UK General Election: British Democracy Shames Nigerian Ineptocracy

 By Olu Fasan

Trust Nigerians, some will scoff at any comparison between Britain’s democracy and what Nigeria calls democracy. But if democracy is, as Abraham Lincoln famously defined it, “government of the people, by the people, for the people”, then Nigeria must be held to universal standards.

*UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer

The critical electoral link between the government and the governed must not be severed, and democracy must not become ineptocracy, a system run by inept people. In any representative democracy, the irreducible core is the will of the people freely expressed in credible elections. That’s why last week’s UK general election offers some lessons.

133m ‘Multidimensionally’ Poor: Buhari’s ‘Gift’ To Nigeria In 2022

 By Olu Fasan

President Muhammadu Buhari has a victim mentality. He takes absolutely no responsibility for anything that goes wrong under his watch. Instead, he treats legitimate and fair criticisms of his leadership failure as harassment.

*Buhari 

More likely, he’ll see this piece on the shocking levels of multidimensional poverty in Nigeria, fostered under his government, as harassment. To mimic Shakespeare: He does protest too much, methinks!  Last week, in a documentary shown at a private event to mark his 80th birthday, President Buhari was asked whether he would miss anything about the presidency.

Liz Truss Resigns As UK Prime Minister

 

Liz Truss has resigned as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

She was only 45 days in office. This makes her the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the UK.

In an announcement today (Thursday, October 20, 2022) outside 10 Downing Street, London, the official residence and office of British premiers, Ms. Truss told the British people that although she was stepping down from office, she would, however, “remain as Prime Minister until a successor has been chosen”

Her resignation today brings to a climax the serious crisis that had dogged her political authority leading to loss of confidence of most Members of Parliament of her own party and devastating crash in the country's stock market with tremendous pressure on the UK economy.

Two key ministers in her government have also resigned.

Full text of her resignation speech read today, Thursday, October 20, 2022

I came into office at a time of great economic and international instability.

Families and businesses were worried about how to pay their bills.

Casting Malevolent Shadows: Liz Truss Wins the Tory Leadership

 By Binoy Kampmark

10 Downing Street is set to be bathed in social media guff with the victory of Liz Truss. Confirmed as Boris Johnson’s successor, the new British Prime Minister won by a slimmer margin over rival contender Rishi Sunak than anticipated. Nonetheless, 81,326 votes to 60,399 was sufficient to guarantee her a secure margin – for the moment. (The turnout had been 83 per cent.)

*Liz Truss

There is little doubt that the Tory selectorate – a good deal of it – seem to adore her. That hardly makes them, or her, representative of a broader constituency, and certainly the same constituency that voted for Johnson in 2019. Certain conservative voices have even warned that the Tory party now resembles, in part, the Labour Party of Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn stormed through the ranks with an adoring base of party supporters and ideological brio. The broader electorate were not quite so enamoured.