14 Days At The Toll Gate
Image by @view.from.my.lens (Instagram)
A COMPILATION BY ARINZE TEMPEST OGBULOGO
Thursday, 22nd October 2020
“Water No Get Enemy by Fela slowly fades away in the background as clarity creeps up on me. In a quick flash, I have an epiphany as my 3 week old writers block suddenly dissipates into thin air, granting me use of my somewhat alien ability to express vaguely through words”
We all watched in awe; the silence of the Commander-In-Chief echoed through our television sets as he adeptly failed to address the humongous elephant standing in the center of the room. It felt as though the cumulative incidences we witnessed and experienced were just figments of our imagination.
Was it possible that 160 thousand of us that logged on to that disturbing Instagram live stream may have been dreaming the same dream? Were we stuck in a trance where fictional images created with ‘green screens’ were fed to our subconscious? I do not think so.
It all started as a collective decision to demand for change.
We were tired of being brutalized by elements within a subversive system, this birthed the decision to combine our individual strengths and move as one voice. We wanted accountability and a reform which would be beneficial for every one of us within this completely skewered system, so we marched. Throughout the country, from Lagos to Abuja to PH, the children of the land took to the streets seeking the liberation we were promised. The leaders of tomorrow wanted leadership today.
The poems in this collection serve as an abridged account of a nationwide movement that lasted for roughly 14 days as experienced and expressed by the curator.
Never forget, the most intriguing thing about poetry is that no single combination of words put together to create meaning has any purpose asides that given by the reader, you.
we have chosen to stay awake
have you seen the fires
burning in our vineyard?
the foxes are outside
clothed in the skin of men
dragging us, beating us
devouring our young
piecemeal by piecemeal.
but today we say it’s enough!
our mumu don do!
we are marching out, arm-in-arm
banding together like brothers,
with pitchforks and placards raised
we are taking back our land!
“the day the youth realize their power
and rise up as if in one voice
marching towards a common goal,
is the day the world stands still
in awe of the power of
a thousand mountains”
- tempest
there is strength in our number
today we tasted a glimpse of our power
the strength of youth is intoxicating.
so together, we charged at the gates
breaking the chains that restrained the generations before us.
for we had not inherited the silence of our mothers,
neither were we gripped by the fears plaguing our fathers.
“today we marched in solidarity,
one nation united by one goal
the placards we raised
summarized our pains
change is in the horizon
great Nigerian youth”
- tempest
arise O compatriots
we all watched
as the brave men and women
who believed that to take
a stand, waving a thousand
patriotic flags signaled
the dawn of a new country,
one where inequality had been
washed away with the rains
and tribal strains, a thing of the past
were reminded by forces sworn
to protect them that the price
of freedom was blood
“we all watched as bodies dropped
listening to the whistling of silver bullets,
we all saw the lights gunpowder makes
when surrounded by premeditated darkness,
the whole world witnessed the massacre
of a peaceful generation lending their voices
to the wind of change.
let posterity bear us witness
20.10.20”
- tempest
a dream of what could have been
at the end of the long night
we bowed our heads down
and dragged our feet across
the same battleground
where we raged with fire
against our oppressors
who promised nothing
but grimace and damnation.
we let them win
or at least it feels that way
for some reason we couldn’t sustain
the inferno within us.
maybe it was the barrage of attacks
by nefarious elements
threatening to twist the narrative against us
or maybe the forces we went up against
were insurmountable to begin with.
so in one single move
the candles that lit the corridors of hope
were snuffed out, and now the generation
backed by a powerful coven has been left
once again to navigate the darkness.
now more than ever, we must band together
and face the long night ahead in one voice,
one Nigeria.
- tempest
it’s a marathon not a sprint
the battle seems lost
our egos bruised
the coven bowed out
leaving us to fend for ourselves.
some planned to flee
leaving our fatherland behind
the labor of our heroes past
seemed to have been all for nothing.
“alas, the battle had just begun
for our oppressors had showed
just how dirty they play.
so now is that time to draw up new plans,
to visit our history and see where we failed,
we’d plot, we’d build
we’d infiltrate their ranks
waiting for the perfect day
the cobra strikes back”
- tempest
The unholy alliance.
Rebellion + Revolution by W.H.Y
As far as bullets go, they are not the indication of war or an incoming war, they are an aftermath of the inconsolable anger or ego of one man. So they ask not how many bullets were lost, but how many lives were when Nigeria declared war on its citizens.
The resounding ring of the bullets across Nigeria transport us to a time we referred to as history, where human life was only as important as the mood of the human on the other end of a gun. We’re not reminded but awoken to a shocking reality that democracy within Nigeria has only been a great marketing fable, it’s nonexistent.
Sudden blindness happens in an instant, you’re transfixed into the darkness with one blink, the pain doesn’t stem from the loss of your eyes, but from the change in your reality. Being born blind is a different ballgame, you’re awoken into darkness, it’s your reality, it’s your comfort and truth, anything else is a temporary lie.
The Nigerian youth were born blind, taught to remain mute and forced into being dumb. There’s a popular saying here in Lagos; “One day, your mumu go do” - loosely translating into “One day, you’ll be done being the fool”. That rings true for us, we woke up as suddenly as we went blind, it started with one, then like a burning forest, it spread all around.
Let posterity bear us witness, for we march not as one, but as one representing millions, bearing the WEIGHT of an entire generation. Let posterity bear us witness that we asked not for the dethronement of the government, neither did we clamor for a revolution, we simply asked to bask in the beauty of life, to live freely, to truly enjoy the moment.
Let it be known that today,
We have seen your desire to thrust us back into the darkness from which we have risen, but that’s an impossibility now. You have dealt your hand and the die is cast, the only thing left to do is finish the game.
As far as revolutions go, this is not a revolution or war, this is simply a quest for the truth.
In the famous words of MLK; “We have seen the Promised Land and WE as a people will get there.”
To borrow from the words of JFK: Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge -- and more.
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But today we begin.
Image by @NoraAwolowo (Twitter)
