Columnist: Okey Ndibe
Last week, I had an interesting conversation with a friend who lives in Awka, the capital of Anambra State, and is a senior civil servant in the state. Midway through the conversation, I asked what he thought about the governorship race shaping up in our state. Instantly he exploded in prolonged laughter, as if my question somehow reminded him of something altogether ludicrous. When he finally calmed down, he gave an intriguing – and deeply disturbing – response to my question.
“They,” he began, “have eliminated the best candidates from the game, leaving only half-baked material. And they have said to the people of Anambra, ‘You’re free to go ahead to choose from any of these. That’s the kind of democracy we have in this country.”
He didn’t specify who he meant by “they” – and it would have been silly of me, if not downright ignorant, to ask that he spell out what or who “they” were.
