Man:
Do not weep for me,
But weep for yourself that are endangered
In this compact planet,
You have harried the forests
And frittered the rocks;
You have burrowed the mountains
And scattered the hills for treasures;
You have disturbed the tranquil of the deep sea
And polluted the atmosphere
And excavated the secret chambers of the ocean.
Prodigal child, you have plundered the flora
And prey on the fauna
But when will you be wise?
Would you rather keep faith with Kyoto
Or shed crocodile tears for me?
And do you now drag your infants to the Thames
In cold winter weeping for me?
Do you now defy the cold in hypocrisy?
Lining the walls and embarkment just to have a glimpse of me?
Would you rather save a whale
Than save the whole planet from the Armageddon?
But better that Kyoto is honoured than I’m honoured.
Ah, man!
You have so soon forgotten how many bills and policies
You have killed in parliaments and conferences
All you hypocrites, do not weep for me,
But weep for your folly.
O man, did you think I strayed?
I came to warn you and then die
My struggles in the Thames
Are your struggles on the planet
Though I was washed ashore,
You shall be washed inshore, sooner or later,
Artic will further melt and Katrina will come again
And the hurricanes will return in deadlier furies
The sun will give up its light
And the moon will fall and crash to the earth
And the stars will cease to sparkle
And it will all be darkness around you
And the waters will wash you inshore.
Where, where then are you going to run to?
Trapped, trapped are you in this enclosed space,
O man, everlasting prisoner in this hellish realm
Do you weep for me?
Don’t, but weep for yourself that are endangered
Though I struggled against the current of the Thames
You shall struggle yet more
Against many merciless tides, more severe,
Ah! Deadlier and worse than Tsunami and Katrina
Therefore, do not weep for me, but weep for your future.
- JOHN ODEY ADUMA, DECEMBER 22, 2006.
ABOUT THE POET
John Odey Aduma was formerly Executive Secretary, Foundry Association of Nigeria; Southern Coordinator and the Public Affairs Manager of President Muhammadu Buhari's pastoralists NGO - THE PASTORAL RESOLVE; Chairman, Editorial Board of the Daily Times of Nigeria Plc; member, National Committee for the Nigerian Youth Festival, 1993; Core Committee, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF)/Ford Foundation, Kano Eastern Bypass Roadside Tree Planting Exercise, 1997; member, core Committee of the National Technology Summit and was the Summit's chairman for two of its sub-committees - Publicity and Exhibition, 1998; member of the Administrative Panel of Inquiry set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo to investigate the illegal trade in and smuggling of endangered species of wild fauna and flora into and out of Nigeria, 2003.
He was the Chairman, Planning Committee of the General Murtala Muhammed Memorial Lecture for two consecutive years, 2001 and 2002 before it attained a Foundation status in 2002, having first been upgraded to that status in 2001.
General Murtala Muhammed was one of Nigeria's former Heads of State and was killed in the abortive coup led by the then Colonel Buka Suka Dimka on February 13, 1976.
That same capacity saw Mr Aduma delivering huge successes during the Daily Times of Nigeria's 75th Anniversary (in which he raked in N6, 000, 000 into the coffers of the Daily Times of Nigeria Plc) and also, playing a similar role in a similar capacity during Dr Isma'il Babatunde Jose's 75th Birth Day. Dr Jose, doyen of Nigerian journalism was Mr Aduma's personal mentor. That relationship was so close and solid such that whilst Aduma was leaving the shores of Nigeria for Britain in 2003, Dr Jose gave him N10, 000.00.
In 1992, Mr Aduma's contributions to journalism was recognised with the awards of the Nigeria Media Merit Award as the Investigative Reporter of the Year and the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence as the Reporter of the Year, and the British Chevening Scholarship, which saw him studying International Journalism with Specialism in Environment at City, University of London in 2003-2004.
Aduma is the author of the inspirational best-seller, THE DIAMONDS ARE HERE and the founder of Vigilance, the World's Leading Security Magazine and Scorpion News Corp, in addition to founding the Nationalists Unity Movement of Nigeria (NUMON).
Mr Aduma, currently at the SOAS’s School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, Centre for Cultural, Literary and Post-Colonial Studies, University of London, is also, involved in professional mentoring at Post Graduate level in the City, University of London’s Post Graduate Professional Mentoring strand.