HE WAS ONCE LIKE US - A PERFORMING POEM

He was once like you, like me, like us
But when I said I wanted to talk about him, I was told that;
‘You cannot talk about that which you can’t see.’
But that didn’t surprise me,
Because I wasn’t supposed to talk
I was supposed to swallow my tears and call on God
to send us a savior above from heaven, like Jesus.
I wasn't supposed to talk,
I was supposed to look at those children in the eye
Whom their parent were slaughtered before their eyes
And tell them a little sorry.
I wasn't supposed to talk.
I was supposed to lower my head down when I saw that woman
Whom her son jumped over her body forcefully at 2am and tore her wrapper apart!!
I wasn't supposed to talk until my body hits the ground.

But when I looked at his portrayed hanged on my street labelled Wanted,
I see the image of a figure I cannot see,
Image of a ghost eyes widened enough to such blood,
beard full ready to grap,
 head crowned of a terrorist king.
Yet, I had dared to believe that
I could hold his memories in my skull,
that I could feel his breath on the left side of my chest,
that I could hear his roar on the tip of my ears.


See! Let me tell you,
He had played football in the evening and hid his wound from his mum,
He had once stayed late at night and covered his fault with lies,
He had used his hands to plant seeds before he used them to plant bombs,
He had shed tears for poor human before he turned inhuman,
He had used his index finger to point at birds before he used them to pull trigger,
Pulling the trigger like point to kill, like kill them all, like making my home a refugee camp.


He had once jumped his body up when NEPA brought light
He was once a Nigerian boy harassed by the police
He was once a Nigerian boy with empty pockets
Like walking on the street thinking of attempting suicide
Like closing your eyes and see no future, not because you can’t see the future, but because your future can’t see you.
Like a boy who was asked; what do you want to be in the future and he replied ‘Alive’
‘I want to be alive in the future.’

He was once like you, like me, like us
He was once an innocent boy before he turned into a beast
He was once a follower before he turned into a fake god
He was once a learner before he turned the holy book upside down
He was once like me, like you, like us
He was once Abubakar before he turned to Shekau.

Poem first performed on 18th January, 2020 at Borno Literary Society #PeaceUnbroken literary event 2020.