Tunnel Of Confusion

II

I had a dream

I had wanted to climb the mountain

I stopped at the park

It was getting dark

And I tried to bark

But nobody could understand my plight

Not in this tunnel anyway

This tunnel of confusion

Tribulation

Tears

Tears that have refused to dry up

Tears of hopelessness

Tears of uncertainty

Democracy dividends are here

So our president told us

But I looked round to see

Circle of doom

Emptiness

Embezzlement

Corruption

And worst of all

I saw poverty

He pleaded we should be patient

Emotional blackmail?

III

Where is the light?

Or is it not the end of the tunnel yet?

It is getting darker

I can’t even see the water again

Not to talk of the fowl

I hope it has gone for good

Not coming back with its chicks 

Multiplying this confusion

And extending this endless tunnel

Something is about to happen

Something strange

Death

Death is smelling

What will die?

Who will die?

Maybe it is my confusion

The fowl?

My dream?

The nation?

Whatever mat be the sacrificial lamb

The grave is done

No point reviving the dead

Is there?

I don’t think so

Not when I’m about to be set free

Free from this confusion

This darkness

This madness

Maybe death is the only way out

The only way out of this tunnel

This tunnel of confusion

Just maybe 

© Churchill Okonkwo 2008

This water is dirty

But drink it you must

You don’t have option

Do you?

Hey!

Chase that fowl away from that dirty water

It needs it too, I know

But not before me

Ha,

It has placed its dirty legs

In the already dirty water

More confusion?

Maybe I should go back to sleep

Or stop that cock from crowing

But the dawn is here already

I can ignore it

But for how long?

Six years in primary school

Six years in secondary school

Six years in the university

Thanks to teachers strike

Now, five years in the labor market already?

This life

This life of seesaw of unemployment

And endless toil

I’ve heard this rhythm before

A rhythm reminiscent of endless cycle

                        Madness

                        Confusion

Then total darkness

© Churchill Okonkwo 2008

Because you were not here yesterday

Loneliness was my companion

No one to chat with

I had a dreamless night

No sweet memories

No one to hold

Except the winter cold

How I wished you were back

Because you did not

Smile yesterday

I couldn’t see

The stars refused to shine

And the moon disappeared

Covered by dark cloud

Please don’t keep me in darkness

Because you were

Not here last year

Gone with the winds

There was an empty Valentine

Not even a hug

Don’t do this to me

Not this year I hope

Because you will

Be here this valentine

I will go ahead and prepare

A special night

Just for two

Just for us

Be my guest

Be my valentine.

How the earth moves round the sun

And the earths pole?

How they have continued to wander

Like the price of stock

Up a moment

Down the next

Isn’t it wonderful?

How my wandering soul

Was made to rest

Ever since I meet you

The poles of the earth can continue to wander

As for me

I have applied the breaks

I have even anchored the boat - forever

I

The song of the bird herald a fine New Year

The sun rose in a clear blue sky

Its ray piercing the thick foliage

With majesty and songs of love

With the Supreme Court and the judiciary

Finally finding their voice

A strong wind sprang up

Driving clouds and rain away

As rays reflected on the still waters of Uguta Lake

Revealing an awesome landscape

Of this fascinating motherland

Set amidst solitary silence

And the music I heard was astounding

II

From the open plains

The magnificent highlands

Through the Savannah

To the Tropical Rainforest

You will be exposed to diversity of wildlife and cultures

A spectacular mirror of mirages

As herds poor and the rich

Brave the hopelessness to reach the water source along the edge

III

Enjoy hot goat paper soup

Under the brilliant star-studded night sky of Lagos

Contemplate the beauty of the wilderness

From the refreshing pool of Cross River

View our spectacular world

A Wonderful New Nigeria

Of endless vistas of shadow and light

As the sun rises over the thick forests of Bayelsa

Soar with the winds

Over the oceans of sands and mountains

From Brinin-Kebi to Auchi through Okene

From Bar Beach to the banks of the Niger River

IV

Tell Nigerians they are beautiful

And you will change the world

Tell people that they are wonderful

And the Nigeria will never be the same

Nigeria - Igirigi

You will conquer

You will rule

Change is beautiful

Welcome to A Wonderful New Nigeria

Hopefully anyway

Happy New Year Nigeria                                                        

© Churchill Okonkwo Jan 1, 2008

On the following lines are stories of spectacular successes and spectacular failures and flops of 2007. There were bungling of anticorruption fight, regulatory meddling and legislative inertia, drama in the house of madness, election, selection and senseless killings. Put on you sit belt, relax and enjoy this bumpy ride through the year as we get ready for the madness of 2008.

I

What a quasi-stable year

There were booms and busts

There was scheming and conniving

As the power-thirsting villain

The civilian dictator shamelessly bowed out

After a botched third term

Leaving behind a mess

An oversized and meticulously crafted dragons

Incredibly strong and dangerously intelligent

This can’t happen here again

Well,

So we thought

If it does we will fight

Or someone else will fight for us

But it happened

Something we have anticipated

There was an election

Sorry, selection

The result,

Entrenchment of political bankruptcy

Egocentric political aids

Chronic brainwash of the masses

And everyone was disappointed

Someone tried to cry though

A whimpering cry

Then we all went to sleep  

II

Night will offer a natural cover for darkness

But not for Iwu and cohorts

We were treated as an object of fun and ridicule

Acceptance of failure was impossible

And controversy was our constant companion

Ah

If life was ever so simple?

But we know it is not

The economy still repels investment

So we have stagnation

With unpaid pension arrears

Pangs of hunger hammering infants

Educational institutions rotten and begging for help

III

We crawled sluggishly forward

Like a tortoise carrying a house

Bugged down by ministerial aids

Sycophant-like shelf

Hunting for squirrel to diffuse a quarrel?

