I AM A CHILD. for you.

It is not often said well to the barbaric situation that poses to us a direction yet a question as it has been often heard, where are we going?

There was a day I was in my home like this, we said we wanted to celebrate something, it was general yet I had to go to school. We sang on the assembly ground, singing with our voices reaching the sky, — you know as a child, you do as you're ordered to — and quite interestingly, it captured our interest and we did as we were told to, in that four box that made the school fence/walls. There, my father was somewhere I don't know but they gave us all plates, they gave us flags, elders drank soft drinks and it was all sponsored by the Federal Government. Yes, We were given Flags, Plates, Drinks, we celebrated what worth celebrating even in a military era.

That was then, when I was never born nor do I know what my father looks like, I was only a child that has never seen the world, I heard tales when I stepped into the world and it was a true tale. We celebrated the freedom worth celebrating in the year 1970, in the military regime.
I think they now said freedom is being imprisoned, how true is that?

We're grown ups now.

I recently heard that Nigeria is the best Nation in Africa. I was still a child then, it was when I was born, I think I was proud of my Nation then. I remembered when Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola was the Governor of Osun State. I drank his free milk, we called it 'Tea Oyin' then, we merged his name with the tea. I never attended a public school, my Aunty taught there and she often bring rolls of it...we soaked Gaari with it then, I wasn't with my father but I know we had peace.
I remembered when I was yet a child, Bisi Akande really did all he could, he sacked many Civil Servants and told them to go home, that year my grand  father died and yes, I never knew how/what pains meant but I know my mother told me she sold different milks and my Dad became a good motorcyclist.

I am not talking about myself, I am talking about a child.

I remembered... Yes, I wasn't born but I was also an innocent child, I think I looked down from heaven then and had an idea of what happened, when they fought what was called the Civil War, I'm sure I had many older brothers and mentors, my mother said something like they've travelled and I won't see them for a very long time. I think I asked Dad too, he said they're living well, somewhere I can't even imagine. I was only a child, so I smiled saying I'll meet them again.
They're living well and I won't see them for a very long time, why will I worry — why should I worry?
I was as well told my Nation is well equipped with talents, I knew some Ladies, my sisters from another mother, how they played very well and won great awards for my Nation. I later heard a coach came and told them to get married, football is wasting their time and their dream is only a mirage. Yea, they got married to goodluck and they now win awards for other country, the awardo my Nation would have proudly say it is mine.

Was I not born? I think I was born when they said Education is free, that man from Western Nigeria would have been a god, he would have been worshipped if he was born in India, I'm sure he would have been named after a very large and (famously) rich Empire if he was born in Korea. Trust me, he would have been made an immortal god if he was from America but as fate would have it, he was from a Black Nation, the one they said and respected as the best in Africa. Truly, he tried his best, he made it happen and my Nation became proud...yea, I'll love to say we were proud to have him. He made it free. I still think many State charge us free thousands because Education at the public/sponsored  level is free. At least, children and — virtuous — mothers hawked at all cost (day and night) just to see a child attends the said free school, it is really free that she had to stress life out of herself (breath) while she gladly sit at night to share her pain with a relieving lantern in the night cold. It feels really good, I was but a child; I had to plant vegetables and sell it in my town, yes I did.

 And I am sure,...yes, someone asked me, "which school are you attending?" I answered him indirectly as I know what he was trying to say. I told him I still have to pay for my PTA fee at the Government school where I attend. He looked at my mother and said "you want to ruin his future with this." I couldn't help but ask, my father is running errands for me, my mother is hawking with me, am I to sit at home while she stomachs insult on the street because of me?

Yet they said a child hawking amidst buses or on express ways isn't good nor impressive, yet they made things hard, they want me(us) to die?

A mother lost her son to the hands of Policemen, it is really true when a Yoruba man says 'beat my child, the mother isn't convenient with the punishment'. They punished him, yes, they sent him to where he never thought he could be, I'm sure he would have loved to live more, maybe celebrate today with me too.

Yes, I remembered when my friends told me they are also living somewhere in the North, they actually said they're feeling fine in my unseen dreams; I felt the existence of children, why should I even say unseen dreams?

I know they existed, I saw them when they cry. The Nigerian Policemen, Soldiers, those armed forces were unable to protect them, they died when they were tired of living, not that they were tired, they were frustrated and was successfully killed.

Oh yes, I had friends from heaven too, they came to the world and lost their parent in a struggle where petrols are easily fetched. Isn't it one of the peace we wanted, I mean the peace we're celebrating today?

Even the peace in judgements and our independent today?

I remembered when I was told we have a true President, yes he tried but he died too soon. I was only a child, I guess he was just killed not naturally dead.
I'm just a child, what do I know?

I am still a child, we are blessed, yes, but I've not seen the essence of this blessing. Everything we have...I even boarded a public vehicle, an elderly man said my Governor should keep borrowing money from external sources as we will pay for it in the next 20 years, the driver added that he should borrow more billions so that we'll have sufficient money, not for the hungry families and mourning widows but for the good of useless resources and the pocket filled with treasures. I think it feels good, for these old men to leave/die leaving debt for their children while they appear innocent with the kind of life they live. I'm sure if these men can control the air, they would have ceased many of their breath. What do I even know?

I am just a child.

Oh yes, they said we're the leaders of tomorrow, I know they said something like "if you know me, you'll benefit from me and yes, if you can pay me, you'll benefit...", my brain has been wiped off of the thought that " I'll lead a good life with what I know". All I hit at now is surviving with how much and how well I am connected.
Well, what do I know?

I heard we had some heroes, I don't even know where they were buried (it's needless though). Oh, my mother loved telling us epic stories, even folklores, I now enjoy the man shouting behind the microphone, saying stupid fantasies ...to those stories...yea, I do learn from them.

I am just a child when they said 'you have seen the life now, live your own life." I am still a child because they said "I cannot rule" yet I am called a leader, they said I should see myself as one. They said Joseph was a leader.

Yes, I am a leader but I cannot lead, because I an a child.
I can't but ask if leadership is how vast the experience is or how vast the experience and true patriotism is. I am ready to serve selflessly, but we're not known. It is not a lie if I say those making themselves are not known. And, truly, nobody knows you if you don't know yourself.
I think I heard my Father's friend talking about Federalism in Nigeria, my Dad spit to the sky and guarded it with his own eye, he said our Federalism is a bastard in Nigeria, but what do I know?
I am just a child.

And yes, I grew where suffering is a second skin.
I am just a child.
truly, I am from a humble family, the child is in people like me, people who are trying...people who want to live like me.

"words from the innocent mind"
Akinwale Peace Akindayo
Philip Peace