The Fallen Giant: A lament for Nigeria's stolen Children

Oh My Country Nigeria Oh My Country Nigeria, your soil drinks the tears of toddlers, little feet that once chased chalk dust now stumble through bushes in chains. Oh My Country Nigeria, on May the fifteenth, gunshots shattered dawn, three schools bled innocence in Ogbomoso, thirty-nine children, some barely two years old, ripped from classrooms meant to birth their dreams. Yet your government turns a blind eye, feasting behind marble walls while blood flows freely. Oh My Country Nigeria. Oh My Country Nigeria, a mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, stood before blackboards etching futures, now his head rolls in a bandit’s video— a trophy for monsters, a warning ignored. Mothers claw at empty beds, fathers rage at silent skies, but your leaders sip wine and quote statistics, deaf to the screams echoing across the land. Oh My Country Nigeria. Oh My Country Nigeria, where fear is the only constant companion, where parents kiss their children goodbye wondering if school will return them alive. You parade Children’s Day on the twenty-seventh, a hollow celebration while little warriors remain hostages, caged by monsters you refuse to crush. Oh My Country Nigeria. Oh My Country Nigeria, once a giant of Africa, rich with promise and pride, a land that stood tall at independence, boasting black gold and brains that lit the continent— now living in ruins, a shadow of her former glory. How dare you still boast of greatness while your babies shiver in captivity, while teachers’ blood paints the path to knowledge red? You have failed the purest among us, turned sanctuaries of learning into slaughter fields, and your government watches it all— complicit, comfortable, and cruelly silent. Oh My Country Nigeria. Oh My Country Nigeria, the world watches your children disappear while the powerful sleep behind tall walls of denial. We cry with bleeding hearts and burning rage: Bring back our babies! End this slaughter of hope! For you were once a great nation— a beacon of black excellence and resilience— now a crumbling ruin drowning in fear and forgotten blood. Wake up, Nigeria… or forever remain a fallen giant, haunted by the ghosts of your stolen children. Oh My Country Nigeria… Oh My Country Nigeria… Oh My Country Nigeria.

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