POST-BREXIT GREAT BRITAIN AND COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS: AN ANALYSIS OF DOMESTIC SOURCES OF COMMONWEALTH FOREIGN POLICY

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                  BY

 

                                                      Patrick Olufemi Adelusi PhD

                                    John & James Associates (Bilingual Policy Scientists)

                                                             London. United Kingdom

                                                    patrickadelusi@jjassociates.org.uk

http://www.olufemiadelusi.blogspot.co.uk/

                                        www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-olufemi-adelusi-a2139a76

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                    ABSTRACT                                                                                

Post-Brexit Global Great Britain started her journey with the 2018 withdrawal Bill disengaging the UK from the European Union. There was a one-year transition programme that was consummated by a comprehensive Post Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement Bill. The negotiations though dragged on, have a Trade and Cooperation Agreement Bill of 1,246 pages that were finally signed by the UK and the European Union, just in time for 2020 Christmas. In the preparation for the Global Britain Trade and Cooperation Policy, Theresa May, as Prime Minister paid scheduled visits to China, Kenya, South Africa, Canada, and Nigeria to mention but a few. Looking at the enumerated list, four out of the 5 countries belong to the Commonwealth. May’s visits were carried out with the consciousness of ‘soft’ politics and the reality of trade deals. Finally, under the leadership of Theresa May, there was a Commonwealth Conference of Heads of State and Government hosted by the UK. Boris Johnson as Prime Minister is yet to make visits to the Commonwealth countries. What is the connection between Post Brexit Global Great Britain and the Commonwealth? What are the internal sources of Global Great Britain Foreign Policy to the Commonwealth? To find answers to these immediate posers, our methodology is to examine the domestic policy inputs of the Foreign Policy outputs of the ruling Conservative Party towards Post Brexit Global Great Britain and the Commonwealth. For ease of analysis, the preliminary study will be looked at in 3 Sections. These are Section 1- Introduction; Section 2-Domestic Sources of Post Brexit Global Great Britain Commonwealth Policy; Section 3-Conclusion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I-                INTRODUCTION

Post-Brexit Global Great Britain has just begun to unfold. Nurses and Medical Doctors are in short supply. The shortage became an issue for the December 2019 national elections. Promises were made to up the supply to 60,000 manpower. Local Medical Schools are unable to meet up. COVIC-19 came along to accentuate the glaring gap existing in the Medical NHS of the UK. Building contractors and Restaurant and Entertainment Sectors are the other open gap to be filled by the supply demand-pull of the economy. Trade and Cooperation Agreement Bill of 1,246 pages was finally signed by the UK and the European Union, just in time for 2020 Christmas. In the preparation for the Global Britain Trade and Cooperation Policy, Theresa May, as Prime Minister paid scheduled visits to China, Kenya, South Africa, Canada, and Nigeria to mention but a few. Looking at the enumerated list, four out of the 5 countries belong to the Commonwealth. May’s visits were carried out with the consciousness of ‘soft’ politics and the reality of trade deals.

 There was under the leadership of Theresa May, a Commonwealth Conference of Heads of State and Governments; and The Commonwealth presents another bloc where Global Great Britain’s medicine and machinery are traded with little or no tariffs, tackle climate change and improve the health of the oceans. Global Great Britain can join other members to develop through trade, pushing back against protectionism, respond to threats to the rules-based international order and from cyber-attacks. Global Great Britain could also encourage the upholding of common values that the Commonwealth organisation has always stood for – democracy, human rights, tolerance, and the rule of law. Global Great Britain’s influence could be felt by her push for the creation of fora for business leaders, young people, women, and civil society while focusing on issues such as improving trade, youth unemployment, education, and health.

Post-Brexit Global Great Britain applies to join a new trading club the Pacific

Rim nations of 11 country bloc are regarded to be one of the fastest-growing free trade areas in the world representing 13% of global income and 500 million people. The membership of this club includes the following, Australia. Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Looking at the composition of this list, 5 members belong to the Commonwealth. There are 54 members of the Commonwealth from the 6 continents made up of 2.4billion people. What is the connection between Post Brexit Global Great Britain and the Commonwealth? What are the internal sources of Global Great Britain Foreign Policy to the Commonwealth? To find answers to these immediate posers, our methodology is to examine the domestic policy inputs of the Foreign Policy outputs of the ruling Conservative Party towards Post Brexit Global Great Britain and the Commonwealth. For ease of analysis, the preliminary study will be looked at in 4 Sections. These are Section 1- Introduction; Section 2-Domestic Sources of Post Brexit Global Great Britain Commonwealth Policy; Section 3- Post-Brexit Global Great Britain and the Commonwealth and Section 4-Conclusion.

 

II-             DOMESTIC SOURCES OF POST BREXIT GLOBAL GREAT BRITAIN COMMONWEALTH POLICY

What are the immediate and remote domestic sources of Global Great Britain’s Commonwealth Policy? Getting out of the European comity of States leaves Great Britain without an immediate club. Tariff free trade organisations for British manufacturing and machinery become immediate domestic sources pushing for a stable relationship, which a Commonwealth policy could advance.

