If God was a Nigerian ASUU would strike him till his sorrow grows a beard. He would be a Yahoo boy or a pimp or a drug dealer or an innocent girl on the cold & dark streets of Italy tendering white men’s amorous dreams or all of the above. He would be a potbellied politician that swallowed (y)our children's future, & that of their children's children. They would have slaughtered him, like Ramadan rams, in Benue or bandaged him with bombs in Borno. His children’s life expectancy in the Niger Delta would be around 9 or 10 (that’s a conservative statistic) —all they would ever have are: a bowl of oil spills for breakfast, a plate of greenhouse emissions for dinner & grief sandwiched between. He would die crossing the Mediterranean or sold for peanuts in Libya. He would yelp & complain on the mad streets of twitter but will never come out to vote out oppression. The sun would die in his mouth in Kirikiri or other eyeless places where those who try to sing new songs are stripped, chained & tortured. He would not be in school but on the sidewalk, holding a blue plastic bowl for your damn pity or under the leprous stare of the sun cleaning your windshield at a red light. SARS would shoot him & the government hospital they will rush him to will not have electricity. He would be a broke ass poet like me. Othuke Umukoro is a poet & playwright. His demons have appeared, or are forthcoming in The Sunlight Press, Brittle Paper, AfricanWriter, Eunoia Review & elsewhere. His debut play Mortuary Encounters, (Swift publishers, 2019) is available HERE When bored, he watches Everybody Hates Chris. He is on twitter: @othukeumukoro19
13 Comments
Oluwagbadura
16/9/2019 11:59:42 pm
If God was a Nigerian, we'd have nothing to worry about. None of these phase him. Omniscient means all knowing. If God was a Nigerian we'd have no issues at all
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Alilonu Collins
16/9/2019 10:17:50 pm
Smiles.
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16/9/2019 10:30:00 pm
God is a Nigerian
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Sunday Daniel
16/9/2019 10:56:20 pm
This is a masterpiece, it will definitely be regarded as one of the greatest poems ever.
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Victor
17/9/2019 01:13:28 am
This is so meaningful. But I think God is a Nigerian. Truth is that we are all images of God and if we could be all this, God is a Nigerian.
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Maxwell
17/9/2019 01:58:54 am
God is always a Nigerian. For we are blessed in disguise,
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Felix
17/9/2019 03:02:09 am
Oh my! This is a beautiful piece. I love the poem. I love even more how the writer used creativity and ingenuity to bare some of this nation's societal ills through poetry.
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Dorcas
17/9/2019 03:21:29 am
In very of the aesthetical content. Again, Isaac Othuke spews his pain into our eyes. Quite striking imageries that one could clearly see himself in the lines and stanzas.
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Kiki
17/9/2019 09:33:28 am
He would complain on Twitter instead of vote.
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Hafsah
19/9/2019 04:42:51 pm
This poem speaks to me for so many reasons. First, because I am Nigerian and the rest, because... Wow! This is a poet close to my heart. Someone who can portray the ugly problems of Nigeria in a beautiful poem like this. Let's just call this a masterpiece and call it a day. More ink to your pen. More glory to your days. Keep on being great.
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you must not know
8/12/2022 06:00:33 pm
mad oo
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