The Independence Day # Poem by Oyelakin Gbolahan

O happy day that fixed our hope;
Our hope of witnessing the exodus of the John Bulls
From the land of the Queen,
Who almost made their visitation an habitation.

The day the intrepid largest black people
Clustered in the heart of Africa’s richest rainforest
Intuited the dawn of perpetual liberty.

The day the whole world witnessed the birth and christening
Of the Negro-Giant, the Giant of Africa;
A Giant destined to become the Pride of Africa.

The day a neo-nation called “Niger-ia”
Seceded from Great Britain in 1960, October 1,
When her first Emperor acceded to office.

The day we gathered unity et peace
Out of our outstanding diversity
Which defines us as a people;
Unity et peace, such are our residuum of colonization.

The day of high joie de vivre,
We were like men that dreamed, perhaps hallucinated.

Right there at the level of Tafawa Balewa Square,
On the platform of unity, in the spirit of truth and patriotic brotherhood,
And wearing an appearance or a countenance of faith;
Everyone chanted the anthemic songs of freedom and change.

A change that will see to an accentuated progress and development;
A change that radiated an abiding illumination
To our future like the……for tendering like the labyrinthine corridor.

It was indeed a memorable independence day.