Bad faith (or mala fides in Latin) is defined by the Cambridge English dictionary as “dishonest….or unacceptable behavior”. We all know it when we witness ‘bad faith’. It’s like a bad smell.  

A bad faith tactic used by many is what the historian Robert Proctor labeled as “agnotology” – or the use of misleading or inaccurate data designed to induce cultural ignorance. Bad faith arguments are proxy positions people take for rhetorical purposes. 

Creating a state of mayhem and derailing the November 6^th election has the potential to be the stupidest unforced error. No rhetorical point is worth the price of a State of Emergency in Anambra State. It is a bad-faith argument to claim that you are forcing your “enemies” to take note of your “predicament” by shooting yourself in the face.  

What will be the outcome of this latest bad-faith argument? It is, of course, unpredictable. 

The overt and covert push to force Ndi Anambra to stay away from the November 6^th governorship election is like playing poker. When you’re playing poker, you don’t know the answer until after the cards are laid down, and then it’s too late.  

Prof. Churchill Okonkwo teaches Environmental Regulations and Policy at the University of Maryland Global Campus.