A Poem For UNIPORT 4 by Adejumoke Otulaja

A Strange Land Aluu.Tell me what the name Aluu means? I hear the sky whisper ‘abomination’ A strange Land- ‘Aluu’. A land I know not. The ground that never swallowed my placenta. A strange land I was sojourned. The same sand I walked on. In the quest for knowledge. In the pursuit for mental liberation, I met my end. The desired end I dreamt of was shattered by a people within. I prayed for a fruitful day at dawn Instead I was offered a bitter tale. I struggled to but couldn’t tell. The same people within. Oh! How my blood turns cold in my helpless watch. My blood cried for hope as each stick hits my scalp Oh! Their scream for death suppresses my heart beat. My nakedness was made public with shame as my cover. My nakedness meant nothing to me; all I cared was to be heard. All ears were deaf but the whispers of death. No hope is all I hear; helpless is all I see in the weakening lid of my friends. Our soul paths in same way Mama, I cried for the love I felt. I outgrown again Papa, I yearned for your spank than these barbarians on me. Did God watch too or was heartbroken again for his own creation? Did mama feel her heart melt as I painfully transformed into a ghost? Would my sin be matched with my own kind of death? This is my Golgotha. The machete to my head, the tyres around my neck, The scream from my soul, my joy and pain, my faith, My curse, my destiny, my forgiveness, my spit, my urine, my tears, my blood. A land I know not, ALUU took it all Mama please do something Papa! Papa!! Papa!!! A strange Land took it all.

The Writer - Adejumoke Otulaja

THIS IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE FAMILIES WHO LOST THEIR CHILDREN IN ALUU COMMUNITY IN PORT-HARCOURT. PLS KINDLY RE-BROADCAST