1. We smell
Of bigotry
Our hearts
So far apart
We smile together
As if we are one
While deep inside
Hatred still lurks
Our love
Is bound by geography
Our unity
Bothering on tongue
2. Akin fell
Sweetly in love
With Amaka
She had beautiful eyes
He danced around
Like one gone insane
He couldn't wait
To go prostrate at the East
One night
Papa called him
Marry Igbo, he said
And I'll disown you
3. Adoabi
Felt something towards Ali
He melts her heart always
Like butter tossed into fire
She wanted her womb
To bulge with a Northern seed
She dreamt of eating 'fura'
Barefooted on the streets of Kano
Ali was a god
She became his goddess
"If you get belle for hausa," mama warned her one evening
Just waka go alone
4. The Yorubas
Whispers to their daughters
"Igbos are dangerous
Don't marry their men
If he should die
You will see hell
The water they use to clean his corpse
You will be given to drink in gulps
They'll chase you away
Empty handed,into sorrows
Though the sun rises from the East
Their hearts are dark"
5. The Hausa man
Tells his son
To beware of the Igbo girl
Their dowries,wicked millions
"How can he exchange 300 cattles
For a girl," he asks his son
When the north remains
A big pool of beauties
Beauties that appreciate 'dankwa'
Beauties that drink 'kunu'
Beauties so cheap and close by
Heaven's miracle"
6. Then the Igbo man
Calls his son
Warns him to never marry
From the Yorubas,especially from Ijebu
They are made up of charms
They can pluck the sun off the clouds
They can transform their in-laws
Into mad souls eating grass
They breathe juju
They 'shit' juju
"If you mistakenly impregnate a Yoruba girl
Nna, no come back home again"
7. This is what we are
Behind our walls
We nurture our seeds
With manures of hatred
We see the other tribe
As being a step lower
We see the other tribe
As a contaminant
Hence, whenever we gather together
Disorderliness springs up
If you don't understand,peep into the national confab
There you'll hear justice Kutigi screaming 'order!' 'order!'
8. There won't be order
Until we drown deceit
There won't be order
Until Akin can happily marry Amaka
There won't be order
Until Adoabi & Ali can kiss freely
There won't be order
Until Nigeria melts into one happy mould
Bigotry gave birth to bombs
Bigotry gave birth to deaths
Until our aisles
Leads from the North to the south
And from the East to the West
There won't be serenity
There won't be order
Even if Justice Kutigi shouts 'Order!' forever
N.B : all the names featured in this piece are fictitious,the exception being that of Justice Kutigi,chairman of the national confab.
Soyombo Ayomikun tweets from @alabaster85