Every continent sold and bought slaves, it was the highest commodity then, our own business men had their fair share of the market.. But what did they trade for in return; salt, snuff, mirror, hats, and at best gin and guns.. While Europe and the Americas were built with their slaves!
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Next it was coal and palm oil.. Our fathers were again on the mainstream of these sterling commodities of the 16th to 19th century, with the busiest oil beaches and ports.. Bonny, Ikot Abasi, Igwenga, Port Harcourt, Nembe, etc were born.. What did they achieve with it? More gin to soak their Kwale weed and Amakohia grass, more gun powders and poisons to kill themselves, power tussles and at the best sex plus adding more women to their fleet!
Next inferiority complex push them to adopt English names like Brown, Clark, Spiff etc and throw away their identity.. They accept colloquial names for their meaningful native names and imitate the White man's Accent. Ahaba became Asaba, Onicha to Onitsha, Oma-Ahia to Umuahia, etc! They even named them at their will.. Lagos State, Rivers, Port Harcourt, Cross River etc including landmarks like river Niger!.. With the proceeds of the trade, our people bought coats and moved around with walking stick and stuck oyibo pipes in their mouth, while Europe, America and Asia went on a sprint of development!
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Now its our generation, we are selling crude oil without developing our country, just same way that generation sold slaves, coal and oil and developed no where, bear in mind, one day.. One day too soon.. crude oil will stop being the highest commodity, then what will our children's generation say about the generation that sold crude oil??..
With your croaky voice and gray hair, limbs no more so fast to run away from your sins, you will recount excuses of how you allowed a fossil rule and ruin your age, how you collected N500 and stood by the streets of Gwagwalada to applaud the greatest curse of your generation, how you stoned those that came to make you eat the forbidden apples of wisdom, how you accused the other tribes of being your problem but won't let your problems go, you will recount and recount and then lie that it was about PDP vs APC and not about how you ruined yourself.