By Denrele Animasaun

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”— Groucho Marx

They say a week, is a long time in politics. Well, in the UK, it seems like a lifetime way barely over a week, the UK held a referendum and over a million votes to leave the European Union. I wrote about this last week: Better in than out. Admittedly, no one was prepared for the seismic impact that followed when the UK decided to part ways with the EU. This has left a nation divided: the young versus the old, the working class and the graduates; South versus the North, British nationals and Immigrants, fanning the fear and muting exhilaration in some. The dust is beginning to settle and the political landscape is unclear as politicians jostle for positions and creating political turmoil and hara-kiri.

It is not looking as rosy as it was promised for those who were convinced that it would be in the best interest of the country if they left the EU. Many were convinced of the past glory of Britain and so were convinced they could go it alone. They were afraid of what they see as the changing faces of Britain. I suppose that is immigration for you, you can’t have one without the other.  The xenophobes in many came up to the fore but they were not admitting this upfront.  The last general election was won by the conservatives on the premise that conservatives would have a referendum. Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive!

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron tendered his resignation and the Pound went free fall, the politicians were falling right, left and centre. The front runner, hotly anticipated prime minister- elect, Boris Johnson now declined to take on the mantle and his stable mate, Michael Gove, withdrew his support for Boris and threw his hat in the ring. They did say that politics is the second oldest profession and it is so full of sleaze, manipulation and spin. Right now, there is a lack of trust for politicians except if you are Jeremy Corbyn, now, that is another story.

The chicken has finally come home the roost, and of course, we may have a potential woman PM, Theresa May.

Right now, British politics is very gladiatorial and bloody.  It says a lot about the calibre of people who are voted by the people to represent them but, instead, they have spun sentiments and they have put the country in a precarious position and with uncertain future.

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced that companies have already started cutting back on investments following the vote to leave the European Union. The market has reacted to the verdicts and it is not promising. The rating agencies Fitch and S&P have indeed downgraded the UK’s credit rating, meaning they think that lending money to the UK government is less safe than it was last week.

There are expectations that there will be more cuts in interest rate in the weeks to come.

The experts did warn that leaving the EU will have dire implications, this was played down by the Leave campaigners and so many voted to leave without weighing out the facts from the myths. So Britain has thrown away the political baby with the proverbial bathwater.

Exiting the EU means that UK has lost its membership to the largest Single market and free movement of member citizens. EU has scuppered the UK government to renegotiate its way out of the EU, and it has accused the UK of cherry picking and they are determined that the UK cannot have its cake and eat it too.

The casualty here are young people who feel rightfully ignored, marginalised and betrayed. They feel cheated out of their own future and that their birth right has been tossed and trampled on. The political grandees are narrow-minded and they have voted with their single-mindedness with the air of superiority of the old empire mentality. Don’t get me wrong, there were valid concerns: recessions, free movement of EU citizens, high unemployment, resentments of immigrants, a widening gap between the haves and have-nots.

The politicians as usual, distracted the people’s genuine concerns and played on their fears; the influx of foreigners, short supply of houses, employment, shrinking spending power and the high demands on health and education services.

To top it all, the EU members who had supported UK and pleaded for the UK to remain within the Union feel betrayed by the outcome.  As a result, they have told the UK to leave the European Union sooner rather than later and that there wouldn’t be a discussion with the UK, until article 50 is triggered to formalise its exit.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “we have no illusions – it’s a qualitatively different task” compared with previous crises. The other members are worried about contagion from the UK’s economic instability. The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said of the exit: “the Brits have made a choice. We are sorry, but at the end of the day they will be worse off – not Europe.”

This fall from grace is spectacular: UK is a political pariah and now the House of parliament is in a serious political free fall, one of treachery and political mongering of the et Brute kind, the eerie rebellion is palpable and we all feel it. It is strange climate right now in the UK and there is a high level of uncertainty. The leaders of the 27 member states, excluding Britain, said in a statement that they hoped to have the UK as a close partner of the EU in future “and we look forward to the UK stating its intentions in this respect. That: “Any agreement, which will be concluded with the UK as a third country, will have to be based on a balance of rights and obligations. Access to the single market requires acceptance of all four freedoms.”

The “four freedoms” that underlie the EU’s internal market are the freedom of movement of goods, workers, services and capital.

The 27 leaders, now minus the UK, made it clear that the EU has to regroup, rally its forces and rethink its strategy. To make matters worse, the Scottish’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has held talks with EU officials in Brussels, after Scottish voters opted to remain in the EU. And she wants to get a better deal for Scotland, as they voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU but as part of the UK, and she is considering a referendum for independence from the UK, so is the Northern Ireland. Of course this has its own implication for some countries who may be considering similar move and that is another headache. At the moment there are now petitions of over 4 million people requesting for a second referendum as many people feel that they were misled. I do not think it is going to go anywhere, as the horse has finally bolted and it is too late to close the stable door.

The French president and Spanish prime minister have both said they are opposed to the EU negotiating potential membership for Scotland.

Nigeria, like other countries. would do well to take note on how not to behave or lead. The Brexit is staring long into abyss; there was no apparent road map as to how to move the country forward. The country was sold an utopian dream, the politicians  exploited and manipulated the fears of the “them and us”.