Nigeria's Nightmare

What if we threaten to turn off the taps......
Perhaps someone’s slipped us a weapon...or two?
Would someone then help us find our missing president,
Before the oil all goes up in smoke?!
Who would be the first to take a hit and choke?
Hausa, Yoruba, Ijaw, Igbo,
Or those people up the road who always claim to know?
Would we stick to our zoning arrangement,
Or decide 249 is one tribe too many?
Religious siblings and well intentioned friends all rally round,
"Nigeria is family, but a troubled child,
Let’s show her the way to make us proud."

What if Nigeria was divided into four new republics......
But someone was too busy to tell us,
Perhaps they thought we wouldn’t notice.
He quietly smiles while he waits,
Preparing to be the first Head of State.
A colourful revolution,
Another regime’s changed.
This model’s too slick,
The native’s are restive.
Christian, Muslim, North, and South?
Smokescreens and mirrors,
We’re all pawns in the game.
“Call it high stakes chess,
We win, they lose,
But no one’s to blame.
Nigeria’s a bloated, ignorant jewel,
Their lives are cheap.”
The truth is all relative to the price of easy safe oil.

“Brother, this has to be a grand conspiracy theory!”
Connect the dots and a frightening picture begins to emerge.
“But brother, though we struggle, let’s focus on national unity!”
But brother, where is the substance of this national unity?
Before the ground becomes too hot to stand,
Let our response be swift.
A solid intervention...perhaps we’re saved by a military hand,
Leaders that Nigeria do truly understand,
Perhaps not so easily swayed by foreign gifts.
Might not be so bad to have them back,
To give Nigeria the discipline, dignity, and identity we do so sorely lack.
Social welfare, progress, justice, and peace,
Can conscious compassion be found in a military uniform?
Yes, we’re desperate...but let’s both be honest,
A coup d’etat is not the norm.
At some point we must understand and accept,
A coup d’etat is not the norm.
Cut the puppeteers’ strings,
Switch off the phone,
To do this properly we need to be alone.

But sadly, just what if......what if we can’t get a refund for the time spent thinking ‘what if......’

What if our mothers failed to love each child......
Would the prayer of Jabez exist?
Lord expand my territory...in your mercy create the right opportunity.
Social indifference and absolute poverty,
The pain just cuts deeper,
Easy to influence, to impress, this thug's for hire.
Compassion’s a fancy word,
Our boy can’t feel love,
The drive to hate is relentless,
Always, always itching to pull that trigger!
Lord save us from this cold-blooded killer.

What if the War on Terror is just a polite invitation to a holy war......
A nobly titled well intentioned tit for tat free-for-all?
Define your enemy, choose your weapon,
Confusion on both sides,
But the enemy must exist no more.
Would you run back home,
To the towns, the villages, the forests, the jungles,
The sand dunes, the mountains, the wastelands,
Or stay an extra day just to take out a few,
Finally glad to be given an excuse to do what you always wanted to do?
What would the sons of Abraham say,
If they could see what was being done in the name of the father?
After all the bloodshed, it really won’t matter.

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©Proverbs07-2010