The Commonwealth of Nations is a big club. There are 54 members of the Commonwealth from the 6 continents made up of 2.4billion people. 32 of the members are regarded as small States. It was mentioned above that Theresa May, British Prime Minister in the eye of the Brexit negotiations made efforts to revive the British Commonwealth Policy ahead of her exit from Europe. Her physical journey to some selected Commonwealth countries, while reviewing established trade pacts. The Educational, Scientific and Cultural treaties binding all the 54 countries together as a bloc give the British a leeway to accentuate her trade and commercial relations as well.

Foreign and overseas students’ enrolment in British universities and higher educational facilities is an important factor. All British Universities compete for a large percentage of these Commonwealth and overseas students, from which their incomes and funding are derived. Academic Lecturers are exchanged easily under the bloc’s agreements. Another likely domestic source of Global Britain Commonwealth Policy is derived from the shortage of Medical Doctors and Nurses. There are yawning vacancies for Medical doctors and nurses in the UK. These sets of professionals have enjoyed British based medical training. This allows easy flow and adjustment across the Commonwealth.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has added another level of domestic sources of Foreign Policy. Global Great Britain’s policy to the Commonwealth countries on this pandemic is awaiting fulfilment. There are great expectations from the Commonwealth nations for the extension of the Covid-19 vaccines. The UK has been reported to have signed a Trade Partnership with Ghana, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in the month of March 2021 as published on the 2^nd March of 2021. This Partnership agreement with Ghana secures tariff-free trade and provides a platform for greater economic and cultural cooperation. Furthermore, it means Ghanaian products including bananas, tinned tuna and cocoa will benefit from tariff-free access to the United Kingdom.

 

III-          CONCLUSION

There is very great expectation from Post Brexit Global Great Britain. The Island of Great Britain is moving forward. Coming out of the 40 Years plus relationship with the European Union, Global Great Britain is evolving with a heart-warming ascendancy of a new reset United States; a very important ally of Global Britain.

President Biden emerged victorious as the new occupant of the White House, the Pacific

Rim nations of 11 country bloc regarded to be one of the fastest-growing free trade areas present itself also, and finally, the assured ready partnership ever presented by the Commonwealth of Nations. These are positive factors around which Global Great Britain shall become renowned.

When the Pandemic of Covid-19 is over, Global Great Britain will harness both internal and external sources of foreign policy to affirm her place in the world.

Post-Brexit Global Great Britain started her journey with the 2018 withdrawal Bill disengaging the UK from the European Union. There was a one-year transition programme that was consummated by a comprehensive Post Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement Bill. The negotiations though dragged on, have a Trade and Cooperation Agreement Bill of 1,246 pages that were finally signed by the UK and the European Union, just in time for 2020 Christmas. In the preparation for the Global Britain Trade and Cooperation Policy, Theresa May, as Prime Minister paid scheduled visits to China, Kenya, South Africa, Canada, and Nigeria to mention but a few. Looking at the enumerated list, four out of the 5 countries belong to the Commonwealth. May’s visits were carried out with the consciousness of ‘soft’ politics and the reality of trade deals. Finally, under the leadership of Theresa May, there was a Commonwealth Conference of Heads of State and Government hosted by the UK. Boris Johnson as Prime Minister is yet to make visits to the Commonwealth countries. When the Pandemic is over, Prime Minister Boris is likely to renew the visits to all these Commonwealth countries and probably negotiate various trade agreements with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 PERSONALITY APPROACH ANALYSIS OF ELECTORAL CONTESTS: PRELIMINARY CASE STUDIES OF THREE COUNTRIES’ GENERAL NATIONAL ELECTIONS

 

 

 

                                                            BY

 

                                           Patrick Olufemi Adelusi PhD

                                      John & James Associates (Bilingual Policy Scientists)

                                                     London. United Kingdom

                                                     patrickadelusi@jjassociates.org.uk

 http://www.olufemiadelusi.blogspot.co.uk/

                                    www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-olufemi-adelusi-a2139a76

 

I-                ABSTRACT

Events surrounding the General elections in the UK in December 2019, the Presidential elections in Nigeria in August 2019 and finally, the US Presidential Elections of November 2020, are now subject to critical political analysis. This is a preliminary study taking on these cases. Our approach is not comparative but descriptive but analytical. Boris Johnson won the Conservative Leadership contest. He took over from Theresa May who had to resign after her abortive attempts to get the UK out of the European Union. Boris got a deal and eventually got elected on the Brexit manifesto with a great majority to the surprise of everybody. The way his personality propelled the landslide victory over the Labour Party and the cacophony of noises of the smaller political parties draw our attention. The elections in Nigeria were majorly re-election of the sitting President from APC over his rival Atiku Abubakar from the opposing PDP political party. In this electoral contest, the personalities of the individuals on the opposing tickets seemed to have played well into the results of the elections at the end of the day. The last case study is the US Presidential elections between the incumbent President Donald Trump of the Republican Party and former Vice President Joe Biden of the Democratic Party. This study has been arranged in four sections, namely, Section-1 Abstract; Section II- Introduction; Section III- Personality factor in the 2019 UK national elections, 2019 Nigerian Presidential elections and the 2020 US Presidential elections. Section IV – Conclusion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II-             INTRODUCTION

