Judases of Mandates by Amadi Ekwutosilam Njoku

JUDASES OF MANDATES

                     --Amadi Ekwutosilam Njoku

Days chameleon to weeks, weeks into months

Swiftly months become years

To yield yet another coterie of representathieves. 

Chants of campaign pierce the sullen sky

The streets bear their posters, the market places

Sing their praise on the lips of buyers

As the media herald their false pretence.

They are the Judases of mandates

Slaying our hope of yearned utopia;

Men whose presences reinforce those ugly years we have bid adieu.

In trust they bear our common mandates

To steer this sutured vessel of scattered tribes 

Into the land of milk and honey;

Their words are sweet savour that clasp our charmed ears.

What manner of guise have they not used

Professing to be the Christs that will save the impoverished masses?

They are the Judases of mandates 

Driven by party allegiance and maddening greed,

Great promisers of Heaven and Earth.

To get into the corridor of power

They bind our resistance with sweet promises

Like a man in between a woman's bosom

Because they want the pinnacle of life's orgasm

Only to cast us into the endless void of lack and want.

They are Judases of mandates that wear the boot of power 

Ruthlessly crushing the feeble ribs of the weak;

Perfidious foes who clothe lies in useless euphemisms

To plunder the purse they should grow for the good of all.

They are the grey-hair vultures, our pot-belly padicrats

Purporting to have the cure-all for our ills

But are too weak to break the carapace of hardship.

Meet the Poet

Amadi Ekwutosilam Njoku,author of ERAZ Literature-in-English (Critical Analysis) for senior secondary schools, hails from Amasiri in Afikpo North, Ebonyi State. He is a poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer, literary essayist and critical analyst. He resides in Lagos where he has taught the English language and Literature-in-English in many schools and SSCE/UTME examination coaching centres. Some of his poems have appeared in Saturday's Daily Sun Newspaper-a bimonthly publication, and other national dailies. He is currently with DORSSY HIGH SCHOOL, Moshalashi, Akowonjo, Lagos where he is a preceptor of the same subjects. He has also to his credits, many unpublished works across the three genres of literature. His pastimes include reading, researching, and writing.