“E no too concern me, there is a war in my backyard and a bomb in my flower vase. Oh look a bicycle to escape, but it’s fine we’ll stay right here. It’s okay, it's not really my concern. People here don’t care about the misdeeds of an administration and mismanagement of the sovereign state’s resources because it is from a party they support. People are willing to turn a blind eye and smile, bitter smiles, a smile worth a “de Rica of rice”.
I came across a post on Twitter where a lady was thrown out of a car clearly in a vulnerable state. People took videos of her instead of helping. Finally, one person went ahead to help her. I wondered if I was part of the crowd, would it have concerned me?
I had an experience when I was unlawfully arrested as I got off my bike at the entrance of the market. I had hardly taken a step when two men without uniforms and one with a gun took me by force into a bus full of other young people. I met about 5/6 other policemen there and about three other boys under arrest. Our phones were taken off us, and we began to drive away to an unknown location. I had to think quickly to get out of this situation, so I acted like I had an asthma attack. To my surprise, they quickly dropped me off under a bridge and my phone was returned to me. I wondered why no one at the market interfered when they saw these men attacking me. They said nothing while I was taken away knowing that there has been an endemic of unlawful arrests for young people at the time. I also thought if I was part of the crowd would it have concerned me?
How did we become like this, it seems all this stems from the fact that if you decide to help a person in danger and you somehow end up failing the police might pin a case on you and nobody wants that.”
Work is currently on view in GAZELL.iO's project space in London.
Verisart certified: https://verisart.com/works/adesola-yusuf-5e4abef2-e0a5-4bc2-8fab-8be7fe9d2f15