 

Events surrounding the General elections in the UK in December 2019, the Presidential elections in Nigeria in August 2019 and finally, the US Presidential Elections of November 2020, are now subject to critical political analysis. This is a preliminary study taking on these cases. Our approach is not comparative but descriptive but analytical.

Boris Johnson won the Conservative Leadership contest. He took over from Theresa May who had to resign after her abortive attempts to get the UK out of the European Union. Boris got a deal and eventually got elected on the Brexit manifesto with a great majority to the surprise of everybody. The way his personality propelled the landslide victory over the Labour Party and the cacophony of noises of the smaller political parties draw our attention.

The elections in Nigeria were majorly re-election of the sitting President from APC over his rival Atiku Abubakar from the opposing PDP political party. In this electoral contest, the personalities of the individuals on the opposing tickets seemed to have played well into the results of the elections at the end of the day. It was a piece of common knowledge in Nigeria and beyond her shores that the incumbent President Buhari as he was before the 2019 Presidential Elections carried a stoic and spartan like discipline laced with incorruptible credentials. This individual character sketch played highly in his favour over that of his challenger.

The last case study is the US Presidential elections between the incumbent President Donald Trump of the Republican Party and former Vice President Joe Biden of the Democratic Party. It has become public knowledge now that the US Republican Party as it was known before fielding Donald Trump, died the day in 2015 when he was first elected. What became observable during the first term of Donald Trump to the 2020 Presidential Elections, was Trump's Republican Party. This is credence to our analytical framework in this study, the personality dominance of the Republican Party.

This study has been arranged in four sections, namely, Section-1 Abstract; Section II- Introduction; Section III- Personality factor in the 2019 UK national elections, 2019 Nigerian Presidential elections and the 2020 US Presidential elections. Section IV – Conclusion.

III-          PERSONALITY FACTORS IN THE 2019 UK NATIONAL ELECTIONS, 2019 NIGERIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AND THE 2020 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Having the priviledge to observe closely the 2019 UK General Elections, was an interesting moment in the history of the United Kingdom. There were events that took place within the UK House of Commons culminating in the selection of the Winter date for the elections on 7^th December 2019. The events of high temperamental debates between those whose lives and livelihoods seemed to hang over the Brexit failure and those that wanted the conclusion of the Brexit adventure. There is no gainsaying the fact there were political casualties. Many of those party representatives against Brexit could not secure their return to the House of Commons. Shortly before the UK elections of 7^th December 2019, these opposition candidates on the one hand and some few members of the ruling Conservative Party changed political parties. Families and friends have torn apart politically on the issue of Brexit.

The Brexit Withdrawal Deal from the European Union had floored Theresa May, Boris Johnson was successful. With this Deal in hand, Boris and his Conservative Party launched their campaign. The campaigns had a catchphrase Get Brexit done, and the elections were won. The results were a landslide with a majority of 86 members above the required parliamentary majority.

2019 Nigerian Presidential Elections came on with 91 registered political parties. Two main political parties dominated the field of campaigns and were regarded as the main or rather frontline Political Parties. The ruling All Progressive Party and the People's Democratic Party were great contenders. The sitting President Mohammed Buhari was seeking re-election for a second term in office. He was not rated by his opposing candidate Abubakar Atiku with good health and energy to traverse across the expanse of the Nigerian territory canvassing for votes. To the surprise of the PDP campaign group, the sitting President was able to visit each of the 36 states' capitals and some major cities; he touched more of the States than his presumed younger and agile opponent. The main selling point or campaign catch by the APC campaign group was the integrity and forthrightness of its candidate President Mohammed Buhari. His opposing candidate Abubakar Atiku had an albatross of corruption label that was trailing him. He fought to shrug off many of these allegations throughout the entirety of the campaigns.

In the background of the Nigerian elections of 2019 was the dwindling revenues from her main source of revenues – the sales of crude petroleum, From the height of  $140 per barrel during the 16 years of the administration of the PDP party to $40 per barrel under the administration of  President Muhammed Buhari of the APC. The results of the elections portrayed a geopolitical slant. Even though both Presidential candidates are from Fulani ethnic group, the APC candidate garnered most of his votes from the Northern zones-3 of them. He also had a South-West zone added, which means 4 zones out of the 6 zones. The PDP had an entrenched base in the South East and the South-South zone.

