Nigeria, Aug. 18 -- He strode up to the podium on inauguration day, chest puffed out, and a grin that dared anyone to blink. "I bought this victory with my own money," he announced, and the room went silent. Not a gasp, not a cheer-just a tense, uneasy pause. He didn't hide it. He wore it like a badge. Democracy had just been auctioned, and he was the highest bidder.

From the back of the hall, I watched faces shift-some stunned, some smug, others quietly furious. Outside, the city buzzed with life: market sellers haggling, motorbikes weaving through traffic, and somewhere, young men were still lining up for envelopes, cash pressed in their palms like tickets to a show they didn't know they were attending. The show was democracy, and it h...