Nigeria Boils In Blood | Emmanuel Inya Otu-Nwachi

For our so-called leaders
It's business as usual
The executive are executing
In the confines of executive quarters
In secured environments devoid of insecurity

The legislators are legislating
Debating the paucity of their remuneration
Or otherwise in secured environments
Whereas out there blood flows
The blood of innocent men, women and children
Slaughtered daily like sacrificial lambs

Hoodlums have all the time to behead forty three citizens
One at a time, and no police comes
Maybe no fuel in their car or no bullets for their rusted guns
No military, maybe they're busy running after unarmed protesters,
Trying to use them for their shooting exercises
No SARS, no rescue operation - No thing!

When the killings are over and the hoodlums
Go their way troops drive neck speed
To nearby villages to rape and abuse
Nothing comes out of it save lame reactions
And useless regrets and the usual condolences
From authorities hiding in fortresses

Our politicians move about as if nothing's happening
Like it's business as usual
They're already thinking of the next elections
The killings don't mean anything to them
They're scheming for 2023
While Nigeria boils in human blood.

Poet's note: On Saturday November 28, the terrorist organization, Boko Haram beheaded 43 farmers in a village in Borno State. The organization has been wreaking havoc on many Nigerian towns and cities yet the government behaves as if things are normal. The poem decries the killings in the country and the inability of the security agencies to curb this and government's insensitivity.