To return a king
After losing almost everything after Nigeria’s police razed his community, Elijah Atinkpo now wants justice.
Elijah Atinkpo, 23, lost almost everything he owned on April 9, 2017. The police razed the impoverished Nigerian waterfront community of Otodo Gbame. Like 30,000 other evictees, Antinkpo fled without most of his belongings. He lost his art and poetry in the fire.
Atinkpo now works for a legal campaign group, Justice and Empowerment Initiatives (JEI). He travels to communities where scattered evictees now live, dedicating himself to achieving justice.
The forcible eviction from Otodo Gbame was not an exceptional event. In Lagos, a city of 21 million, land is a precious commodity. The Nigerian government has been accused of displacing poor communities living on prime real estate. Rights groups like Amnesty are calling these forced evictions land grabs.
But Antinkpo remains optimistic about the future. He is still holding onto his dream of being a filmmaker, working in Marvel Studios. He wants to see his people reflected in their stories.
Director:
Dan Order
Editor:
HyoJin Park
Dan Order
Additional Reporting:
Kaitlin Englund
Additional Footage:
Elijah Atinkpo
Justice and Empowerment Initiative
Deji Akinpelu
Kaitlin Englund
Creative Consultant:
Brent Huffman
Special Thanks:
Justice and Empowerment Initiative
Nigerian Slum / Informal Settlement Federation
The Atinkpo Family
The Otodo Gbame Community
Medill Documentary Journalism Programme at Northwestern University
Access to Health
Peter Slevin
Juliet Sorensen