Hold up
Don’t talk
Or the grim reaper will steal your voice.
Words turn weapons stripped of choice
Next you're in cuffs
Bound and subdued
Dragged to halls where fairness is skewed.

“Arise my Lord” the bailiff calls
But justice has crumbled within those walls.
Judged for truths you dared to say
Now silenced tossed like waste-away.
In the jungle of law where power preys
Your rights dissolve in a smoky haze.

In the heart of the city beneath neon lights
Lies Mide a dreamer who fought for rights.
He raised his voice against the pain
Of inflation... of hunger... a nation insane.
He penned his words in the dead of night
Hoping his truth would spark a light.

But morning came with a knock at the door
Boots and cuffs slammed him to the floor.
They bound his wrist... they dragged him out
“Traitor!” they screamed while neighbors stood about.
He turned his face to plead his case
But silence met him... a cold embrace.


Freedom of movement? “Stay in line!”
They mapped his steps controlled his time
A boy in chains... a life restrained
Each breath he took their leash remained
Once he wandered the hills and streams
Now his world was confined to dreams

Freedom to gather? “Disperse don’t dare!”
His friends were scattered like leaves in the air
They planned to protest to make a stand
But batons and teargas changed the plan
No banners waved no voices rose
Only silence where courage once chose

In the corner of a cell Ade sat still
A journalist punished for wielding his quill.
He wrote of farmers starved for grain
Of leaders fattened by others’ pain.
His words were truth his cause was just
But they turned his ink to chains of rust.

“Freedom to speak?” he thought in despair
“Not here not now not anywhere.”
The walls whispered back with a mocking tone
“You’re here because you stood alone.”

Then came Aisha... a mother of three
Whose freedom to live was no longer free.
Her daughters hungry her husband gone
She braved the streets to beg till dawn.
But laws had changed the streets weren’t safe
Her plea for mercy was met with hate.
“Move along you can’t be here!”
She clutched her child and hid her fear.

Thrown to the dirt
To the lowest apex
A nation’s soul reduced to reflex.
“Tame them!” they shout
Strip their will
Turn them into Mummies... something still.

And when all... is said and done
Who cares if they’re dead or gone
Their freedom to live to love to fight
All stolen beneath the cover of night.
Their screams are echoes lost in the haze
Drowned in silence forgotten in days.

But beneath the silence embers grow
A fire stoked by those who know
That even chains can’t bind the heart
And broken voices still have a part.

For Mide’s words will rise again
Aisha’s tears will spark the pen
Ade’s ink will flow with might
And their silence will roar into the night.

No freedom to speak no freedom to write
No freedom to live no freedom to fight.
But hear this now beneath their might
Even silence can ignite.

One day soon the tide will turn
And the flames of truth will brightly burn.
The people will rise their voices bold
Breaking the system that left them cold.

In the land where the sun kisses the soil
Where abundance once sprang from honest toil
Now hunger prowls... like a restless beast
And famine mocks every hoped-for feast

The yam barns are empty... the granaries bare
The fields once golden... now stripped of care
Scarcity spreads... like harmattan dust
A bitter curse... on a broken trust

A goat tied too long... will chew the rope
But here even ropes... can’t kindle hope
The people cry... their stomachs hollow
Yet promises are all they’re forced to swallow

Once we planted and reaped with glee
But now our labor feeds misery
The crops have shriveled... the rain's gone dry
And government officials just walk on by

They gather in chambers as grand as a king's
Sipping their wine while the poor eat sins
With every policy... they widen the gap
Burdens doubled... a sinister trap

The river that forgets its source will run dry
But these leaders have turned a blind eye
Their roots forgotten... their hearts turned cold
Their greed devours the nation’s gold

Let me tell you about Mama Folake’s plight
Who toils from dawn until the night
Her palm oil business used to thrive
But now she struggles to keep her family alive

Her son Ade once bright with dreams
Now sees the world in muted themes
No school fees paid no books in hand
The future crumbles like dry sand

The lizard that nods in the sun has seen things
Ade nods too but only hunger stings
His mother tells him to keep the faith
But faith alone won’t fill a plate

Inflation is a thief that robs unseen
Turning Naira to paper hopes to dreams
A bag of rice now a tale to tell
The average Nigerian lives in hell

And yet the leaders play their charade
Making policies like poorly sewn trade
One week it’s fuel the next it’s tax
They strip the people while lining their sacks

The monkey sweats but its fur hides the tears
Behind their smiles are our growing fears
They draft decrees in ivory towers
But down below survival sours

The streets are loud with unspoken cries
The markets echo with desperate sighs
Bread is a luxury... meat a dream
And corruption runs like a poisoned stream

When the bush burns the grasshopper loses its home
The common man is left to roam
His sweat builds the mansion he’ll never see
While the rich feast on his misery

But oh dear land even the night must end
Even a bent tree will someday bend
A story is told of a bird in flight
Who fell to the ground but found her might

The people will rise their voices clear
Their strength forged in pain year after year
For the drum that beats the loudest will burst
And the people's anger will quench this thirst

The tide will turn the tables will shift
And justice will rise from this rift
The leaders may build walls high and wide
But the power of truth they cannot hide

The land will heal the barns will fill
The laughter of children will light the hill
And as history writes this bitter song
It will mark the day the hungry grew strong

No matter how long the night the dawn will break
And justice will serve what greed could not take
So let the tale be told far and near
A new Nigeria will soon appear