I am sorry Lyrics

Standing in a semi-straight line

Sweaty palms and arms hanging loosely by the side

Clear-eyed, sleep deprived we screamed from the top of our lungs

With our tongues barely forming the words as we read

State and capital

Abia umuahia

Adamawa Yola

Akwaibom Uyo

Anambra Awka

Bauchi Bauchi

Bayelsa yenogoa

Benue markurdi

Borno Maiduguri

Borno Maiduguri

That sounded afar off as it rolled over our little yet feeble tongue

Like someplace in Siberia not anywhere in Nigeria.

Until the headlines read 276 school girls kidnapped in Chibok, Borno state

We stood on the sidelines amid the headlines as not

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, but

276 school girls were reported to have been kidnapped

Oblivious to their pain we murmured under our breath

A blunder that shouldn't be uttered

We went to slumber and made the terrorist grow stronger

With the chances of our girls returning grew slimmer because

'Na their people' we muttered under our breath

Rivers port harcourt

Sokoto sokoto

These were strange words two third of us struggled to pronounce

As the words bounced from the lips of sons with tons of overstretched

Lungs making us appear as babes with the power of tongues.

110 school girls kidnapped in Dapchi

Big and bold sprawled across the papers and social media channels

Which left us appalled at the system that allowed Leah to be abducted

Her childhood obstructed along with 109 schoolgirls

She was made a child bride because she refused to

Denounce her faith without an ounce of fear

With our lips we sang songs about her courage

While her release date piled up on demurrage

Like a consignment awaiting clearing at the port

Gombe Gombe

Imo Owerri

Jigawa Dutse

Kaduna Kaduna

Doing nothing we joined our good-for-nothing government

Awaiting news with folded arms

Yet another breaking news

Unknown number kidnapped and killed

At the Abuja - Kaduna rail attack by bandits the headlines read again

Oh They planned it, they planned it

While the politicians sought more credit loans from China to loot

They planned it while our youth were stuck to channel 198

They planned it in between the chaos, they planned it again

What began like a mistake soon became an endless tale of

Looting, rape, sexual assault, displacement, kidnapping, banditry, and mayhem

Yet we stood on the sidelines and watched the headlines like a constellation

They came for Borno, we did nothing

They came for Yobe, we did nothing

They came for Kaduna, we did nothing

They came for Deborah we did nothing

They came for Owo, we did nothing

This volcano is about to spill hot lava

Across our cassava fields yet we fold our hands and do nothing

We are next if we do nothing

To my brothers and sisters in the North henceforth

I promise not to stay on the sidelines as your young ones are maimed

Your sons turned to terrorists, your girls turned to sex slaves and child brides

Your mothers raped and your old ones killed

My silence has caused you to find comfort in an uncomfortable situation

I am sorry for not being the best human and

I tender my unreserved apology

Because you deserve better than what you have been served

Therefore I make this pledge today to put you first by getting my PVC