1.What have we sacrificed
For our military?
How has Nigeria
Mopped their bleeding wounds?
They daily
Fight our battles
How have we
Fought their battles?
Daily they die
Our very deaths
How have we
Died for them?
2.We agree
That they mutineed
They rebelled
When they should have been loyal
To their very deaths
To their very end
But then shouldn’t we ask
What suffocated their loyalty?
3.From dawn to dusk
They see their colleagues perish
In battles
Where the most equipped wins
They set out
With limited rounds of bullets
They set out
Leaving their families behind
They set out
Knowing they may never return
With their families back home
Thrown into eternal sorrows thereafter
4.Ours is a military
With beautiful hearts
Innocent Nigerians
Who have chosen to perish
They get no gold
Nor boxes of rubies
For their selfless acts
For their bravery in the face of terror
We see the guns they carry
Barrels that should have been buried
We demand more honour for them
We demand glory for our military
5.We don’t want a military
Where soldiers have to buy boots with their money
A military
Where soldiers have to pay for uniforms
A military
Where night-vision goggles are a luxury
A military
Where families have no succour
6.Rather,we want a military
Where our men would be treated as royals
Uniforms gayly dorned
Berets standing as crowns on their heads
Boots shining with pride
All given out free
We want a military
Graced with sparkling barrels
That may keep shelling forever
As they guard our walls
We want a military
Where families will never be forgotten
A military
That will be our pride forever
7.For the 12
Already convicted to die
Indeed there are codes of conduct
They have flouted
But death
Should not be our answer
Who obeys to the last order
When his/her back is not covered?
Who sacrifices all
When there’s no assurance of a reward?
8.For the 12
Already convicted to die
We ask
That their lives be spared
The root is our problem at the moment
Not the fruits
The military
Needs our love
The military
Needs our prayers
The military
Needs new guns
The military
Needs new boots
We can’t afford to have a military
That sleeps on empty stomachs
We can’t afford to have a military
That embarks on missions with crooked tools
Else
We’ll have more mutinees
And more convictions
And more deaths
With our walls being continually compromised
And what more
Can herald the downfall of a nation?
Soyombo Ayomikun tweets from @alabaster85