Chinedu Dike
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Chinedu Dike
Wednesday 17 June 2026

Nightmares Of Slumbering Africa

Colonialism pushed to the center stage,
the recoiling phenomenon intensely illuminated
by The Flame Of Liberty.
Roused by the prospect of emancipatory freedom,
from the shadows of Servitude, nations rise.
Their demand for a dawn long on hold
brings an end to the colonial yoke.
Her soul refreshed with a breath of new life,
Africa thrills at expanding horizons—
an euphoria that veiled 'Danger Signs'.
Bequeathed dreadful webs of intrigue,
uneasy amalgams through coercion held,
they bicker over the vacated Seat Of Power.
In their snobbery of honor in favor of greed,
strategic realignments produce The Strongman:
a tyrant—backed by 'jackals'
and supported by a gullible public.
Hopeful assertion soon becomes a gaudy illusion.
The exit of Foreign Powers has delivered
the people into the grasps of Democratic Mobs:
cabals fueled by the sludge of Kleptocracy.
Good citizens sieved out of the system,
party loyalists take over their place.
Key positions go to ruthless operators;
political parties become private estates,
the legislative bodies subdued.
With the Judiciary effectively hijacked,
the oppressed has nowhere to seek redress.
Ultimately, The Liberators Turn Into Oppressors.
Having subverted Power Of The People,
frenzied torrents of greed without care
institutionalize Opportunistic Banditry.
Raging economic crises follow,
and attempts to curb deficits upset lives,
sending a violated citizenry into poverty.
Struggle credentials with ruling party cards:
the prerequisites for political ascendancy.
Capitalist tendencies reinvent imperialism.
Ethnic rivalry promoted—one tribe favored,
serious conflicts provoked.
The Freedom Party, once the pride of the nation,
has turned public enemy number one.
With the powder keg too close to naked flames,
BANG! It explodes with a vengeance.
Turmoils of Democratic Anarchy usher in The Military:
demagogues with perfect sets of iron teeth,
whose stern miens wore the semblance of an undertaker.
They bait on sentiments to legitimize regime;
they promise to steer The Ship Of State,
they pay lip service to anti-corruption.
They're the raiders of public treasuries!
The violators of Integrity Of The State!
The embodiments of rot!
Strategic alliance built with oligarchs,
the marriage of convenience symbiotic in nature:
'You Rub My Back I'll Rub Yours.'
The wooed spiders, with keen knowledge of the web,
assume an oversight for the junta,
maintaining brazen squandering of resources.
In the quest for total control,
they unleash an assemblage of horrors:
prison cells packed with innocent citizens,
rendition of dissidents tagged 'terrorists'.
Curfews enforced; checkpoints mounted;
free speech punished.
Displeasures carefully altered in whispers,
brutality sold as a pragmatic response.
The cowardly populace petrified,
in degrading submission blindly accepting Slavery.
Assets of nations plundered with impunity,
ill-gotten moneys laundered offshore.
Treacherously, patrimonies transferred abroad—
governments turning around to ask for loans
on the very funds illicitly moved.
Post-colonial Africa remains a continent marred:
human rights abuses of monumental proportions,
entrenched lack of accountability,
shameful history of nationalized thefts.
Since Independence, Africa has continued to stagnate
while the rest of the world forged ahead.
But she ought to be thriving well!
She has an unrivaled wild life,
pristine ecosystems with stretches of fertile lands,
rare incidences of natural disasters,
a resilient hardworking population.
Her prospects for hydroelectric supply second to none,
hugely blessed with diverse mineral resources—
no other continent endowed with as much!
Yet notoriously, Africa wallows,
stuck in the vast abyss of economic woes.



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