The aftermath of the elections is also under consideration here. PDP candidates cried foul of malpractices in the elections. He accused the Independent Electoral Commission of releasing a collated result different, from those stored in an expected imaginary cloud drive that was capturing results from polling stations. He nevertheless refused to concede defeat but took his case to the supreme court. One noticeable fact is that while PDP was contesting the election results, the party did not contest election results from states where the Party won.

The 2020 United States Presidential Elections of 3^rd November were a set of elections without any comparisons to any other in the history of the country. There was an incumbent President Donald J, Trump of the Republican Party running against former Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. Of the Democratic Party. The incumbent President had a piece of luggage of negative perceptions by the dominant media in the US. Dominant Media in the sense that such a Medium is watched both internally and abroad. The unpredictability of the character of the Republican candidate Donald Trump, the sitting President had gone ahead of him in the campaigns. He came into the campaign without thoughtful preparation on answering questions on his stewardship of four years in the governance of the country. He substituted a robust defence of policy combating the Covid-19 pandemic for a divided United States.

Republican Party candidate Donald Trump while campaigning cast aspersions on the electoral system for the elections, using words like rigged system. When States' electoral commissions charged with the organisation of the National Elections across the States decided to incorporate voting by mail alongside on the spot electronic voting, Donald Trump advised his supporters not to vote by mail. He decided to declare illegal all votes that came in by mail, thus setting up his framework for accusations for irregularities and fraud.

The elections took place and the Democratic Party Joe Biden Jr. candidate won. He defeated Republican Party candidate Donal Trump by 50.8% to 47.4% of the popular votes. In actual figures, translates to Biden 78,043,331 votes to 72,696,948 votes for Trump. On the required electoral college second level of electoral contests. Biden floored Trump, by 306 votes to 232 votes. Donald Trump has a fixation on being a bad loser, refused to concede the loss to the winner. He then went on to challenge the outcome in over 60 court cases, by which he also failed woefully. Till the swearing-in and taking up of the new administration, Donald Trump started a scorched earth policy of delegitimizing his successor in office. He then encouraged resurrection against the Congress at its combined sitting on January 6, 2021.

 

IV-           CONCLUSION

Our preliminary finding indicates that in each case studied, the personality of the main Politician contesting and that is on the ballot paper for the elections demonstrates great influence on the outcome of the elections. Boris Johnson has a winning streak with elections in the UK. As a former journalist, he seems to have control of sharp and correct messages about political campaigns. Even political opponents agree that he won hands down. The UK elections did not throw up post-election wrangling and disagreement.

Nigerian electoral contests reveal great post-election dissensions between the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar and the ruling All Progressive Party (APC) candidate President Muhammed Buhari. The PDP levelled allegations of electoral malpractices. He mentioned a hidden drive full of election results not declared. His court challenge at the Supreme Court revealed an absence of such Drive, in operation. A Series of threats to make the country ungovernable was made but nothing was able to destabilise the ruling government and the winning candidate was sworn in to start a second term.

Finally, it is noteworthy that when historians come around to tell us more about the nitty-gritty of the events that surrounded each of these elections, they will amplify the underlying trait of personality influence on the direction and outcome of the election campaign as well as the import of executive powers.  

 NIGERIA A FAILED STATE OR A NATION-STATE IN THE PANGS OF STATEHOOD? A REVIEW ARTICLE

 

 

 

 

 

                                                  BY

 

                                          Patrick Olufemi Adelusi PhD

                          John & James Associates (Bilingual Policy Scientists)

                                               London. United Kingdom

                                                    patrickadelusi@jjassociates.org.uk

http://www.olufemiadelusi.blogspot.co.uk/

                                        www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-olufemi-adelusi-a2139a76

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I-               ABSTRACT

 

An article titled “Failed State 2030 Nigeria- A Case Study” was published as an occasional paper No.67 in February 2011 by 5 Colonels of the United States Air Force (USAF). Our study is majorly a review of these Colonels’ articles. The background for their research lies in the fact that Nigeria is one of the topics that reflect long-term strategic thinking about technology and its implications for US national security.

The concept of “Failed State” as used by the researchers raised a lot of dust. Political Science scholars have a consensus about what constitutes a State. A nation-State constitutes a State. A state fails when it suffers “the loss of physical control of its territory; [its] monopoly on the legitimate use of force; the erosion of [its] legitimate authority to make collective decisions; an inability to provide reasonable public services; and the inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community”. A country that is in the process of nation-statehood is yet to be recognized as a State. If the United States with political and economic growth of 230 years is regarded as a State. Nigeria with 60 years of political and economic growth is in the process of becoming a nation-State and cannot qualify to be regarded as a State. If unstable political and economic institutions, coupled with a deficit of infrastructures are hallmarks of a nation-state going through pangs of Statehood; then well-defined and established political and economic institutions herald a State. Nigeria cannot be described appropriately as a “failed State”. This statement is our working tool for our review exercise. Our tasks will be divided into 5 sections, namely, Section I-Abstracts, Section 2- Introduction, Section 3- Factors undermining Nigeria’s statehood, Section 4-Failed Statehood: Nigeria and USA of 2015-2020, Section 5-Conclusion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II-            INTRODUCTION

