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My name is Abuja
If you have not heard about me,
Then, you are probably uneducated,
Probably ethnocentric
Probably detest the black or lack interest in them
For none can downsize me
Not when you see all men as equal
Irrespective of clan, creed and colour.
I am the capital city of the most populous black nation
I am right here in the center of Africa.
I am a young and pretty city
I harbour the powerful and the rich
I abhor the ordinary and the poor
I am insidiously wicked!
Like all modern capital cities,
Streets, avenues and parks within me glitter like gold
Ubiquitous florescent streetlights light every nook and cranny
Water drips from every valve within my province
Like sweat drips from the brow of a manual labourer
I am build from the wealth of the nation
From the toiling of underpaid labourers by big construction companies
And the exploitation of the resources in the subordinate cities
The wealth from the oil in the Niger-delta is allocated to me.
Though, the Aso rock I boast of do not attract any tourist.
Instead, it had led to coups and counter coups
Electoral rigging, balloting stuffing and political killings
My neatness, beauty and ostentation count more than human lives.
I am the living example of growth without development
I give the rich and powerful all their needs
Electricity, water, road, security, schools and high-class prostitutes
The poor I make poorer.
I am the oasis in the desert
My neighbouring cities are my contradictories
These are the squalor land I drive the poor to dwell in
Like all third world capital cities,
I attract the youth to me with my magnificent amenities
Baiting them with ruse job opportunities
Many school-leavers travelled from far and near
To see me, dwell in me and become a success
But I will consume them like others before them
I will continue to confound them with perpetual wandering
Let them continue to occupy the neighbouring cities
Where they brawl over arid wells and scramble for rainwater
Rely on witchcraft doctors due to lack of hospitals drugs and medical personnel
Iron their dresses with cold pressing iron due to lack of electricity
Sleep with one eye open due to lack of safety of life and property
Trek long distance home each day like refugees due to lack of passable roads
Let them eat carbohydrate meal always due to lack of money
I,
Abuja,
The seat of government of the happiest people in the world
The capital city of most religious nation on earth
The headquarter of a nation adjudged to be most corrupt
A major city in the world sixth largest oil-producing nation
I also have some of the world best brains that will remain in doldrums
Due to lack of opportunity
I have ended many destinies, giving wile hope in a state of bleakness
If these deluded youths will wake up and return to their hometowns
Farm, educate others and engage in communal activities
And concentrate their energies in wealth creation
Then, they may rescue their live and future
From the emptiness that I, Abuja has for them
Abuja is a mirage
You can only come in if you have purpose
The jobs are not here
The opportunities are not here
Many girls that came long ago are now prostitutes
Many boys that can long ago are now robbers and con men
Many yesterday politicians that refused to return home are now scavengers
The opportunities are everywhere
The glittering of Abuja is not gold
Don’t be the next victim of this vampire city
Abuja is the oasis in the desert
Capable of giving water to only a few
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Olumide Olaniyan
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