The unemployed

Seeing the bareness of job offers

Took scour in the churches next door

With human spirits

Filled with wine rather than spirits

Masquerading as holy spirits

A new dynamic sense of spirituality?

IV

There were mild dramas

As EFCC finally summoned courage to scratch some bulls

As the judiciary castrated some he-goats

Cleaning out the disbelief, anger and the pains

That reverberated in my head

But not much has changed

The scavengers are still in control

Then the pungent smell from the untouchables

The Ubas, Adedibus, Atikus, OBJs, IBBs, Odilis, Igbinebions

Just a hint of rot from the endless list of cabals

But bad enough to make one sneeze

The air smelled like a burning oil pipeline

Then burning flesh

Then blood

V

Etteh finally resigned

Raucous laughter soon responded

To exchange of jokes and anecdote

Country dwellers listen with mock astonishment

To accounts of events from the House of Madness

City dwellers slapped their thigh

At exaggerated expression of rural earthiness

Corruption

Ex-governors and their loot

Drama at EFCC and office of AGF

Corruption in the fight against corruption?

Something about these seems sinister

It all stinks

Their actions black and filthy

Its depth impossible to fathom

With corruption, everyone pays

Even the poor and the unemployed

VI

The phone rang

“The president’s nose”

“What about his nose?”

“It’s true”

“It’s false”

“His moral character stands very high”

“Yet, he communes with the untouchables and the sore evils”

Click and the line went dead

So, the debate stopped again

One day,

We will wake up and find ourselves dead

It is then that we will

Cover our mouths

And cry out in pains

Until then,

This present insanity may continue

Merry Christmas Nigerians

Am already looking forward to the madness of 2008

I

A mosaic of institutional failure on a breathtaking level.

To understand this “macro” failure,

It is necessarily to examine the “micro” nature of the catapult officers

Egregious, shameful and with despicable acts

With rubber boots

Coat dirty and frayed

Oblivious of their surroundings

They have spent years in “check points”

Soaked in the rain

Got kicked around for “returns” from their superior

It makes them crazy

Crazy, but not stupid  

The money-sucking parasites

That is encouraged from the rank and file of the force

“Stop!”

“Where your papers?”

It’s usually more of a challenge than a request

Intimidation

With jaw clinched

Chin dropped and eyes turned red

They quickly manufacture a skeletal framework of any allegation

II

They do keep you waiting for long

To them, time is of no importance - part of the game

 “You have to settle us”

Such blatant and unashamed greed

If you don’t understand them

The catapult officers can draw you in

Drive you crazy, and drain you dry.

They observe every moment

Know all the criminals around

They hear the sounds of the roads

Sniff through your pocket for the whiff of money

They absorb the odor of the diesel fumes form the city buses

The same bus driver passes twice every hour

And had to “pay his dues”

Suddenly,

A gun is fired in a distance

From a “superior armed officers”

And they all disappear

Quickly remove their black tops

And reappear, completely disguised

‘Guns’ gone - The catapult officers

 I

Their life were noticeably juicier than that of the masses

They slept in mansions with their mistresses

With the romantic odor of fresh perfume

And whiff of money in ‘Ghana Must Go Bags’

We slept in slumps and parks with the pigeons

With the pungent odor of ‘ki-kai’

And cheap tobacco

They exhibit qualities that can be both charming and dangerous

They seem to think you exist only for their convenience

A house characterized by moral depravity

Sworn to uphold the law - even when they were not duly elected

Inflating contracts – with complete impunity

Confusing proper legislative work with ‘egunje’

As crime reportedly has superseded unemployment and economic growth

II

The masses has been suffering

As the ‘leaders’ are smiling

House of iniquities and distress

Your antisocial behavior

Will be very valuable to the psychiatrist

To the occupants of this mad house

Now that Etteh is gone

What we need is food, not phone

What we need is water, not war

What we need is shelter not shame

III

We have to start something

We can no longer be slaves

Let the tyrants see

That we are now set

To start an endless siege

We have known our rights

We have decided to fight

And fight we will fight

Until victory is in sight

Until we see the light

The fly follow a person who is carrying a smelly stuff and Nigeria is abound with so many such smelly nuisance that nobody knows who is who again. But a grasshopper that is roasting over fire and claiming to be emitting fat will soon realize that a snail that swallows another will have two legs. This is a tale of my chained state.

Chained

Anambra state

Emancipated,

Yet chained to slavery

You try to swim underwater

Away from the shores of tears and suffering in the state

But the undercurrent dragged us towards the land

We heard the put-put-put of the

Stumbling and struggling …

In an attempt to balance the equation  

Our hearts broke in rhythm and seem to jump into our mouth

We staggered as the state blurred

Laughter overwhelmed coherence

“You think you are a prisoner of war?”

“But there is no war”, they shouted

“But there is war”, we muttered

“Justice” at the Supreme Court

A new and disturbing twist to our captivity

After the failure of election manipulation

Fed with prolonged sleep and diet of underdone roasted yam

With hands tied together and put over our knees

We were beaten in a quick succession

First on one side, then on the other

From Mabadinuju and Emeka Offor

To Chris Ubah and Andy Ubah

From arsonist to philanthropist

From presidential aid to monumental fraud

The Anambra cabals are a different breed of species

Now, they want to tie us down and put salt on us

Lay us in the sun while they wipe us again

So that when they are finished

We will be dead

Or if sill breathing

Fenced with barbed wires and chained

Gradual disintegration
All stones ultimately succumb to external and internal abrasion
And the smiling stoned-faces?
Transformed to oppressors of the century
Left lonely and jeered by all
Tears will finally drop from their pores
Long after the wells and taps are dry