In a recent CNN appearance, novelist Chimamanda Adichie told respected anchor Amanpour that the tribunal verdict was “shabby and shoddy.” Nothing wrong with her opinion except that she confessed she was still reading the verdict. How would she feel if one gave a damning judgment of her debut children’s book without reading it through? Amanpour, who was clearly wowed by a writer she announced as a superstar, did not see the shallowness of her verdict. Amanpour did not prepare for the interview, and it shows how hollow some Western journalists are about African society.
It is contemptuous of us when they do not probe their subjects. The same thing happened after the polls when Ajuri Ngelale rattled Zain Asher of the same CNN over INEC’s performance. We should not blame Adichie for an empty answer but CNN for a shoddy job. If she had asked the right question, the world would have known the author of Americana was in the mould of children’s fantasy. Again, maybe she would have blended into the slumber choir if she had accompanied her hero and kinsman Peter Obi to hear the verdict.