I Am Nigerian.

I am a Nigerian
I cut corners to make ends meet.
Na so e be oh.
Living and working in a dysfunctional system
Normal.
I don't keep up appearances
Or live above my means
But all them boys dey hail me
Boss! Chairman! Your boys are loyal!!
I have to drop something for boys
Or pay the consequences later.
I no get no be excuse.
All man must chop
These guys are more entitled to your earning than you are
They call it the streets
Trying to move up and out of the hood
Then the senior agbero becomes local government councillor
And your 5 years education in the university looks like foolery
They mock you.
In the church they say pay your tithe or God won't bless you.
Your boss? He is a slave driver calling you to work on weekends
He does not care about you.
Work life balance? Only in few and very few multinationals
Others want to kill you on the job
The babes that will love you for who you are want to get married but you can't afford the wedding.
The reception is your one year salary but you want her to smile . It's her day remember?
Your savings? It's not enough to last the Rainy day.
The generator just spoilt. The transformer was stolen. The street vigilante want their pay? What were they doing when they stole the transformer?
NEPA? Let's not even go there.

I am a Nigerian .
Talking trash and loud on social media
The reality is , na garri I drink last night , na garri I go drink this night.
But who go buy me beer this night na him get mouth pass.
We wait for the IJGB to wake the economy for the holiday and forget we have a long January ahead.
Thank God I don't have school fees to pay in January but the rent go soon due.
We go make am last las.
Let me just use that your suit go that interview, maybe I fit earn like 50k extra.
That's if I get the job, but I don't know anyone inside .
Transport money wasted
Man no man , that's how doors are opened
My consolation is that Anthony Joshua is Nigerian, Nigerian Jollof is better than Ghana Jollof and Davido is working with Chris Brown.
Which other country can boast of all these.

I am Nigerian and these are not the stories we want to hear but these are some realities
We hide them and troll Reno Omokri for saying his mind from the comfort of the diaspora
While we keep looking for what's trending to make sense of the current situation, our leaders dig a deeper debt well that our children won't be able to come out of
Suffering and smiling since 1960 and nothing has changed
Not the leaders and not the lessons learnt either
We die here
Or for the bold and brave
We go to Canada
I am Nigerian

The hearts we broke

The things that broke us.

Words  spoken,

Actions that hurt, 

The hearts we broke

The things that mould us 

Words unspoken 

Friction and unease  

Tension in-between. 

Reactions will be questioned 

Motives, revealed 

Whethert true or not 

The mind will believe what it will 

In the presence of all evidence 

The actions of man still decieve 

Tears will fall 

As pieces are shattered 

Of what was once love 

Of what was once trust 

Questions unanswered 

As two lovers go there separate ways

One filling lost 

The other wonders on.

The hearts we broke 

Known and unknown

Cry out at night 

And keep us from sleep.

Who are YOU 🤔

Who are you without the filters
Who are you behind the cameras
Who do people say you are
What makes you YOU
Is it the likes , the retweets, the comments?
Is it the number of followers?
Is it the Calibre of celebrities who follow you ?
Who are you without the internet
Who are you outside of social media
Who are you really?
Lost in the crown while still trying to stand out?
What will you do to get noticed
In real life and on the gram.
Who are you when you are alone by yourself
Do you cry or smile when you are about to sleep
Does it matter to you?
What people say or think about you?
What they do to you and what you allow to be done to you
Do you react naturally or is it induced by what you think is expected of you
Are you the same to yourself are you are to others .
Will you recognize yourself or have you all gone numb
Is this the YOU you will be proud of in the future or do you think that consequences are obsolete and extinct
You can't escape yourself
You can't escape this life
You can't escape reality.
You can only recreate .
How is that coming.

AGAIN AND AGAIN

I saw her again and I knew this was another opportunity lost
I saw her like I had seen her many times before
I saw her and it was not the ideal time.
I had seen her when I had nothing to lose
I had seen her when I had it all to lose
And seeing her was a loss in itself
Knowing I could not get the chance to pour out my soul at her feet like I wanted to
I saw her and wished I didn't see her.
And From the first time I saw her I knew I wanted her.
each time the opportunity came, the opportunity went as quickly
With me kicking myself for not been brave enough.
I saw her today and felt the same way I felt the first time I saw her .
And 4 years later I had changed , she had changed too
But seeing her was not about what the eyes saw
Was more about what the heart felt
And even if I'm too old for my heart to melt
It felt as real as it could be .
I saw her again today and like all the other times I had seen her before,
I said nothing
I just watched her pass me by.
I said to myself " the next time"
I hope that the next time would be better for me
Till then .
If you see her just tell her this .
I'd like to get to know you better