By Valentine Uchechukwu Ndukwu
OPEN LETTER TO NIGERIA @ 65
Every first day of October
We wave flags, we sing anthems, we wear green and white.
But I ask, what shade of green have we grown into?
What colour of nonsense has stained our conscience?
How far have we truly come?
Is freedom just the lowering of one flag and the raising of another?
Is the flag we raise a symbol of progress, or a reminder of promises left hanging?
Tell me, does independence live in our hearts, or just in history books?
Is independence a chair we sit on, or a burden we drag with our bare hands?
What is liberty when the children of freedom still beg for bread?
Can a nation be truly free if her children still hunger for justice?
We say sixty-five years and counting…
Counting what?
Counting leaders who forget their people?
Counting promises broken like chalk on a blackboard of history?
Counting the silence of the masses in markets, in streets, in ballot queues?
Do we measure our progress by the height of skyscrapers or the depth of poverty lines?
By the loudness of our music or the whispers of those who cannot speak?
By the oil that stains our soil or the tears that salt our rivers?
Please tell me
What is independence when we are still colonized by corruption?
What is sovereignty when we import the very breath we breathe?
What is freedom when fear still wears the uniform of authority?
Yet
We are not hopeless.
We are a people of rhythm, of stubborn laughter, of tomorrow’s faith.
We rise, fall, rise again
Our father who art in heaven
Lead us not into the hands of bad politicians
Deliver us from every gender and their evil agenda which is meant to put us in danger
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