A study carried out in 2011 with a 2030 pessimistic futuristic vision on Nigeria could be described as a stereotype. Many of us studying political science in the 1980s were made to swallow the Euro-American centricity views reflected in their academic publications. The most notable one was the theory of Modernisation by David Apter. The subject for the testing of this theory was Ghana, an African country. Until the author repudiated this decades-long theory inside our Postgraduate visiting lecturer conference held in Bordeaux, France sometime in 1987 or thereabout, most of us budding scholars held on to this theory. The relevance of this is that simple. Here we go again with 5 Colonels from the US Airforce putting out there their research findings on Nigeria. This has nothing to do with undermining the veracity of their findings but with putting us on alert about these manipulations. If the world was not treated to a Trump administration 2016-2020 and with 25,000 lies, he fed the US citizens. 74 million still voted for him. He then continued till his very end with a great lie of winning an election which he lost by a landslide.

In this review article, it is our intention to limit our appraisal to two aspects of the work, namely, Nigeria in context; Defining Failure; and secondly, Nigeria in 2030: Paths to Failure. The main reason for restricting my appraisal to these two aspects lies in the fact that every other chapter of the article is very replete with everyday accounts of how an amalgamated entity has been coping with pangs of nation-statehood on her way to becoming a State.

 

 

 

III-         FACTORS UNDERMINING NIGERIA’S STATEHOOD

With regards to the first aspect, Nigeria in context: Defining Failure, reference was made to Nigeria’s History dubbed foundations for failure. The British colonization and the spread of Islam. There are two undercurrents about British colonization of Nigeria which these 5 authors did not capture in their analysis. How the amalgamated North and the South regions evolved to become Nigeria first in 1914 and later in 1960. If a 1914 mistake? continued till 1960 flag independence, where do we put reports coming out of the British archives both spoken by elderly civil servants that were involved in carrying out first rigging of the Census in favour of the North. This author once worked and lived in the North, he also read geography, on many of his journeys from the South to the North, his knowledge of geography deposits that as you move from the rain forest to the savannah and later arid desert, the population is expected to decrease. What we later felt released was the truth that geographic truth remains true, but the British falsified the census to turn geographic truth on its head. The elections that heralded the first government of Nigeria, where the NPC came on

top were rigged in favour of the North again, having confessed that the North was not ready for independence unless they lead. The British did not want either the Western Region by itself or the Eastern Region by itself nor cooperation between the Western and Eastern regions to rule Nigeria. A Country formed with the foundation of lies cannot be celebrated as a State going into failure. A pregnant lady has 9 months before giving birth, after which the baby needs attention. Nigeria with her 350 or so multi-ethnic groupings went through a civil war for 3 years and now has a democratic government. It is true, the resources are not coming in as they used to be. Crude petroleum sales slumped under this government. The government is forced to carry out choices that are unpleasant but developmental. The Nigerian population is being made to begin to make scales of preference and budgeting. With dwindling resources, demands are more than supply, old buried animosities are rearing their heads.

Another point raised was the role of and the spread of the Islamic religion. It is common knowledge now that both the North and the South have followers of the 8 Islamic faith. There was no spread of Islam as a religion. Terrorist Islamic fundamentalism yes!! has been tearing the Northern states apart. There is no monolithic North again. Instead of this apocalyptic spread of Islamic religion, what we are observing is the prevalence of rogues under the clothes of herdsmen – the rustling of cows. The rustling initially started within the Northern territory. It caused a lot of dislocation to the security of local inhabitants and death with kidnappings. Katsina State, the home state of Nigeria’s President is not spared.  Most of the Southern non-Moslem States are not been attacked under one herdsmen attack or another. In some proven cases as reported by security operatives, armed robbers who may or not be Fulani are now terrorizing road users. A consensus has been reached that once the cows and the herdsmen are organized into ranches in the Northern States, their home base, the insecurity linked to herdsmen would be over. There is however a suspicion that there are some designs to employ the herdsmen attacks as a political instrument to send a warning to opposing and rival parties on the need to maintain the status quo with having a Northern President. This has not been confirmed.

 

IV-         FAILED STATEHOOD: NIGERIA AND USA OF 2015-2020

Let me start my review of this 2011 paper on the theme of Failed Statehood by quoting their definition that, A state fails when it suffers “the loss of physical control of its territory; [its] monopoly on the legitimate use of force; the erosion of [its] legitimate authority to make collective decisions; an inability to provide reasonable public services; and the inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community.” The 2007 Failed State Index, compiled by the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine, identified these indicators of a failed state. In the US end, with many Nigerian-Americans doing well in all aspects of the US economy and science, a study like this lays credence to a narrative that there must indeed be the failure of Nigerian statehood for these Nigerians to have left in a mass exodus to the US. I am not comparing British and the Australian Americans to their Nigerian-Americans, one thing is certain, people will move to places that suit them best despite the colour of their traveling passports.

