20% Population, 1% Political Power
By Chudi Okoye
The math is simply mind-bending
Bleaker even than in racist America
Where once the beleaguered Black,
Considered as White man’s chattel,
Were estimated three-fifths a human
In their owners’ political calculation.
America re-jigged its rusted math
After eighty years of utter absurdity
Though its wrenching reminder remains.
Yet, in sixty-three years of self-rule
In a nation born of flawed imagination
A presidential incumbency calculus
Consigns, by craft and sheer graft,
A certain set of so-called citizens –
The vested ‘n tested Igbo-Nigerians –
To the uttermost precincts of power
So folks nearly a fifth the federation
Offering some of the nation’s very best
Boast just one percent the presidency.
(First Draft: Feb 7, 2024)
