Niger Delta Blues

Ẹ wa' w'aiye' o'she'lu', o'she'lu' ala'bo'si' - ala'bo'si'
 Ẹ wa' w'aiye' o'she'lu' o, o'she'lu' ala'bo'si' - ki' l'ọ'n she?
 Wọn f'owo' i'lu' s'a'po', wọ'n she b'a'wọn gbọ'n
 Wọ'n she b'a'won gbọ'n
 Ẹ wa' w'aiye' o'she'lu' - o'she'lu', o'she'lu' ala'bo'si' - ala'bo'si'
 Ẹ wa' w'aiye' o'she'lu' o, o'she'lu' ala'bo'si' - ki' l'ọ'n she?
 Wọ'n f'owo' i'lu' s'a'po', wọ'n she b'a'wọn gbọ'n - wọ'n f'owo' mu'ti'
 Ẹ wa' w'aiye' o'she'lu', o'she'lu' ala'bo'si' - wọ'n f'owo' b'ẹ'bo'
 Ẹ wa' w'aiye' o'she'lu' o
 O'she'lu' ala'bo'si' - ki' l'ọ'n she? wọ'n f'owo' j'aiye'
 Wọ'n f'owo' i'lu' s'a'po', wọ'n she b'a'wọn gbọ'n
 Fellow countrymen & women
 We have gathered here to protest the environmental devastation
 Caused by the oil industry in the Niger Delta
 The inhumane conditions under which our people are forced to live Is
 A constant reminder that we do not
 Belong to the artificial entity called Nigeria
 There are no schools
 Medical clinics or social services in most of our
 Villages, no electricity, no clean drinking water
 Malaria, typhoid and cholera
 Are a given in this tropical disease epic center
 We understand that a war is being consciously waged against our people
 A genocide of the highest proportion
 In a country where all nations are supposed to be equal
 Billions worth of our oil Dollars
 Are pumped out of our land every year
 But still no one seems to care
 Our plight, our cries, our grievances
 We have brought before the world's attention on numerous occasions
 We have petitioned the African Union, United Nations
 And all kinds of international institutions
 Yet there have been no reactions
 Our women, our men, our children
 The elderly and weak
 Are still being murdered
 Cold-blooded
 Jungle justice style
 Niger Delta Blues
 My people dem dey cry
 Dem dey kpeme dey go
 Niger Delta Blues
 My people dem dey cry
 Dem dey kpeme dey go
 Dem dey kpeme dey go
 Twenty years after the Ogoni Nine
 The blues of the Niger Delta has now become the blues of Nigeria
 Yours and mine
 We sing in unison to the melodies of pain, deceit and shame
 A nation high on petrodollars
 And the giant of Africa hype
 Reinvents the narrative of the oppressed turned oppressor
 With clichés and stereotypes
 Unwilling and unable to search deep within
 We lack the morality or courage to wipe our slates clean
 Decades of dictatorships
 World Bank, IMF loans and shock therapy
 Have crushed our resistance and taken its toll
 Broken and pained we have learnt the hard way
 That disaster-capitalism was invented
 Only to protect its own
 All hail the shoeless, clueless
 For the one-eyed has been crowned king
 His entourage of militants, neo-liberals and fanatics
 Perfectly positioned on the side wings
 Court jesters now openly mock our struggle
 And claim to be the voice of our people
 Our demand for restitution
 Has been hijacked with brute force and muscle
 We know divide and rule has always been the order of the day
 Nigerians remember "no victor, no vanquished"
 That's how you keep the uprising at bay
 Niger Delta Blues
 My people dem dey cry
 Dem dey kpeme dey go
 Niger Delta Blues
 My people dem dey cry
 My people dem dey cry