GOD TICKET 2011

An open letter to Nigerians as they go to the polls in April 2011

(After Carman’s ‘America Again’)

By Nnorom Azuonye

The only hope for Nigeria is God
The only hope for our country is Him
We must burn our bad old ways
turn to the new and say
We need God in Nigeria again

Nnamdi Azikiwe Obafemi Awolowo
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
Names we can associate
with the founding of a new Nigeria
fathers in whose hearts burnt
the promise of a great nation

Over 50 years ago they broke the chains
of tyranny and exploitation from Great Britain
shaking off the after-pains of the violation
of our ways our faiths our self-belief
and our brotherhood
they put our destiny in our own hands

At the time of the great vision most
Nigerians believed in a supreme One
Traditionalists in the Great one in the sky
Muslims in Allah Christians in Jehovah
and Atheists in nothing but integrity

But something happened since
we woke up floating on rivers of oil
that washed away the groundnut pyramids
and the cocoa mountains the black blood
that replaced the red in our veins
we became possessed the Nigerian body
a host for Nhaijazubul Nhaijazubul
a gross being of the underworld a master
destroyer of national dream and pride
corrupter of souls evil merchant
of greed and lawlessness

Therefore we eliminated God from the equation
of Nigerian life we built shining palaces
all over the country for Nhaijazubul
thus eliminating the foundation
on which our great nation once stood
We have eliminated pride and honour
from the Nigerian life
replaced meritocracy with nepotism
replaced peace with fear
unemployed graduates have changed
the definition of hardwork to robbing
or kidnapping the do-gooders
for fruits of their hardwork

Nigeria is now a mosque-infested
church-burdened God-forsaken land
and from beyond the grave the voices
of our founding fathers boom
‘YOU NEED GOD IN NIGERIA AGAIN’

The only hope for Nigeria is God
The only hope for our country is Him
We must burn our bad old ways
turn to the new and say
We need God in Nigeria again

We must bring God back to Nigeria
if we must burn down the culthouses
in our universities the breeding ground
of future robbers and kidnappers

We must bring God back to Nigeria
If we must bring back good old religion
where God not money is the object of worship
and congregants know Grace is not for sale

We must bring back God to Nigeria
if we must experience great politics again
relive the timber and calibre-rocked era
a time promises were understood as debts

If we must survive as a country
if Nigeria is to survive the next two decades
it is time to start living as God lives
it is time to obey the greatest commandment
Love your neighbour as you love yourself

No more stealing from our brothers and sisters
No more envy of a friend’s success
No more murder plots or assassinations
for political or business gain
No more electoral vote-napping

We need God in Nigeria again
for if I have Him in me, and you have Him in you
I can stand on a mountaintop and call you brother
or sister and we shall defend our lives with our lives

We need God
We need God
We need God in Nigeria again
Vote for God in 2011

- Nnorom Azuonye