• Dons Eze
• Foreign Affairs
• November 8, 2024
• 74 views

NIGERIAN-BORN UK CONSERVATIVE LEADER, KEMI BADENOCH, BLASTS FORMER BRITISH COLONIES, FOR BLAMING THEIR UNDERDEVELOPMENT ON COLONIALISM

:NIGERIAN-BORN UK CONSERVATIVE LEADER, KEMI BADENOCH, SAYS IT’S SCAM FOR FORMER BRITISH COLONIES TO BLAME THEIR UNDERDEVELOPMENT ON COLONIALISM The newly elected leader of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, Kemi Badenoch, once claimed it is fallacious for developing countries to always blame their underdevelopment on British colonialism. The Nigerian-born British lawmaker who once served as UK business and trade minister said this in a viral video in October. In a recent video, the new UK Conservative Party leader said many countries claim the British Empire is responsible for their lack of socio-economic growth, but that the UK government should be celebrated for ending slave trade and not be seen as the bane of global development as propagated by some former British colonies. She said: “There are many countries now who want to use guilt to try and exploit the UK. They asked for reparation. I saw it as a trade minister. It is not a culture war. “I was at the WTO. I won’t name the minister from another country. And he was telling me we need to give up some of the things we were doing because of colonialism and they needed time to develop. These arguments are a scam. Don’t fall for it. “We need to make sure we put this country first, we work well with our neighbours, we work well with other countries. But we have to look after ourselves. “There are many things the British Empire got wrong but there are many amazing things the British Empire also did. We need to be honest about it and stop pretending that it was all bad. The British Empire ended slavery, the Atlantic slave trade. We need to talk about that more.” Similarly, Kemi Badenoch made headlines in April for her bold statement that the UK’s wealth and economic success shouldn’t be attributed solely to its colonial history or racial privilege. This statement sparked controversy, adding to the list of times Badenoch has been at the centre of public debate. The lawmaker said: “It worries me when I hear people talk about wealth and success in the UK as being down to colonialism or imperialism or white privilege or whatever. “It matters, because if people genuinely believe that the UK only grew and developed into an advanced economy because of exploitation and oppression, then the solutions they will devise will make our growth and productivity problem even worse. “It matters in other countries too, because if developing nations do not understand how the west became rich, they cannot follow in its footsteps.” “And it matters when, as your trade secretary, I go to the World Trade Organization conference negotiating on the UK’s behalf, and some of my counterparts spend the entire time in meetings talking about colonialism, blame the west for their economic difficulties, and make demands that would make all of us – not just in this country, but around the world – poorer,” she added. At a recent summit in Samoa, former British colonies renewed their call for slavery reparations from the UK government. King Charles III acknowledged the painful legacy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, stating that it continues to resonate today. However, he avoided discussing financial reparations, instead encouraging leaders to focus on understanding history to inform future choices and address existing inequalities. Earlier this week, the Chairman and CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, revealed that her office reached out to Kemi Badenoch, but received no response. Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, Dabiri-Erewa said Badenoch’s action shows that she is not willing to identify herself as a person of Nigerian lineage. She stated that Nigeria would not compel the British politician to embrace her Nigerian roots…

