Segun Ozique

Shackled, I am and bed-ridden: A Broken crown; they bruised my rein These tiny flying stabbing nuisances Minuscule creature, slap tap or clap kill. I was not quick to their devilish intentions; I dallied to have their toxic injected in me; Such to make me now, shaking like a leaf; My hotness shooting way outside my roof; Such like my head has had mortal installed; With a pestle designed to pound non-stop; And my nostril stuffed by blockading catarrh: Such that nothing I have had or could have; Would fend off their invading venomous bugs: Making me now find me in sludge, neck deep.

‘Scavengers’ Orgy,’ explores the role of customs in communities, in range of behaviour from taken for granted traits, deeds and actions; from child bequeathal, marriage, rape to all manners of exploitations and manipulations. Ozioma documents the shenanigans by individuals and organizations as they crisscross Nigeria to Europe and North America; identifying, exposing and amplifying associations and relationships that may not be obvious to casual readers. ‘Eyes glued to the mirror, Beatrice gauges the effect of the clingy black top she has just pulled over her black bra. It hangs over her short jeans skirt, revealing a wee bit of the alluring flesh of her tight abdomen. She screw up her eyes to better appreciate the effect of her apparel on her prospective audience…she is after all, the prize that has attracted all the attention. Normally she does not mind parading herself, a sinecure of inquisitive eyes, but not for these unpolished rural skunks. For three days, she has felt he

I’ll like to begin with this quote by Reihard Bonnke, ‘More than thirty years ago, as a young missionary in Africa, I sometimes preached to five people. My opportunity to see the impact of the glorious Gospel presented in the ‘’proven’’ tradition of foreign mission had come!’ He was talking of mission in a continent of over a billion souls with about half yet to receive salvation and freedom in fulfillment of the biblical word in Mark 16:15. Putting this in the context of the Nigerian situation, by situation here, I mean, location, particularly in the North-region where antagonism dog all evangelists; where going to church is like walking among mines; where hope is all that is left by all Christians, felt forsaken by the authority, and can only hold on, in wait for when God, as surely, he would arose in battle and root all oppositions. Yet again, quoting from Bonnke’s book, ‘Evangelism by Fire,’ ‘Gospel is not good news to people who don’t hear it-that an unreached gospel is

Love your enemies as you would your friends; do good always, no matter what. Bless them and pray for them that despitefully wish only to use you or find excuse to prosecute you. I know this is really, really hard for revengeful human heart, but should come natural to those who profess to be children of God...those, who despite all societal failing and corruption, continue to trudge, carrying the insignia of royalty of Christ and ever loyal to God.

Back in 1967, two ‘…young Sandhurst-trained soldiers… were the principal actors in the Nigeria-Biafra civil war. Fast-track to today; the two, ex-soldiers, one; Odumegwu Ojukwu, before his death, at 78 years old, extremely wealthy, enjoyed a rich public and private life of abundance, remarried and saw all his children grow. The other; Yakubu Gowon, now 78 years old, also exceedingly prosperous, alive and well, has seen all his children grow and presently seating on the board of several ‘do good,’ organizations in Nigeria. Many, however, particularly millions of women and children were not so lucky, they died in that war of attritions-starved or raped to death or hacked till dead in a war they knew nothing about, fought, not in a neutral battleground between soldiers but in the compounds, communities and lives of the South-Easterners, that was Biafra. The Nigerian government was the victor, with millions of lives from both sides, vanquished, worst hit being those on the side of Biafr