My blood would boil in righteous anger
For the evil of discrimination is clearly established
Where a white man tries to treat me like rubbish
But if Hausas say Igbos are greedy and crude
And Igbos say Hausas are haughty and rude
And Ijaw says Itshekiri must die today
And Ezza tells Ezillo there is no other way
If Yorubas declare it is Awo or nothing
And we use “Federal Character” to share everything
So, before you can even smile and tell me, “Welcome”
You must first ask me where my father is from
If those who were settlers but now indigenes
Say those who are settlers can’t turn indigenes
While our Constitution says we are all citizens
Local Governments keep issuing Certificates of Origin
If my brother passed JAMB but can’t go to Uni
Because he is Tiv and he’s not Kanuri
And UniMaid has a quota for its catchment area
So, he must go back to Benue or wait one more year
If it’s okay to say it’s not okay to marry
Someone just because they are Kalabari
And that every tribe must have its own side
Are we not then practicing…Apartheid?
If you cannot buy land unless you’re a native
And cannot find work unless you’re a native
And cannot feel safe unless you’re a native
How can we then say, we’re not primitive?
Yet, you go to London and get their passport
Then settle wherever, however you want
You stand there and fight for equality
But come back and start to use ethnicity
I don’t get the logic in thinking its different
To be tribalistic and then to be racist
If you’re happy to judge him, just hearing his name
Whatever you call it, my friend, it’s the same
Where there is no courage to cross this divide
Where there is no faith to look deep inside
And stop judging accents and surnames and dressing
This fire we’re quenching will only keep burning
Which nation can stand, dividing its people?
How can one build on foundation, so brittle?
If we cannot see ourselves in each other
Our journey ends here; we can go no further
For, when God made man, He gave him no facial marks
He did not make Gbagi, Okun or Angas
As sure as a white man is just like a black man
No culture is older than being human
This is the Truth; until we accept it
Our nation will stumble on its broken feet
Those same things can bind us that drive us apart:
For, the Wall and the Bridge are both in the heart.

DIKE CHUKWUMERIJE.