LITERATORS' CORNER

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 promis...

JUNGLE             --Amadi Ekwutosilam Njoku This jungle is that land Where the future is webbed in desolate dreams And each thread of hope is dried up Like a lake cut off from a life-giving stream. This jungle is that land Where the dagger-hoofed beasts, masters of loot Trample on the frail masses, earnestly Whetting their callous knife of greed Ploughing the people's patrimony to fill their porous pockets. This jungle is that land Where impunity culture is gloried so high Because her laws are too weak to fight a just cause Where depraved dealings spread wildly like a leprous sore Overwhelming victims with its maddening juiciness; The sharpest knife is the bluntest. This jungle is that land Where talents and lofty ideas die unharnessed Under the very watch of her leaders-- Leaders who live only for themselves Leaving behind dusty footmarks for a legacy; the led Grope in continued and deep-seated blacko...