A Phone Call from Lagos

Justice with Fashion Week Internationale presenter Charlet Duboc

The following is an interview with our friend Justice Karo, a young photographer from Lagos who we met while filming the upcoming Nigeria episode of Fashion Week Internationale (out Jan 24th).

We spoke again today after he sent us some terrible/horrifying photos of the violence that has broken out in Lagos after some people aligning themselves with the Occupy movement started protesting about the huge rise in fuel costs. Justice's friend shot the photos on a camera phone. Our thoughts go out to all our new pals in Lagos… WARNING: Do not view if you are offended by extremely graphic/ violent material. VICE: Where were these photos taken, Justice?
Justice Karo: It is not far from where I live, at the house you came to. Near Ogba, in the south of the country. The images you sent me are terrible. Do you feel scared living close to where this is happening?
I was not scared, no. After they killed the guy they shot some other people. I was inside my house at the time and I heard that later some Ogba boys retaliated by burning down a policeman. At the moment the streets are silent. Remember how busy Lagos was while you were here? Imagine it being silent.

It’s the noisiest and busiest place I’ve ever been to. I imagine it must feel somewhat ghostly.
Nigeria right now is in a mess, believe me. And so many have paid for that mess with their lives. You saw what it was like here. Nobody has anything to eat, the transport situation is really bad, and there is nowhere to go out.

The fuel price was high before. Even at 65 Naira [about 40 cents] you had a lot of complaining about the price, but now that’s gone up to 150 Naira [about 60 cents] a litre, and so people are really angry and that’s what the Occupy people are protesting about. What’s Goodluck Jonathan doing about it?
I heard he was in South Africa on a trip. And he has left a country that is on fire, as you can see from the photos. That man is earning more money than I can even imagine and he’s just trying to avoid the trouble, but I think that’s going to be hard to do. He’s gonna need a lot of good luck.
Well today is another blue day, my friend, but not as blue as yesterday. Well actually today IS another blue day, 'cause two people died. What happened?
A man and a woman were hit by a bus that was trying to escape from some people who were trying to set it on fire. After they got hit by the bus, they ended up in a burning fire… What a painful way to die.

Good grief.
When I found out about this I wanted to know what was going on out there, but there's no bus that takes me to where the Occupy people are protesting. The only means of transportation was an okada [motorcycle taxi]. You have no idea how expensive it was! I spent pretty much all the cash I had with me. But when I got there, oh my God! The atmosphere was wonderful. There were old men and women, young men and women, boys and girls, even children. I have never in my life seen Nigerians gather like this.

I was very happy to be there. I walked into the crowd, brought out my camera and took some good shots of people holding pieces of cardboard with messages to the president written on them.

What did the signs say?
The one that excited me the most was the one of a little boy holding some card with the message: “Mr. President!! You didn't tell us you would betray us!” written on it in pidgin English. If you ask me, Mr. President Goodluck is BAD luck, and I advise each and every one of the Nigerians reading this not to vote him in again. The first question that I asked myself was, 'What does this little boy know?', but I can perceive his pain 'cause it was written all over his face.

After taking the shot I wanted, I took another expensive taxi back home. All I can say now is GOD BLESS AND HELP MY BELOVED COUNTRY, NIGERIA. AMEN. (Justice is now trying to find an internet cafe with enough bandwidth to send us his photos. Stay tuned for more updates from Lagos.)