This piece is written in honour of The Leadership four held by the Nigerian State. Freedom of the press is under siege. We are back to Decree 4 era.
To W. S
Wole Soyinka
The son of Ogun
The man that spits fire like Shango
The palm wine lover
The wordsmith
The man who dances in the evil forests
And comes out victorious
The jewel of the forest of books
The lion who never keeps mute in the face of tyranny
I salute you.
Wole Soyinka
The man who has crossed the seven seas to dare the tyrant
The man that held the gong captive
That we may be free.
The man died
Cos we are in silence of fears
We will never die
We have been pushed to wall
React, we must.
How long shall we be held hostage and in bondage
In our freedom of fear?
How long shall the land be raped
By our liberators in agbada?
How long shall the thief be boastful
Of having stolen our crops?
How long shall our children
Continue to be servants to thieves?
How long shall our land live in darkness?
Occasioned by nocturnal men in power?
How long shall evil triumph over good
In our land.
Despair we will not
For W. S has shown how
To confront the monster.
We will survive
We will re claim
We will possess
Our lost land
We will clear the land of thieves
Our numbers shall speak for us
Our numbers shall stop the usurper of our votes.
Our voices must die
Our resolve must not be shaken
Freedom we desire
Prosperity for our land we seek
Justice is all we ask for.
These we will get
Cos the abiku of maladministration
Must come to an end.
Our cries have woken those gone before us
They are restless and angry
At a brother’s inhumanity to his brother
And have vowed
That come 2015 and beyond
Restoration of our land must take place.
Wole Soyinka
The trail blazer
Today, we honour you
For showing the way
Unbowed by the power of evil.
In your life time
Victory is sure.
By Eddy Aghanenu