The Nigerian constitution of 1999 is not a perfect constitution. It desires to be reviewed from time to time. Democratic experiments are still going on using this constitution. The levels of Political governance continue to be deepened. The States and the Federal Government are recognized and are used for independent budgetary allocations and development planning. During the operation of this constitution, A President widened the powers of the local government authorities by sending allocations due to that level of government directly to them without interference from the States as it used to be. Unknown to many people, each local government chairman can now budget for its territory and plans the development of the territory. While this was a great step, another giant stride came in the form of separate budgetary systems for the three main organs of government, mainly the Legislative, the Judiciary, and the Executive. The implication of this is that a Legislature cannot be tied to the apron strings of the Executive. Please kindly note that what you have just read were aspects of the political growth taking place in Nigeria that some 5 Colonels saw as a failed State.

Many observers and citizens know that Nigeria has a great deficit in infrastructure. The tragedy is that those who compromised their opportunities to serve by corruptive influence have come to see what a non-corruptive government could achieve with meager resources. Change is very difficult to make. Beneficiaries of corruption and the corruptive system will always fight back or at the best fight to describe any other attempts at achievement as a failure.

There have also been demands for a restructuring of the Federation as an amendment to Nigeria’s constitution. The central issues calling for restructuring have to do with State and Local Police, having to do with security. Nigeria is under policed. Attempts have been made by regions to have paramilitary outfits assist the Police in its security duties until a formal legal structure comes to be. There are over 68 items that are under the Federal government which could as well have been delegated to the States and the local governments.

All these issues are those grounding the around efforts at moving to a Nation-State. Nigeria is yet to be a State. She aspires to be a State, with recent democratic practices. The US is a State. She has practiced democracy for more than 200 years. She has ethnic tensions, but it is more of white supremacist racism. All her Political, Economic, and Social institutions are strong and well tested. Infrastructure is well defined and developed though there is talk of maintenance and rebuilding. Nigeria has just taken a bold step of linking her South Western and Eastern regional cities by rail network in 2021. What was inherited was North-South rail links for produce from the North to the seaports in the South. Can such a country be described as failing? Such a country is climbing the ropes to becoming a Nation-State before being graded.

Can Nigeria be accused of not having the ability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community? Nigeria has participated in many UN-sponsored police activities, observer status in areas of conflict. Nigeria has also assumed the Presidency of the International Court of Justice at Hague. Recently, a Nigerian-supported female has just been appointed as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation to mention but a few.

Where do we place the US of 2015-2020? The US is a State. She fulfills all the criteria enunciated in the definition of a failed state except for the last criterion. You may seem surprised! Domestic Terrorism made the US to momentarily have the loss of physical control of its territory; [its] monopoly on the legitimate use of force; the erosion of [its] legitimate authority to make collective decisions; Let us look at them briefly, to our amazement, with a sitting President who swore to an oath to defend the territory of the US, an important branch of the Federal government lost its legitimate authority to make collective decisions at the Capitol because of invasion of the Congress building by thugs, terrorists orchestrated by her sitting President Donald Trump. With that incident, until the new President takes the oath of office, the US lost both the physical control of her territory as most state capitals are under security watch for domestic terrorism and she also lost her monopoly of the legitimate use of force too. Looking for a failed State demands that one recognizes a State in her full functions and when she slides from such, will qualify her for the label of a failed State.

V-            CONCLUSION

Two aspects of the main article titled “Failed State 2030 Nigeria- A Case Study” published as an occasional paper No.67 in February 2011 by 5 Colonels of the United States Air Force (USAF) were picked as highlights of our review. This is because what remains of the research paper can be best described as a historical rehash of Nigerian etymological, political, and social compositions which can be found in the public domain already. Going over them will not add any new thing to our discussion. These two areas are Nigeria in context: Defining Failure; and secondly, Nigeria in 2030: Paths to Failure. We draw the lines under what makes Nigeria a developing State, which is a country undergoing phases of nation-building. What the citizens are going through are all pangs of this exercise. That the Democratic Institutions are not strong nor pervasive, the socio-economic and commerce sectors still struggling to interlink, and finally, Nigeria needs time to evolve from an amalgamated 350 multi-ethnic groups, rigged census, rigged elections foundations to a Nation-State. How many years do we have to wait for this to happen? The answer to this can only be found in a conscious internal effort by the political and socioeconomic elites to evolve a consensus on all issues of national importance while being supported by a patient international environment that is not too critical but supportive. This is a far cry from being a failed State.

