The vigilante's job is to protect their communities and they fill in the gaps where the police do not or will not operate. Many vigilante groups provide security services for local business and the like and there is often friction between them and the police and the military. The police and the military are part of the Federal government, and the vigilantes have no official powers apart from working in the interests of their communities.
In a society with virtually no government social support and where government workers can go months without being paid, people have to put themselves, their families, homes, and communities first. Why care about a rich country that does not care for them? If a vigilante was injured, then who would pay his medical bills and feed him and his family if he could not work? If a man was killed, then would look after his family?
In reality there are no heroes, they are quickly forgotten, and usually those who sacrifice themselves for others end up destroying their own lives and leave behind families to face financial hardship, poverty, and exploitation.
The photos in this book not only show the vigilantes but also the environments and communities they lived and worked in. The lives of most people in rural Nigerian and Africa in general are hard when compared with the lives of those in the United States or Western Europe. But are they really hard or just the way things are meant to be? Many of these communities have been in existence for hundreds if not thousands of years... They are mostly self-sufficient and still harbor strong community and moral values. We were always welcomed and usually fed by people who from a United States or Western Europe context had little or nothing to offer, but what they had they shared with pleasure...
So, I hope the photos in this book will give you an insight into the real Nigeria. For myself I can still smell the air, the earth, the bush, and feel the cool water of the rivers and the raw energy which is Africa. As you look at those in the pictures, some of whom are passed to another world, you can see pain, sweat, determination and some humor... What you're looking at is life and people living it to the best of their abilities... I am sure this is a different culture from which most of you are used to, and it's also a colorful and rich culture where people appreciate and celebrate the value of life and being alive to the fullest.
The photos in this book are in no particular order and show how we went from training in the bush to back to Owerri on virtually a daily basis for the 5 months I was working this project. Every day was different with its own unique highs and lows and the whole time was quite a roller coaster, a phrase I can use to describe many parts of my life... I have included some photos that are blurred, to me these are relevant as when you are active and constantly moving you can miss the small details of people and locations, and you just remember you were once there...
Orlando "Andy" Wilson
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