We hereby cause to be elected,
AbubakarShekau
In the rusted hands of The
International Community
Observers of our extinct African
humanity
For we have not known how to live
Even though unto humanity a lot we
did give
We do not have any more religion
Save for those who grab moneys to see
us visions
Now it is Election Day, and we've got
no options…
On the queue, we see no one who's got
the gumption
Our nostrils perceive the
electioneering promises
From the aromas of charred huts and
roasted human beings
But we all love the great
AbubakarShekau
Who lived and died for me and you
We loved the scowl that eternally sat
on his sad brow
As he delivered his presidential
speeches on YouTube
AbubakarShekau's invisible posters
are everywhere
He uploaded them on the wild wild web
which we all share
He promises unlimited good life in
the hereafter
And thereafter his assignment is to
send us there
And this new Shekau, is he brash
enough to fill the shoes?
Does he have scorn and treachery
enough for two?
Does he watch satellite TV and ask
you not to?
Does he rape virgins here and promise
heaven for you?
It doesn't matter whatever he thinks
Or what volume of alcohol he drinks
It won't matter that Shekau performs
no ablution
Shekau will tell us what to do with
the barrel and the bomb
Darkness is creeping in and the
accreditation is almost done
It doesn't matter how we vote, this
election is lost and won
It will be the freest and fairest and
most credible one
Not a shot fired, no polling agent
brandishing a gun
Tonight will be the most jubilant in
our beds
With brilliant fireworks in our
dreams, hope in our heads
That someday some-ass atop a rock
shall give us some bread
Before he tells us we are living,
even if we are dead
Odoh Diego Okenyodo is a Nigerian writer, activist poet, journalist, public relations and advertising practitioner. He is the Country Director of Splendors of Dawn Poetry Foundation in Nigeria.
