Night of the unspoken word

Narrator: Dike Chukwumerije

Title: They say I come from a free country

Narration:

Every time I ask, people tell me, Nigeria became independent in 1960 

And furthermore, to show, she was truly free, she became a republic in 1963

Meaning, the queen was no longer head of state

Meaning that we were now masters of our fate.

Meaning that power over Nigerians could now only be held by a Nigerian

It was why we sang and danced in the night 

Why we lit fires that burned through the night 

Why we chose a flag colored in Freedom for now we would be kings in this our kingdom

But our first head of state was Igbo  

And the next, though a Soldier also Igbo

Then Angas ruled followed by Hausa and then came, the turn of Yoruba

Credit: Dike Chukwumerije on Twitter

Then Hausa came back for a term cut shot when power was taken by an hausa gunshot

Then Buhari claimed his turn to rule but a mandate stolen was his downfall

Then Kanuri came, and it’s quite probable that he’ll still be ruling if not for that Apple.

 Then Yoruba returned not once but twice then Hausa returned but died in peace 

And they left us a while to worry and wonder when it was over. 

Ijaw had power and after him came that Titanic shift, and now we can see that Hausa is back.

Leaving me with this troublesome thought, “where in all this is my own president?”

For where I was born is not where I’m from, and where I’m from is not my home.

So when the tribes gather, I often wonder, “who will I fight when you’re both my brothers?”

Nobody asked when we were children “before we play, are you a Muslim?” 

We share this space that nobody claim but now you ask me to choose a side 

When we were students, nobody asked if North and South could share a desk, if East and West could study together but now, you tell me that I’m a stranger. 

Stranger

Yes, to these ways of thinking, thinking that tribe is everything.

The Niger and Benue they meet in my hand.

I’m not an indigene but this is my land. 

And this is my language, I speak nothing else. 

My home is here, I know nothing else

My tribe is my nation. I am nothing else

And this is my country, I have nowhere else. 

And so though people are quick to assure me, to tell me this country I live in is free

Deep in my heart, I know that freedom, my freedom is yet to come,

When no one will question my origin 

When no one will call me a non-indigene

When no one would kill me because of my faith.

 When no one will cheat me because of my State, 

When my state will be wherever I live and will change whenever I choose to move 

the day I find not a Nigerian president but that a Nigerian is finally president

And so, while the flag of ethnicity still flutters over this land of two shining rivers, and the tribes take their turn to miss-govern, my country

I look to the future for I’m not yet free.

Meiza Nigeria