Conspiracy theories have always been around, in my dear country and in the world at large. People have always been talking about outlandish things, swearing that they knew an uncle or auntie’s friend who was involved, coming with so much details in their stories that it was always hard not to believe them. This is how it has been for a long time and will that change anytime soon? I really do not think so.
For some reason, people enjoy stories that they can’t really understand. As long as you can’t fully explain it and it’s shrouded in mystery, then you can be sure that it will get a cult-like following. Then, you’ll have people coming up with various theories, sightings, and swearing with everything that they have about how they’re saying the truth. It’s crazy.
One of the most prominent ones that shook my country was the theories of the Illuminati. About a decade ago, it was the rave of the market. There were so many CDs and books talking about how the Illuminati was taking over the world. So many Nigerian celebrities were named and said to be members. According to them, no one could make it on their own merit and gain stardom, a deal had to be made with the devil for them to secure such a spot.
Nigerian celebrities, foreign celebrities, and even the Pope were not left out. People claimed to have died and gone to hell where they saw the dead celebrities writhing in pain and suffering, then they ‘returned to life’ to warn people never to support the Illuminati. For a long time, these stories dominated the airwaves, they scrutinized everything that the artists did, from their choice of lyrics to their hand gestures and even the way they stood during performances and in their music videos.
However, with time and with social media becoming more rampant, people began to lose interest. When people realize that a simple Google search could cure all forms of curiosity, they started fact-checking a lot of things for themselves. And soon, the illuminati theories died a natural death. Now, am I saying that the Illuminati doesn’t exist? I don’t know. But I do know that everything that those stories said about them is definitely not true.
But then, I never really believed the stories told, although I did enjoy reading about them and how they usually found a way to link one random event to another random event and make it seem like a planned work orchestrated from deep within the bowels of hell.
The conspiracy theory that I actually believed was told to me a long time before then, when I was still a child. Back then, I was really playful. I was the last born for about six to seven years before my baby sister was born, and when she came around, my Mom was always busy with her, allowing me to always play. There was this uncompleted building in the area where I played. I loved playing there because there were all manner of things I could use to make toys. Back then, we didn’t really buy toys, we made them.
However, it was dangerous because as I said, the building was uncompleted. There were logs of wood with rusted nails sticking out, broken bottles, nails sticking out of the wall, and sharp objects lying all over the place. Also, the ground was overgrown with weeds which could be the perfect hiding place for snakes, scorpions, and whatnot. It was just a terrible place for a young kid to be, and no matter how much my Mom told me not to or how she flogged me, I always found myself back there because I get coconut head, I no dae hear word!
It all changed though when my elder brother told me that I was taking stupid risks. According to him, uncompleted buildings belonged to ritualists who preyed on young kids. He said that no one started a house and left it halfway, only ritualists and they did it so that they could find more victims. He then went on to say that if I kept going there, the owner of the house would use me to complete it. I was really scared, note that this was during the period when we believed that if you pick money from the ground you’d turn into a yam or taking biscuits from strangers could make you disappear (yet some other conspiracy theories, by the way).
So, I didn’t want to be used for rituals, so I stopped going there. Actually, I became terrified of uncompleted buildings. They always looked so dark, empty, and scary to me. When I saw one, all I could think about was a ritualist who was waiting for his next prey. I know my brother told me that just to stop me from going there, but it really did a number on me at the time.
Honestly, I don’t really know when I actually stopped believing it. It could have been during my secondary school days. During my Junior secondary, there was an uncompleted building in the school that was under construction at the time. During that period, it was a haven for all the crooks and troublemakers because that was where they all gathered. This didn’t do anything to make me feel better, it just made me see even more that nothing good could come from uncompleted buildings.
However, Fashola, the governor at the time did his thing and cleared out all the crooks. Money was disbursed and the building was completed, and the classes were used to accommodate the students. It was a part of those students who used the new building. And I think that’s where I stopped believing it. Did the uncompleted building become less dangerous once it was completed? Could kids still be prey after all was done? It was a government school, so it was owned by the government, was the government a ritualist?
Soon, these doubts grew and as I myself grew older and began to explore the world, it stopped making sense with me. And I no longer have that fear for uncompleted buildings. I still don’t enter them, but I know that anything at all can happen to make a building project stall. And it didn’t mean that the owners were on the prowl for a new prey. And so, that chapter was closed.
Conspiracy theories will always be there. People come up with them and through word of mouth or through the internet, they’re spread. As more people keep believing in them, they keep gaining weight. And soon, it develops a cult-like following. One where logic no longer matters. That’s just how it is. I no longer have time for such things, if I’m busy believing conspiracy theories, how will I have time to make money?
Nawa oooo!
