There’s a rumbling of words in me
They are struggling for poetic light
Do I direct them to nature in its allures?
No! I have reverenced the confluence enough
And already paid homage to mount Patti.
Do I face love in all its emotional trappings?
No! The aquifer of Ejire my wife is saturated
And there’s nowhere else for wordy romance to flow.
Now bring me the drum of words
I want to beat it for a flowery warrior
To rouse another Ebira lion that Okene bred
But I must sing in very low tones
For if my tender voice sounds too loud
Ofelele may wake up to hear my sweetness
And refuse to return to his sleep of phantom
So, let my rhymes flow across Ebira hills
To delight ancestral senses and mortal ears
Let iregba at Eika be filled with adherents
As the Eku-echichi thrills in amazement.
Who is this cloud of words gathering for?
None but the one they took with levity
And mocked his political rusticity
When they said none can come from oblivion
To seat in power’s pavilion-
But the hands of fate
Reckoned with his faith
And thrust him to destiny
As lord in Lugard’s enclave.
Bursting with youthful vigor
Governing with intellectual rigor
The flower of the confluence
Keep on increasing in influence
Your testimony is a lesson for the young
That it is not enough to crave
For fortune they say follows the brave.
Congratulations Kogi people
It is a year of passion for us
Congratulations Governor Ododo
It’s been a year of fulfilment for you
You have worn our hearts
you are indeed a “Flowery Warrior”
With steely gusto for victory.
– Samuel Elere
Oluomo of Mopa
