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Godfrey Amromare Jul 2016
In haste...
Behind
Our footprints
Were the scattered emptiness
Of the memories
Of them
On the shores

She left the three parties of us
Me, Samantha
And our traveler friend

They were play things for sunset fares,
She said.

Just yesterday
They were happy to be here
The young flowers now scattered about
This beach shore
Too young to be plucked
Happy to grow up into one party of laughter!

That's how we remember they were here
That's how to plant graveside flowers
For the dead
They were play things for sunset fares

They were not soldiers
They were unprotected women
They were not warriors
They were unfed afraid Biafran children  

That's how to plant graveside flowers
That's how we have kept them forever
In our hearts
That's how we actualize Biafra.
This poem is a remembrance piece for the more than three million civilians, most of them children who died of starvation in Biafra land as a result of the blockade policy which the Federal side adopted to cut off the secessionist's supplies during the civil war which lasted in Nigeria from 1967 - 1970. It would be recalled that the Nigerian foremost poet, Christopher Okigbo also was lost to that tragic war. It is to Okigbo, the more than a million starved dead children, the women, everybody else that was the sacrifice red water of the secessionist nation this art is crafted. Amen.
George Nsikak Oct 2016
This is dedicated to the millions who died in the Biafra - Nigeria civil war

Counting the losses
Of my people at dawn
Breaking the curses
Of no wholly source
I sought to wage war
Without funds and money
I thought to secede
From a nation strong and many
I was full of envy for vain minorities
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

Proclaiming Biafra
Was so big an agenda
Building militias
To **** and to tether
My opposed tribal brothers
And the critics of my powers
I denied much on media
All that hid in my fingers
My plans I held higher
The proclamation of Biafra
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

Visible to the blind
Were were ready for a fight
Audible to the deaf
Huge price of war to pay
Hausas killed in numbers
By my igbo sons and daughters
yorubas were driven without boots
by my fellow Biafran youths
Ibibios were suspicious
So were Urhobos, Itsekiris and Ijaws
Enmity was at its peak
So high that none could breach
All these were my agenda
My services to Biafra
Was so good for me to render

On May 30th 1967
Was just like a fable
I declared in the open
Without even a wobble
The state of Biafra
Almost complete; an agenda
An anthem was composed
Flag and currency; none could oppose
The heat of the tension
Is such I couldn't mention
The height of jubilation
Not all did it favor
There was sorrow in the land
This, I cared not apart
I was a symbol in the world
For the havoc I did cause
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

The war began
With no money at hand
We fought with pride
With pains in our hands
We fought with might
Defending our father's land
We died in mass
Numbers of air attacks
We killed civilians
Of the tribes against our plan
We'd shoot in the heart
Every oppose we'd catch
Nigerians were too strong
but we swore we'd burn
I saw no flaw
In the havoc I did cause
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

Hunger and thirst
Was order of the day
Sorrow was a pest
and death had no end
Too many burdens to bear
The pains of war to pay
We ran out of guns
Bullets, grenades, even bombs
We had but matchets
Arrows, stones and spears
But We faced an army
Of full artillery
Our tragedy had no end
Even God couldn't help
So our homicide was cast
And We became fossils at last
Let those who seek war; stop and think
The pains of it;higher than that of peace
So I e'caped in a copter
Leaving my people to suffer
So on exile I did ponder
while millions died in yonder
I am an educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border

I write from the grave
From the hell of my pains
I was that educated soldier
Who took you to battle borders
And ran, leaving you to suffer
I was that educated soldier
Of an eastern defunct border.
Mr Jay Jul 2014
They are our fathers,
Our freedom fighters,
Our Obama's,

Legends, representing from dangerous eras

Radical views coming through the radio,
Soldiers respond whipping up on Fela

Nelson reaches for freedom,
seducing souls like an acapella
Rebuilding community in a peace concert jamming to Marley
Dim Ojukwu waves the flag, a call to the Biafran army,
The King recites the dream to a million African souls in the rally
Malcolm raises a fist to the world, our time will not be buried.

In the struggle to change the status quo,
The fight to turn the table,
Against odds they were able
Will legends become myths and fable's?
Heroes, villains or rebels?
How they portray them,
Watch closely on the cable

To be number one becomes a dream
But who pulls the puppet dancing on the strings?

the media working on the mind,
Like a snakes charm in a seduction,
Venomous schemes to cover the deception,

Poverty, crime and death with no resurrection
Greed's the genesis of all corruption,
Where is our revolution?

From the birth of the king to his crucifixion.
Love and sacrifice are his religion.
Yet examples like him become outcasts before they realize their vision
George Nsikak Oct 2016
At the Biafran front, I fought
Tearing down Nigerians
With shots of guns
We fought like men
Defending our lands
But with risk and fear
As some went blind

Among our troops
Were hatred and envy
Tribalism of doom
Had taken over our army.
Alongside my brother
We triggered together
Tearing down men
Like pales of feathers.

As a boy of sixteen
I saw terror in fifteen
Behold dead men lay like weeds
Vultures had enough to feed
Among the dead people
I saw my old father, he died still feeble.
Turning to my right
Lay my mother, sister at flight
My hands became weak
And my heart did bleed
They were killed by the army
Which I fought that they live.

Biafra was in famine
As children starved to death
A thousand Igbos massacred at night
As our troops retreat to die.
Nigeria flew their jets
Bombing no one but children and old women
A grenade caught my brother
And I knew it all be over.