 

 MONUMENTAL LYING AND US POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT: IMAGE PROBLEM SPILLOVER TO RELATIONS WITH AFRICANS

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                 BY

 

 

                                              Patrick Olufemi Adelusi PhD

                                      John & James Associates (Bilingual Policy Scientists)

                                                     London. United Kingdom

                                                     patrickadelusi@jjassociates.org.uk

 http://www.olufemiadelusi.blogspot.co.uk/

                                    www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-olufemi-adelusi-a2139a76

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I-               ABSTRACT

The monumental lying in the heart of the US Political development started by former President Donald Trump has spilled over image problems. The countries of Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean have been affected. These countries have nationals that are now citizens of the US. 74 million US citizens voted for Donald Trump and his Republican Party. This is a huge figure. They bought into the lies and the monumental lie of all time, dropped by Donald Trump. More than 15 States in the United States have their State Legislatures, by legislation shrinks the space for democratic participation. The targets of this legislation are those opposing parties, the Democratic Party, and the Independent Candidates. The squeeze in polling centers, cancellation of Sundays as preferred days by Christians. The mindset of the Republican-dominated Legislatures is that shrinking the democratic space will make their political party to win and revise the electoral wins of the Democratic Party. There are some questions that arise. The 74 million US citizens that swallowed hooker and sinker the grandfather of all lies, or the lie of the century!!!, were they genuinely sure that Donald Trump won the 2020 US Presidential Elections against then-Vice President Biden as he was known then? Secondly, Is the fear of disappearing white supremacist ideology and champions in Key US representative governments like the Presidency behind the attachment to Donald Trump and his lies? Finally, what happens to the place of the Ivy League Universities, Technological Institutes, and Business Schools and their graduates among these 74 million Voters for Donald Trump? Finding answers to these questions, our study has been arranged along 4 Sections, namely, Section I- Abstract, Section II- Introduction, Section III- Monumental Lying and US Political development: image problem spill over to relations with Africans, Section IV- Conclusion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II-            INTRODUCTION

The world was shocked by the non-acceptance of the 2020 US Presidential elections results by the then incumbent President Donal Trump. It was a departure from the normal practices, in the last fifty years of Democratic practices in the US. He dropped the lie of the century, under our very eyes that he won the elections. Furthermore, still that it was stolen by the actual winner. President Biden won by 306 electoral votes to Donal Trump’s 232 electoral votes. He also had 80 million popular votes to Donald Trump’s 74 million popular votes. By all assessments, these results can be described as a landslide victory. Donald Trump held on to his lie on his Twitter and Fox News TV channel. He is also reported to have been raising financial contributions from his 74 million voters under the pretext of filing lawsuits to overturn his stolen mandate. These voters were swindled to the tune of over 200 million dollars. The Republican Party became Trump's Republican Party. All elected Republicans except one were silenced by Trump's dominance. Even after leading the party to the loss of the majority in the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Presidency. All three are now controlled by the winning Democratic Party.

This study is examining the ramifications of this awkward political map to the US political development and the spillover to relations with Africans at home and in the diaspora. There are some questions that arise. The 74 million US citizens that swallowed hooker and sinker the grandfather of all lies, or the lie of the century!!!, were they genuinely sure that Donald Trump won the 2020 US Presidential Elections against then-Vice President Biden as he was known then? Secondly, Is the fear of disappearing white supremacist ideology and champions in Key US representative governments like the Presidency behind the attachment to Donald Trump and his lies? Finally, what happens to the place of the Ivy League Universities, Technological Institutes, and Business Schools and their graduates among these 74 million Voters for Donald Trump? Finding answers to these questions, our study has been arranged along 4 Sections, namely, Section I- Abstract, Section II- Introduction, Section III- Monumental Lying and US Political development: image problem spill over to relations with Africans, Section IV- Conclusion

 

III-         MONUMENTAL LYING AND US POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT: IMAGE PROBLEM SPILL OVER TO RELATIONS WITH AFRICANS

In the electioneering campaign, reports have it that the ECWA evangelicals were solidly supporting the then-candidate Donald Trump. The solidity of this base support could not be doubted, as most promises made to this compact group were the signposts around which the elected President Donald Trump ran his years inside the White House. Africans in Diaspora who are Christians see in the ECWA -Donald Trump alliance some good tidings. Some crazy prophets started playing on the Messiah tune. That the election of Donald Trump as the US President will bring Jesus to the White House!!!!

As President, he instituted praying in schools and the White House. He appointed 3 Supreme Court Judges and saw them through the Senate. These Judges are aligned with the ECWA sympathies such as anti-abortion. He moved the Capital of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Christians in some African countries South of the Sahara saw in that as the fulfillment of the Prophesy about the end time. Donald Trump now entered their mindset as God sent. He kept fulfilling the ECWA backed up promises. All these were in the anticipation of a deserved second term in office which did come to pass. A situation that turned the US President, desolate and dangerous to the US national interests in the short and long terms.