• Dons Eze
• Foreign Affairs
• November 7, 2024
• 94 views

HOW ELECTORAL COLLEGE, NOT POPULAR VOTE PICKS US PRESIDENT

HOW ELECTORAL COLLEGE, NOT POPULAR VOTE, PICKS US PRESIDENT Although the United States prides itself as the world’s pre-eminent democracy, where each person can have their say about who should be president, the Constitution calls for states to choose “electors” who do the actual electing. This is known as the Electoral College. Since the first presidential election in 1789, won by George Washington, there have been 59 U.S. elections. In all but five – two in this century – the president had won both the popular votes and the Electoral College votes. In 2000, Democratic candidate Al Gore garnered 543,895 more votes nationwide than Republican George W. Bush. But in a contentious race that went all the way up to the Supreme Court, the judges decided to end a recount in Florida, giving the state’s then 25 electoral votes to Mr Bush. This took Mr Bush past the magic number of 270 electoral votes and ensured him the presidency. In 2016, when Donald Trump was elected, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by a much bigger margin, receiving 2.9 million more votes nationwide. But Mr Trump became president because he garnered 304 electoral votes to Mrs Clinton’s 227. Join the Premium Times WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You. If the number of electoral votes is tied, then the election is decided by the newly elected House of Representatives. How the electoral votes workEach state is allotted electors equal to their number of representatives in Congress. This means there are 538 electors in total: 435 representatives and 100 senators, plus three for the District of Columbia. If a candidate wins 270 electors or more, therefore, he or she wins the presidency. In 48 states, the candidate with the most votes, however slim the margin is, wins all the state’s electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska do things differently and allocate electoral votes by individual congressional districts. Some critics regard the Electoral College as an anachronism and prefer it be replaced with the national popular vote. They say that the Electoral College makes a mockery of the “one person, one vote” system the country extols. Furthermore, it causes candidates to concentrate their campaigns primarily on a handful of swing states where the vote could go either way, turning the majority of voters elsewhere in the country into bystanders. But proponents say the reverse would happen if the president were elected by the popular vote. Then candidates would concentrate their campaigning in the big states – California, Texas and New York – and voters in smaller states would be the onlookers. But what really do the two major candidates in the US presidential election represent? Kamala Harris is the first woman, first black person and first person of South Asian descent to be vice president of the United States. After four years in the second-highest office, she now wants to make history again by holding the top job. She received President Joe Biden’s blessing when he stepped back from being the Democratic candidate just three months ago, triggering her whirlwind campaign. Ms Harris was born on 20 October 1964 in Oakland, California. She often touts her middle-class upbringing to voters. Her father, Donald, migrated from Jamaica to study economics while her mother, Shyamala, a cancer researcher and civil rights activist, came from India. They married in 1963 and separated when Harris was 5 years old. Mrs Harris, 60, has largely played down her gender and race. But she has said that India is an important part of her life. When she and her younger sister Maya were children, their mother travelled with them to India almost every other year to see relatives there – and to instil in them a love of…

• Dons Eze
• Foreign Affairs
• November 7, 2024
• 97 views

STATES WON BY TRUMP, HARRIS IN US ELECTION

• Dons Eze
• Foreign Affairs
• November 7, 2024
• 99 views

WE REACHED OUT TO KEMI BADENOCH FEW TIMES BUT NO RESPONSE, WE WON’T FORCE OURSELVES ON ANYBODY – ABIKE DABIRI-EREWA

WE REACHED OUT TO KEMI BADENOCH FEW TIMES BUT NO RESPONSE, WE WON’T FORCE OURSELVES ON ANYBODY – ABIKE DABIRI-EREWA Chairman and CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has stated that Nigeria will not compel Kemi Badenoch, the newly elected leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, to identify with her Nigerian heritage. Dabiri-Erewa revealed that NiDCOM has reached out to Badenoch on multiple occasions without receiving a response. “It depends on if she identifies the ‘Nigerianness’ in her,” Dabiri-Erewa remarked on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday, November 6. “We have reached out to her once or twice without any response, so we don’t force people to accept being Nigerian.” Dabiri-Erewa emphasized that while NiDCOM is open to working with Nigerians in the diaspora, it is ultimately Badenoch’s decision to connect with her Nigerian background. She cited previous instances, such as Miss Universe Nigeria’s identification with Nigeria after facing challenges in South Africa, to illustrate how the commission respects individual choices regarding heritage. Kemi Badenoch, 44, who was born in London but spent her early years in Lagos, Nigeria, and the United States, won the Conservative Party leadership race on Saturday with 57 percent of party member votes, defeating former immigration minister Robert Jenrick. Her election as the first black leader of a UK-wide political party marks a significant milestone. In her acceptance speech, Badenoch called it an “enormous honour” to lead but acknowledged the challenges ahead, adding, “It is time to get down to business, it is time to renew.”