For several months, the news rented the airspace. It sounded as true as possible. Even at some point, I started believing the rumour or, dare I say, conspiracy theory. Compelling evidence was shown in national dailies. It looked stupid to think such a high profile swap could be done so brazenly without repercussions. Even then, it looks a lot more stupid to not believe in it. The noise was just too much to ignore.
Political warfare is much more than a battle of ammunition and guns. It's much more than a battle of wits. In a political landscape where the battlefield is always dirty and murky, the dirtiest of the dirty gets to win the battle. The ones that have sharpened their mudslinging skills to expert level often get the win. It is not a battle for the gentleman. It's not a battle for the good natured ones who aren't willing to get down and dirty.
The first time I heard the President of my country had been body snatched, I couldn't stop laughing. It was a preposterous claim that I believed wouldn't happen in a million years. Expectedly, the claim was popularized by a man at loggerheads with the federal government because he wants secession to form a new country. Due to this, it looked like the usual propagandist exertions. "This news will die a natural death," I thought.
Before the rumour became widespread, the president had been flown to the UK for medical purposes. He was there for about four months before returning to the country. While he was in the UK, the conspiracy theorists claimed he had been body snatched and that the president was already dead. If that was all there is to the rumour, it would have dissipated in due time. However, there was more.
During the turbulent period, the person who popularized the theory started providing evidence to back up his theory. The first was the issue of fingerprints. He claimed the doors to the presidential villa were secretly changed because the returning president couldn't assess it. That indeed was a shocker because our fingerprints don't match. If the doors were truly changed, why?
The funny part is whenever the instigator makes his claims, he always seems to get a large support online that one starts wondering what if he was right. Before the fingerprints rumour died, further evidence was released. I remember scrambling for a daily newspaper just to be sure what I heard about this saga was actually true. Surprisingly, it was published by several news outlets in their national dailies.
The second evidence made available to the public was a picture of the marked differences between the impersonator and the supposedly dead president. To be sincere with you, I became confused. There were noticeable differences between the two pictures on display. Gradually, I started believing the claim that the president had been body snatched.
The third compelling evidence was when controversial ex-British lawmaker, Joe Joyce, claimed the president was indeed dead. His claims were based on theories he believed in especially as regards to the President's state of health being shielded away from the populace he ruled over. The ex-lawmaker made the claim on his Twitter feed and backed it up.
Few days later, a picture showing the dead president was uploaded. Considering the amount of theories that had been out there prior to the picture, it made the picture look as real as it can get. It was becoming too real to be fake. But then, I remembered a conspiracy theory I had believed for so long till I did an extensive research and found out it was all theories.
Tupac was my favourite artist while I was growing up. His outspoken nature on matters affecting a black man in the US makes him my favourite. His death caused me a lot of grief but then, at some point I read that he was indeed alive. I started doing my research. Funnily enough, the more I look into this, the more compelling theories I was confronted with that proved the guy cheated death. It left me confused for years.
At some point, it just didn't make sense to continue to hold on to that glimmer of hope that the guy will resurface one day. I told myself, "Tupac is gone; he ain't returning." After that, I made my peace with that reality and moved on. The experience from that episode was vital as I tried to make sense of the rumour that the president had been switched.
In due time, it all died down and we moved in with our daily lives. However, the fact that prominent cabinet members of the president spoke on the matter - even the president at some point had to debunk the claim - shows how deeply rooted it was. Eventually, I realized the chief propagandist was only preying on the anger and dislike the masses have for the president due to the hardship in the land.
Like I earlier said, political warfare is a very dirty one. Only the darkest minds have mastered it. Only the shrewdest of humans can win. In the end, Jibrin Al Sudan was all lies.