A peep into the monumental lie will remind us of the missing gaps in Donald Trump's actions in lying and the ominous silence of his base of ECWA support. All along the years of his administration, reports have it that he had told American citizens close to 25,000 lies. The great one lies that we now describe as monumental is the lie that the 2020 Presidential election results were stolen from him. It is honestly distressing to many Africans that a lie like that could be supported by 74 million people. Now out of power, Donald Trump has turned the Republican Party to Trump Republican Party. He is now the Godfather of Candidates for selection for offices on the ticket of the Trump Republic Party.

Can we now take a closer look at our questions?  what could be responsible for the alliance between the ECWA base of Donald Trump and its continued support despite the obvious and shameful lie? ECWA is basically faith-based. Proverbs chapter 6:16-19, the same book of Proverbs chapter 12:22, and lastly, John chapter 8:44 just to mention a few. These references would resonate with an average ECWA membership if the Holy book that serves as the main origin of their faith is taken seriously. All these references have one thing in common, it decries lying as despicable. Why would anyone associate with a glamorized liar? Why is the US federating States under Trump Republican Party pushing this lie while their members could not see beyond what their leaders will want them to see? Is the fear of disappearing white supremacist ideology and champions in Key US representative governments like the Presidency behind the attachment to Donald Trump and his lies? With Fox News Television, its presenters standing truth upside down to get and hold the Trumpism, the 74 million voters for Donald Trump are fed on these lies. Having been banned by Twitter services, it has been reported that the immediate past US President is planning to create his own Social Medium like Twitter, rising from the support of 74 million voters.

What happens to the place of the Ivy League Universities, Technological Institutes, and Business Schools and their graduates among these 74 million Voters for Donald Trump? It is probably too early to rule out the response of these Ivy League tertiary institutions and their graduates. It is nevertheless, noteworthy that with the internet, Wi-Fi, Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and Twitter, a large chunk of educated US citizens still refused to embrace the truth about the 2020 Presidential elections results. The prevalence of the Covid19 pandemic is also another lie by Donald Trump. For failing to acknowledge it early in time and taking a leadership role in its combat, 560,000 dead US citizens became victims of the deadly disease. When then US President Donald Trump caught the disease, Covid-19, he had to be rushed to a special Anti-disease Hospital where he was admitted and put on drugs that were being tested for Covid-19. He denied being sick of covid-19, his wife and last child fell too for this disease. More than 18 of his inner staff working at the White House, the Vice-President also caught covid-19 at one point or the other. He continued to deny that there is anything like covid-19 to his followers when on election campaigns. Instead of encouraging the use of masks and safe distancing that scientists recommended as basic to pushing back this covid-19, he refused their application. Finally, on his last day out of the White House, he has been reported to have taken his covid-19 vaccination along with his wife in secret now that the vaccines are now available. Most of those against vaccination are supporters of Donald Trump.

Can one place appropriately were four months and leaving the White House, former US President Donald Trump has been reported to have vowed to help the Trump Republican Party win seats in Congress in the 2022 elections? He did not stop at that, He was reported to have called a sitting US Senator from The Republican Party, Mitch McConnel ‘a son of a bitch’ simply because he finally differed from him by conceding that now President Joe Biden had won the 2020 Presidential elections, thus confirming the obvious. It was similarly reported in the same stance, that Donald Trump expressed his disappointment in his Vice President Mike Pence for not intervening to stop the congressional certification of the 2020 Presidential election votes tally. An exercise that was a mere constitutional formality.

 

 

 

IV-         CONCLUSION

This preliminary study has been able to analyze the linkage between the monumental lying by Donald Trump and the US Political development. There are few answers to harvest concerning the attachment of 74 million voters to Donald Trump over his lies. There are certainly emerging facts on the ramifications of the big lie. The ongoing ramification ahead of the 2022 Congressional elections is that of shrinking of democratic space for polling in Democratic Party-held areas. The Trump Republican Party has a mindset built on the monumental lie that Donald Trump's elections results win was stolen by the Democratic Party. Denying sympathizers of the Democratic Party the needed expression of their choice at elections will make Trump's Republican Party to win. A lie waiting to be debunked soon.

Finally, a $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief package for the stressed citizens, States, Local Governments, Companies, and support for rapid vaccination programs was passed by both Houses of Congress solely by the Democratic Party majority. No elected Trump Republican Party Representatives or Senators joined in the passage. Instead, they were the most vocal in taking the thumbs up for its passage among their intended voters. Another level of lying again.

States from across the continent of Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean are watching closely the Political Development unfolding in the US. Ten years may be an underestimated time for the damage caused by the erratic, racist, vulgar, and above all lying corrupt politician that has ever occupied the US White House. If 230 years of democratic practices by the US could not filter out vagabonds in power, it beholds us all to examine with sympathy all the teething challenges of nations forcefully merged into countries in the throes of nationhood. Their practice of Democracy is still under 80 years!!!!!