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