Lazarus
Obinna (not his real name), returned from Libya in the wake of that country’s
political upheaval in 2012 occasioned by the Arab spring which saw the death of
Libya’s maximum leader, Mohamman Gaddafi.
Obinna returned with N5million hoping to
invest the money in transportation sector, get married and settle down in
Lagos. He got house at Balogun bustop along Igando road, Ikotun and packed in a
three bedroom flat.
Within
six months of his residence in the house, Obinna started experiencing
difficulties.
His Pajero model jeep got burnt along
Oshodi-Apapa Express Road one Sunday evening as he was returning from his
village meeting.
As if that was not enough, one of Obinna’s
seven commercial buses that ply from Ikotun to CMS had an accident and killed a
pregnant woman; the driver was arrested and the bus was impounded by the
police. He spent money to pay compensation to the family of the deceased woman.
A
year after that, he was robbed by robbers who stormed his house at Balogun
bustop and made away with huge amount of money he had wanted to use to purchase
another bus to add to his fleet of buses.
And
the worse happened: a lady he proposed to marry visited him one day and died in
his arm. He was arrested and prosecuted. He came out of the case after autopsy
result which says the woman died of natural causes but Obinna had spent his
last dime on the matter
All
his commercial buses had been parked before he could be released from Kirikiri
prison, due to his drivers’ recklessness and unable to render accounts
throughout three months the case lasted. The vehicles were parked because there
was no money to repair them.
One
day, his cousin who lives in FESTAC town visited him and spotted that the fancy
blocks used to build the house were all designed with Scorpion.
“This
is the genesis of your problem,” his cousin suggested.
Stories
like this are everyday testimonies at all the churches during night vigils and
deliverance services, a sort of
experiences of those who lives in rented houses carry scorpions on its fancy
blocks; a belief making rounds in Lagos State.
Scorpion
Houses in Lagos State is a no go area for tenants. Ask agents, landlords and
Estate consultants it’s easy for ‘a cow to pass through the eye of a needle
than leasing, selling or renting out a house with Scorpion fancy blocks.
But
are scorpion houses myth or reality?
“When I wanted to rent a house with my husband
in 2005, we were warned by my elder sister who has been living in Lagos not to
take a house with Scorpion on its fancy blocks. My sister told me that it’s an
evil house. According to her, if we eventually parked in there, we will regret
it. ‘You cannot come out there with anything’,” she told me. A sociologist,
Christiana Duru told Daily Signpost.
For
Bamidele Agbolahon, “it’s dangerous to live in such houses. My sister’s friend
saw hell when she rented a house with scorpion some years back. She had several
miscarriages and her husband lost her job with an oil servicing company. They
sold all their properties and left the house with only their clothes”.
Pastor
SMC Nwosu, Chairman of the Nigerian Red Cross Society of Nigeria and an Estate
Consultant, said Scorpion houses are not myth. People believed in the stories
they hear about it and worked on it. He said it’s difficult to rent a house
with scorpion fancy blocks easily in Lagos. “It’s one of our challenges in this
career. You don’t find it easy getting people to accept what you are telling
them when renting a house out for clients”, he stated.
Another
lady who calls for anonymity explained that she went through hell living in a
house decorated with scorpion. According to her, she lost everything she
entered the house with.
“What
will preoccupy your thought is how to sell your properties. You will be hearing
hush voices in the middle of the night and some strange sounds and movements.
But you will not see anybody. If I discuss about good prospect with anybody in
that house; next day I will experience disappointments from that good
expectations. It was terrible. I have forgotten that experience and I don’t
want to remember it again”, she stated religiously.
Scorpion
houses, as they are known, dots almost all the areas in Lagos. From Agege,
Ikotun, Iyano Ipaja to Egbeda, to Idimu, Mushin, Oshodi, Ajegunle, Apapa, Ojo,
Okoko, Surulere, Yaba, Lagos Island, Badagry, Ebutte Metta and Alagbado, is a
common feature.
To
some, it’s an ordinary house design which connotes nothing. According to this
school of thought, there is nothing spiritual attached to it. However, majority
of Lagos residents say it has evil intent.
According
to them, such houses are owned by cultists; “it’s the symbol of their cult
identity. It’s used to identify the house of their members.
“Let
me tell you; if you are a member and you are stranded, immediately you enter
one of the houses and showed your sign to the landlord, he will accommodate you
that night”, Isaac Johnson, a Danfo driver explained.
“What
type of architectural design is that one? Among all the reptiles why is it only
scorpion that majority of the houses are using on their fancy blocks and its
only here that you see it. If I may ask, is scorpion beautiful or is it a
harmless reptile. Don’t you know what scorpion symbolizes?” Philip Okwara
queried. “It is a cult symbol and very dangerous one for that matter. My
brother no matter what they try to tell you, it has spiritual connotation”, he
explained.
Seventy
years-old Pa- Jeremiah Okeke, who claimed to be ex- Julius Berger staff that
lives at Okota area of Isolo, told Daily
Signpost, that such houses belonged to members of secret cult and that the
scorpion is their identity.
He
narrated how they were cautioned to work on such houses because of certain
things the owners were alleged to have been done in such properties. Peter Bassey
narrated how their church member lost all his family properties and money while
living in a scorpion house.
He
said after deliverance was conducted on him, and he left the house that life
returned to his business.
A
journalist with a leading national newspaper in Nigeria who also pleaded
anonymity told Daily Signpost that
he was once a victim of scorpion house. According to him, “when I rented a
house at Masalachi Bus stop in Ikotun and parked into the house, I lost my job
that first month; my son had a serious convulsion that until now affected his
psyche. He is eight years now but he doesn’t have himself. I went to a prophet
who revealed that I was living in a scorpion house; I went and saw it on the
fancy block and immediately I relocated to another house in a nearby
neighbourhood.” He heaved a sigh.
It
was gathered that the landlords of such houses do not allow the occupants of
such houses to conduct prayers, especially the ones that the landlords lived
with the tenants.
Meanwhile,
Daily signpost investigation showed
that because of stigmatisation on houses with scorpion, the landlords of such
houses have started removing the scorpion symbols while others have gone a long
way to cover the signs from public view.
It was gathered that in Agege area of Lagos,
when a landlord of a particular house bearing scorpion symbols died some years
ago, that the deceased man’s wife went and remove the scorpion-in- built blocks
used by the man who allegedly belonged to a cult. According to the woman, the
scorpion was bringing ill-luck to the family.
Our
source said immediately the scorpion blocks were removed that things turned
around for the family. The general believe of Lagos residents are that such
houses are evil houses habituated by ghosts bring ill-luck to occupants of such
houses.
Another
estate agent, at Okota –Isolo area of Lagos, Martin Olewunne, narrated how for
three years he was unable to rent a whole building of six flats because of the
stigma of scorpion house labelled on the building.
He said that early before he took charge to
rent the house, all the occupants abandoned the house without their rent
expiring due to untimely deaths that ravage the families that were occupying
the houses
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