ALAGBADA


Back then He was in uniform
Uniform of power and authority
Uniform laced with the silk of arbitrariness
Encumbered with fear and force
And the power to compel obedience

Then came the clamouring for the local attire (agbada)
Full remonstration with no barriers of hiatus
Full opposition of the uniform was the order of the day
Accompanied with full force, violence and vandalism.

That was then, for He has now been cajoled
into wearing the long, loose and spacious attire
Dangling from his shoulders to his arms length
But pushing it back in position to show is gentlemanleness

But this new 'agbada' makes him shudder,
bereft of ideas and perspectives.
Slowly jangling him off in perspiration and fatigue
But never is He willing to let go

Now I heard another remonstration is on the loose
A clamour for a change in attire
Maybe the once rejected uniform will once again embraced
Or probably the christening of a new attire.

© Aboo Nih'mah

Nice write