DAPCHI GIRLS: Conspiracy theory gone too far

DAPCHI GIRLS: Conspiracy theory gone too far

By Joseph Edgar…

Nigerians have been buffeted by hardship into a state of deliriousness, such that conspiracy theories are now the other of the day. Aided by the very robust fake industry news, you begin to see and hear all sort of stories and news bits that it takes the highly discerning deep introspection and analysis to see through some of these allusions and stories.

So, for example, Dino Malaye has just gone on exile. He has threatened to bring down the Senate President and thirty other Senators if the Senate did not come to his aide in his ongoing battle with the Kog State Governor. Someone overhead, the call which he had made to one of Saraki’s senior aide which was promptly leaked. Dino was found having fun at the Dangote wedding a mere 24 hours after that release.

The respected General Gowon has also been quoted on his Facebook page as admonishing General Buhari to stop blaming Jonathan for corruption instead of facing the task at hand. He was said to have reminded Buhari that there was corruption when IBB built the third mainland bridge and there was certainly corruption when OBJ gave us GSM and banking reforms. Gowon was said to have gleefully added that Jonathan was certainly corrupt when he built new federal universities and gave us the fastest and biggest economy on the continent.  But if you know the personality trait of General Gowon, you will know that he would never make this kind of direct and confrontational statement. Definitely not in his character and I stand to be corrected.

This brings me back to the Dapchi story. Ever since the girls were carried away, the Nigerian conspiracy theory industry has gone on overdrive. The girls were not kidnapped but part of a plot to shore up government’s image and prepare it for 2019 in the face of an image-battering performance in all areas. Where did they get all the bags and clothes they came back with if it was not planned and how do you explain returning that number of girls with eleven trucks with no soldier of check point around? The girls themselves did not help matter with stories of being carried in planes and boat rides.

Even me I nearly got gobsmacked when it was announced that one of the girls who refused to denounce her faith was left behind and then the President with certainty said that he would not forget the girl and then some hours later reports of the girl being released becomes rife.

All of these in the face of the still missing Chibok girls would begin to give credence to the stories that there could be more than meets the eyes. Some observers have started asking why the same efficiency cannot be transferred to the still missing Chibok girls.

Well, my position runs thus. I do not for a second believe that these could have been planned by the government or any one for that matter. The sheer size of the operation would have allowed its cohesiveness and efficiency if it was a plan almost impossible. There is no way they could have contained leakage.

Furthermore, I really doubt if foreign powers with their ominous intelligence services would have played along with such an escape and finally wouldn’t it have been cheaper and less cumbersome to embark on a massive image laundering campaign involving  major PR initiative like an appearance on Big Brother Africa rather than herding over one hundred young girls through the forest for about two weeks.

You see when people get this buffeted with hardship and hopelessness, they resort to fairy-tales to keep their sanity. These stories no matter how farfetched help to coral the people who are wallowing in wanton hopelessness, giving them a platform to temporarily distract themselves from the harrowing hardship they are facing.

Any which way, the government still loses because their policies and inactivity has led to this situation where we have all been turned into a country of fairy tale mongers who, instead of looking dispassionately at issues with a view to joining credible debate, dissipate energy by concocting and spreading grandmother fire side stories. We are in trouble. Do I smell regime change?

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