The Dictators Are Not Only Those…A poem dedicated to a dear friend COMRADE OLAITAN OYERINDE. He was assassinated on May 4, 2012 at about 2am at his residence in the Government Reservation Area, Benin, Nigeria.
At the time of his death, he was the private secretary of the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. He was also the deputy secretary of Nigeria Labor Congress. Olaitan Oyerinde was a bright young life lost to Nigeria’s ‘do or die’ dirty politics.
He was a dedicated worker and a loyal comrade. His last status update on his Facebook page was a 
message of solidarity to workers on May Day. He wrote: “For the union makes us strong! Happy May Day. No tire till justice reign!”
Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde was born on Dec 7,1968. As we celebrate his posthumous birthday today, I cannot help but wonder if his killers will ever be brought to justice. Is there hope for a true democracy in Nigeria and where exactly did the left go wrong?
It is disheartening but I guess we cannot afford to lose hope. Even if I lost hope in my country, I must not lose hope in humanity; after all a country is just a landmass with a name. We are all earthlings, first and foremost.
Olaitan, I really do miss our fights, laughter, banter and all the office drama. R.I.P. Adieu and Goodbye.
The Dictators Are Not Only Those
The Dictators are not only those
Who terrorized us in military clothes
Banned the ballot boxes, rolled out armored tanks
From their hallowed barracks their records stank
The dictators are not only those
Who unleashed on us bullets doses
Arrests we endured, Teargas we inhaled
Bullets we survived, in victory we exhaled
The dictators are more than men in khakis
Now they strut around with official cardkeys
They dined with the military killers
Frolicking and posing as civilian rulers
The dictators are the beneficiaries of our struggle
The throats of the people they now strangle
Feeding fat on the carcass of the masses
Belching on empty electoral promises
The dictators are the pot bellied old men
Toasting their ‘do or die’ politics with a mien
Drinking the blood of our youth
While our treasury they loot
With our blood we paved the way for elections
With our limbs new mansions are now erected
Assassins they wantonly hire to come and raid
As they willfully gun down our trusted comrades
Arise comrades, for our work is far from done
From the wrinkled, bloodstained hands of the dons
Our country we shall capture and reclaim
Our comrades’ blood shall not be in vain
The dictators are the 1 percent
We the masses are the 99 percent
With unity, might and strength
We shall sniff out their odious scent
The dictators we shall once again oust
Our flag they shall no longer hoist
They shall all be gone
Before we are done.
BY © YEMISI ILESANMI
I’m sorry for the loss of your friend and comrade, Yemmy. We are all a bit smaller today.
Thank you, CaitieCat.
Assasination is the instrument of a coward, one who disparages discourse and honest warfare. Your associate deserved better than this. I will leave it at that as I do notagree with a lot of what he said and to mention it here would be innapropriate.