their happy guns
Even while they ran helter skelter for their dear lives
They are martyrs of our democracy
Those who inspite of all the threats and fears, came out to vote
Nigeria call, they were out to obey
To serve their fatherland
But in this national call and service, they were kissed by cruel death
They are martyrs of our democracy
Those who endured the scorching sun to cast their votes
But whose votes at the end of it all did not count
Who were humiliated and denied freedom to have a choice
Just because they are State’s servants in one Confluence clime
Yes, these also, are martyrs of our democracy!
They are martyrs of our democracy
Those elderly men and women who were whipped
And chased away from their polling booths
Even as the uniformed men paid from the taxes they pay
Guarded the chasers and laughed at the runners!
He is one of the martyrs of our democracy
That innocent nineteen year old lad of 2019
Whose blood flowed like a mini flood in the Confluence State
As a reward for a first-time voter in Nigeria
Woe to the stray bullets from the guns of Pharoah’s militia!
Indeed, they are martyrs of our liberty and democracy
Those who shall say no to tyranny and corruption
And oppose the regime and policies of a dictator
Who shall rise together with the citizens
To fight for freedom and justice
And by revolution, secure their children’s future
First of all, by making their Votes a Patrotic Voice
That can neither be bought nor sold!
– Solomon Onunoja Akobe is a Constitutional Lawyer and writer, formerly with N.O.O.Oke (SAN) & Co., Ibadan, Southwest, Nigeria, and can be reached via akobe4onu@gmail.com.
