IGBORO by Ogundipe David

Igboro, to you I write this beautiful morning
Laugh not, for this is in no way funny
Igboro, why are you so unfair to the hustling boys?
From my window I see girls languish and toil

Igboro, from threading you we’ve lost many shoe soles
Millions you deny their desires till they lie with no soul
Igboro, why are you unmoved by the orphan’s cry?
Where the needy expect a fountain, you make so dry

Igboro, why art thou made this Corper droop in khaki?
When you know you won’t afford him even a car key
Igboro, see their mighty structures built by Julius Berger
Yet, our streets are littered with destitute and beggars

Igboro, with our wealth for themselves they build kingdoms
And their wives travel far; even to the Queendom
Igboro, our intact prospect is hidden under these tattered shirts
That we deserve more than this, I can surely bet

Igboro, see that old woman fidgeting towards the road
For no offence, soldiers booted the old man till he squats like a toad
Igboro, from political thuggery we were forced to earn
Their sons and daughters own fortune even at the age of ten

Igboro, my neighbor walked pass me in his Aston martin
I drove after with my feet sweating and panting
Igboro, the populi you enriched with old shoes and clothes
They have yacht while we stick to the wooden boat

Igboro, noble ladies you’ve coerced to auction their bodies
And the boys you forced to engage in deals that are bloody
Igboro, see those innocent kids engaging in guilty deeds
Due to violence their loving mothers got killed

Igboro, you warned it’s dangerous to walk you at night
Yet, shady dealers did it and earned in the dark with no light
Igboro, I do not know what tomorrow will offer
But quote me, you won’t decide my fate so I dare not bother

THE VOICE OF A DYING NATION by Ogundipe David

Today I have a mixed feeling
The situation calls for a deep reasoning
My face is empty but my heart is weeping
Over my dear nation that is still creeping

When will our crawling nation walk?
When will the drawling country talk?
Corruption is no longer a menace
In every aspect, it sits to relax

The forces on the road obtain by force
A fight for right and one might die
The kids witness their mothers crying
Never knew their dad who left thriving

The youth results to robbery
Our leader’s drink is made of honey
Their lives is a bed of rose
Ours is not even a carpet of grass

Noble dreams turn to nightmares
Morality being rewarded is now rare
Justice are sacrificed in the courts of law
The present situation is indeed a bad one


Political thugs we turn on the street
Saluting them because of what we’ll eat
Our futures they made a game of ludo
Tossing the dice as we watch in sorrow

Our patriots turned against us
Preferring their offices to our nation’s love
We queue to cast our humble votes
After their cunning and jungle scopes

In the scourging sun we still labour
Calling on God to show favour
In the hands of our masters who turned traitors
While the doctors turn tailors

We grow thinner due to poverty
Corruption laughing at our honesty
It is dangerous to be right when they are wrong
Like some past patriots killed with gun

Tax evasion land the masses in jail
We turned criminals no one can bail
On the street they walk and we hail
Long life the man who owns the day

They travel about blowing sirens
For us to suffer, they think is ideal
Association of lunatics they see when we protest
Next year Hon. Ajanaku will still contest
He just need to bribe some men

They neglect institutions’ gate during campaign
They don’t want to see us giving them a chase
Straight to the market square they go
Cajoling our mothers with things they don’t know

I will build bridges in your toilets
You deserve tarred road in your chalets
Your son will study law in Harvard
They go back and say they cajoled the bastards

He who pays the piper must dance the tune
Should we suffer for the votes we cast?
Our dreams are fading on a daily basis
Listen to the dying nation and make haste

Mother Africa, rise for your fight
Nation Nigeria, go for your right
Fellow Ambassadors we know our plight
Let us struggle to attain the height.