The seaways were surrounded
Nigerian Navy locked us in our grave
No weapon came to Biafra
Even our camouflage had become rags
Enugu; capital of Biafra had been captured
There's nothing left, except to be raptured.

Oron and Calabar fell
Nigeria sent us hell
So in battle front we had
Nothing more than matchets and planks
Our major had ran
And we were left, to die at our hands.
With fear, my fellows fell
The fear of death, none could tell
I ran through the forest
Finding way for my escape
Lo there was a tunnel
And so I escaped Colonels.

Fifty thousand fighters quite survived it
They were buried alive
In mass graves for their deeds.
Down in my tunnel of sleep
I saw my family in the deep
Papa, I called aloud my father
He said go for the war is over.

Biafra had surrendered
But I had lost an arm
Millions had died
Diseases did bade them bye
The war, famine did sail them high
Though a soldier I survived.
I had lost my home family and lineage.
What would I do with a withered arm?
Flies had really fed it by
As the last man alive, No one cared whether I die.
So I died a lonely death
With no one to cry
Every year; we sing
We're independently free
From colonisation regime
Free
From human-slavery
Free from
Antihuman policies

Impose on we
By em British colony

Free from slavery
to a free-free world
Free from brutality
to a greater course

But when exactly
Will we be free
From the war within

When will we be free
From talks of guns
When will we be free
From wars and bombs

When will we be free
From bad leadership
Coz all I see
is corruptive cliques
occupying governmental seats

When will we be free
From terrorism
territory separatism
Religion barbarism
And tri-balism

When will we be free
From governmental deceit
And societal laws
Made by bribe-filled judge
Whose laws only affects the poor

When will we be free
From godfatherism
And political regime
Where the corruptive folks
Are immune to probe

When will be free
From deadly disease
State of emergency
And economical insurgency

When will we be free
From violent street
Filled with vicious police
Whose only role
is to harass those
Who can't afford 50 naira note

When will we be free

The north is filled
with refugees
victims of terrorism
younger kids
with nowhere to sleep
Roaming the street
Hustling
Trying to get their belly feed

The southeast is the zone
where them militant roam
Armed to the bone
Brainwashed and scoped
By them Biafran folks
Shooting this; shooting that
Disturbing peace and breaking pipe
yearning for separation
of our beloved Nation

And what about the west
Them Wild Wild West
the district where
Godfatherism dwells
Ruthless men
Political theft
And fraudulent youth
Who often get used
By political dudes
Senseless thugs
Whom at the end of all
's abused and dumped

And human-right activist
Who aren't really for the citizens
Political sheople
Misleading the people
The only thing that matters' ah
getting their pocket's fat

I'm not here to preach
But when will we be free
From being brain-feed
with lies and deceit
Most people can't use their head
Yes, unless it is used for them
Most now follow religious leaders
Instead of the Lord
Whatever the preacher says; is right
Yea, he is the man of God

When will we be free
From enchanted beats
Musical *****
That aren't up to feat

When will we be free
When will we be free

Raise the Green-White-Green
And steadily roll the rim
Even though the white seems gray
I believe one day
We'd be chanced to make
This country great again
So let us pray

O God of Creation
Direct our Noble Course
Guide our Leaders Right
Help our youth the truth to know
In love and honesty to grow
And living just and true
Great lofty heights attain
To build a nation where peace and justice shall reign.
October 1st, a day of claimed pride,
Nigeria's independence, a partial stride,
From colonial chains, we broke the mold,
But subtle bonds remain, our progress to hold.

The masters left, but their systems stay,
Institutions rigged, to keep us at bay,
Economic strings, pulled from afar,
Our resources exploited, like a scar.

Foreign powers meddle, with hidden hands,
Influencing policies, that grip our lands,
IMF and World Bank, with conditional ties,
Shackling our growth, with debt's disguise.

Our leaders, puppets on a string,
Dancing to tunes, that aren't their own sing,
Corruption thrives, as they line their pockets,
While the masses suffer, in endless pockets.

The Biafran war, a tragic, ****** stain,
Unaddressed wounds, that still remain,
Resource control, a contentious fight,
Between the haves and have-nots, day and night.

Our oil, a curse, or so it seems,
Foreign corporations, with exploitative dreams,
80% control, a staggering fact,
Leaving us with crumbs, from our own act.

But still we rise, with resilient hearts,
Demanding true freedom, and a brand new start,
For a Nigeria, where all can thrive,
Not just the privileged, but the masses alive.

We'll break these chains, of neocolonial might,
And forge our path, with self-determined light,
No more indirect rule, no more hidden hand,
Nigeria will rise, and take her stand.

With education, we'll empower our minds,
And shake off cultural imperialism's binds,
Our history, our culture, we'll reclaim,
And build a nation, where all can proclaim.

With infrastructure, we'll build our base,
And attract investment, with a steady pace,
Agriculture, manufacturing, and tech,
Will drive our growth, and make us connect.

With resource nationalism, we'll take control,
And ensure our wealth, benefits our soul,
No more exploitation, no more deceit,
Nigeria's resources, for Nigerians' feet.

With regional cooperation, we'll unite,
And challenge external dominance, with all our might,
ECOWAS, African Union, we'll stand tall,
And forge a continent, where all can enthrall.

Our nationalism, will foster pride,
And self-determination, will be our guide,
Civil society, will demand change,
And hold our leaders, accountable to range.

Nigeria, arise, and claim thy place,
Among the nations, show thy face,
Unshackled, yet enchained no more,
Nigeria will rise, and forever soar

— The End —