UNITY: FACT OR FICTION? - by Ibn Abdullah 🦁

So close yet so distantFrom intimate brothers to within an instant On the precipice of drawing bordersSome days we seem to be on our feet as oneAmalgamated with patriotic compression Staving of voraciously any and all efforts at external oppression Until...regression Once the foes without no longer loomHatred is allowed to fester into full bloomThe united spirit of Naija fades awayThat very spirit that binds us as an entityIt proves devastatingly feeble against sensitivitiesWeaker than the love shared between hydrogen moleculesEven though we are alike, down to the minutest follicle Unity is apprehended when differences are confronted. Ah! Naija!My beloved motherlandPopulous and prosperous Blessed with fertile landGifted is she with a full spectrum of people'sFrom the North to the southThe east to the westSo close yet terribly distantWe are as alike as we are different Why? I wonderWhy is unity so daunting a missionAm I expected to abandon faith in Yakubu Gowon's visionNo! I think not!I for one shall linger in optimism You could call me delusional but I still choose to believe I am stubborn oh yes!But how can I not be?When here I am in Bauchi Surrounded on all fronts by all Nigeria has to offer!And I am in love with what I seeSo many peoples alike and differentEach steeped deeply in heritage rich and magnificent I am dazzled! The Hausa, the Yoruba, the Igbo The three towering titansLet me begin with theseThe North, the west and the eastMighty kingdoms in antiquity And mighty still they remainI belong to none of these But I feel like I belong all the sameWazobiaVery few a nation could celebrate what we enjoyA special land populated with special peopleMagnificent and regalVibrantly colored with many a shade of culture The Peoples of ArewaThe Sovereigns of the North *Arewa Ina miko gaisuwa* *Da Fatan an wuni lafiya* From her womb sprang forth the great Tafawa BalewaA man amongst menThey are a people with blessed hands Masters of all craftsThe personification of eleganceIn trade they excell The YorubaWhere do I even begin *Omo Yoruba* *Mo n ki yin o* *Mo n ki gbogbo Ile o* Bastions of ingenuity At the forefront of creativity A history swollen with depictions of eleganceSparkling ever visibly with prestigious presentationA culture so rich it spanned continentsFrom AfricaAll the way across the sea to south America Ogun's hammer smites with prideWhile Sango's thunder rumbles without decline The Igbos*Ndi Igbo* *Ekele m unu* The lions of Nigeria Wisdom so immense They could be descendants of SolomonTough and hard they do not buckleThey can turn a Kobo into a fortuneNo territory however treacherous they cannot treadNo mountain for them is insurmountable They are conquerorsConscious are they of what they can and cannot do Yet instead of doing only what they can doThey choose instead to do what they can't doSo that now they can do bothKings and Queens of resilience Jacks of all trades Masters of all And then there's rest of this great nationThe peoples of the middleThe lands were the two great rivers mingle There resides peoples of endless capabilities And others more within the shadows cast by the three towering titansEach with cultures distinct Yet they are alike in richnessIt saddens me that they are far too numerous to mention But they are and will always be immovable pillars of this nation Without which there will be no Nigeria Yes it's trueOur borders were defined by colonial conveniencePuppeteered by the white man's strings into mutual suspicion But with this I concludeA single sentenceThough different we may beThere can be union in diversity

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