Night before the War by Okoroji Chidiebere Alexander

In Remembrance of Biafra War 

It came like a rumor,
At first we were scared.
We never knew what it was,
They said; we are free,
Nobody told us how or why?
It was late that night,
While we are dancing to the moonlights,
Mother came out quickly to grab us.
We were confused,
Of what this news is about,
Why are people reacting negatively!
Grandpa couldn't tell us,
Those beautiful night stories.
Father was away with friends,
He usually comes home late at night,
While we are asleep,
To my surprise,
I saw father running towards the house;
Shouting and telling everyone in the compound,
To lock their doors,
That the worse has happened.
I was young and scared.
Too weak to speak,
So hard to understand.
This seems like a nightmare.
Not until father and Grandpa starting conversing about the controversy,
He says:


"We are free but this will come with a price,
There is hope, if only we will fight,
We should be strong cos, tomorrow will be bright,
At the end,
I pray Biafrans will be Alright"

Grandpa being  a wise man responded:

"The Sun is far from bright,
The colors we see as white,
That doesn't make it right,
We can't really see the spotlights,
Because of its greater heights,
I'm more concern about how we hold on tight,
And be our own judge in these quest,
As we keep our mind west.

I couldn't understand what he said,
That night, all the  villages are in silent,
You can't hear a drop of noise,
I don't know if people are hopeful,
Or preparing for the task ahead.
Mother was busy petting my younger brothers and sisters.
Her facial expression speaks of hope and fear,
I don't know if its fair.
As I stand beside the entrance door,
Thinking out loud,
I could see the valor in fathers eye,
I could feel the spirit so high,
But within I know its all lies,
These people aren't ready for this,
But their fate is made for them,
By the god of War.
That night changed everything,
We lost over three million Biafrans,
I lost friends who could have been doctors,
Lawyers, Engineers etc.
The zeal to become anything then was possible,
Dreams hold us together,
Dreams of brighter tomorrow,
We lost Christopher Okigbo,
We lost great men and women,
That night doomed us,
That decision unmakes us,
We became what we didn't dream of.
I say to all those friends of mine who died:

"We fought for Honor,
We  fought with pride for what is just,
We fought for our destiny,
We fought for the future,
Even if we lost,
At least the world heard our pains.
We didn't fight to gain,
We fought to keep hope alive,
We fought for our lands,
We were scared of what we will become,
But we took that fear to war,
We fought it gallantly,
Even when the whole world abandoned us,
We fought for what is left of us,
Our Dignity,
Our Pride,
We fought and fell,
But here we have stories to tell,
To our unborn generations, what happened to us,
The pogrom, massacre, starving and killings  committed to us,
The injustice penetrated to us,
For a country Nigeria we fought to create,
How we got maltreated at the end.
To the North we say, We Remember!
To the West we say, We Remember!
To those in the mid belts We say, We Remember!
We won't forget how you treated us,
We won't forget!
And to all our fallen heroes and heroines, We Remember your selflessness to keep us alive,
Because of your bravery we are alive today,
We salute you all,
And we say Ozoemena (No to War)"




Okoroji Chidiebere Alexander