11 Days After June 12

Eleven days after June 12th,

So notorious... so unprecedented;

The military gaveled and nipped at the bud,

Their ravenousness was unleashed after nine days on the leash,

The General can't withstand to alienate from being a god,

They matched up my street which was dead at a start;

My father bellowed "today we must fight";

My mother mellowed "let's hope for the light";

From the window the silhouette of my father lost from sight;

"A mere Nitel staff and very far to the center",

The burden of memory severely hurts,

We rented our clothes and in ashes we laid,

The memoir of bullets deafened my thoughts,

Our mandate was spewed from us with bandolier,

We were just mere pawns in a military manga;

We ended the day with my father favorite Fela's song.

Eleven days earlier...

The day called June 12th...

My kinsmen buried their hatches and all rivalries fade;

We matched to the barracks with our banners in white,

A new dawn beckons; a new sun we bade;

Finally at ease, no more no longer at ease;

"In amity, friends and foes mounted the poll,

Hand-in-hand, in tandem we made the ballot count;

We enunciated that "this day we claimed what the military took";

My father, a day after June 12th narrated the yester victory;

We thought all the scorches had gone;

"Chief Mko will be president and democracy has come"!

Mildly it rained and we hummed to victory song;

My clan survived those years of locusts,

We ended the day with my father favorite Sunny Ade's song.

Leke Odubote, “Eleven days After June 12”