Editorial: Eighth of May 2011

An editorial for blogs

This blog is not a newspaper but the writer does have opinions that sometimes do not fit in the normal strictures of a blog; I suppose those are rules I have set for myself rather than ones that are hard and fast by reason of concept or custom.

I have noticed that my blogs are somewhat fully fledged, long, topical and organising of a particular series of thoughts and opinions, I can only recall writing a blog that was just a paragraph and that was years ago.

What I intend with what I will henceforth label editorial is to offer short views on news, events and observations covering a whole range of topics as I am minded to express without reservation and most definitely at all times, without prejudice.

Basically, Twitter will not suffice and Facebook hides the conversation from those who still harbour fright of its menacing tentacles.

The best president gone west

The events of the past week have been world-changing in many ways from my perspective as the Nigerian election season that started in April closed on Friday with the supplemental election that held to deal with irregularities that occurred two Thursdays ago.

The election petitioning process has begun in earnest with the second largest party in the presidential elections going to the tribunal to contest the results and seek redress.

The presidential aspirant of that party had promised not to seek redress but his party which in some terms was the vehicle for his ego and obstinacy is flailing with legal abandon such that it would be interesting to see how the reluctant leader will step forward to take the prize if his party does win their cause which will not happen by a long shot.

However, being baseless optimists, the prospect of a President with 4.5% of the Senate, 7.2% of the House of Representatives and 2.7% of the governors might well be the best President Nigeria ever had with an impossible congress to get his agenda through the system not forgetting the President cannot rule by executive fiat.

Meanwhile Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) the UK equivalent of Queen’s Counsel (QC) will have a largesse of billable hours and usually plaintiffs acquire justice by SAN intimidation, it is not unusual to have a fistful of SANs to knock the justices off their benches, I hope to get a ringside seat to watch the utility of futility.

Between martyrdom and mermaids

When the United States decided to bury Osama bin Laden having given him a hole in the head, they definitely seem to have been conversant with Islamic burial practices as the difference of opinion was expressed in washing him before sending him to his 72 mermaids at the bottom of the sea.

The wash basically stripped him of the martyrdom that his acolytes would have wanted to confer on him and I would suppose the clothes in which he died would not be afforded the mystique of the Turin Shroud.

Everyone seems to be claiming journalistic privilege in wanting to see pictures of the deconstructed terrorist in order to convince themselves that they have mediaeval and macabre appetites for blood and gore rather than incontrovertible proof of the execution of the culprit.

My candid advice to those who need to see pictures is that they trawl the Internet and they can be enthralled with as much savage pornography as they need for a lifetime. I am quite satisfied with the changing versions of stories of how he met his demise, because there is one inalienable fact that others have to provide; an Osama bin Laden without gills, breathing air and telling us once again – Catch me if you can.

Russian roulette democracy

The UK had a series of elections last week and the one that I felt mattered was the referendum on Alternative Voting which simply allowed voters to rate candidates in order of preference until one of them passed the 50% threshold to claim the election.

Nominally, it would have forced candidates to work harder at being recognised to become one of the preferences but the people rejected the idea of their representatives working to earn recognition thereby leaving them less accountable to their electorate.

We get the government we deserve and so one can safely say all you have to do as in one case where the votes were tied is to cast lots or have one draw the long straw to win – who would have thought a classic case of short-straw democracy will occur just when people were given the chance to make a radical change to the system?

Democracy is definitely contending for the best from a selection of the worst options in most cases.