Poet of the Week: Mamman Jamilu

Oh Abuja!

So many wonderful stories I’ve told about you

How you’ve been a constant harbor of everything nice

And how the people I’ve told about you harbor dreams of this wonderful site

Especially in the village

I tell unending tales of jolly

Each time I visit

I tell them of

How we drink wines

With French cuisines

And how we have cars

That use kerosenes

With cushy tiled roads

Filled with long limousines

Oh Abuja!

I once told a lie about you

Several lies if you count the ones I told Abu too

It always starts honestly

And I try to tell them earnestly

Then I see the craving in their eyes

The longing for more of this amazing tale

I capture their attention as I take them through a life they only see on the television

Then the story gets boring

It gets to the basic stuffs

Like the shower that drips both hot and cold water in the bathroom

Then they tell me of having a similar one

And I improvise

How dare you compare this place to the magnificent Abuja

Oh Abuja!

The things you’ve made me do

The lies I’ve told on behalf of you

The copy – copy lifestyle you’ve led me through

Should I blame them on you?

Or is it I that is to be blamed?

Oh, my dear Abuja

How it hurts me to say

I don’t want here no more

I almost got kidnapped last year

My sister got waylaid last night

The tales I told are the opposite of what is happening right now

And I don’t want you anymore

But I won’t disappoint you

I shall continue your merry tale

Until the end of time.