Housing Department Secretary Dr. Ben Carson has tested positive for the coronavirus, his office announced – making him the latest official who attended a White House election night party to get COVID-19.
He tested positive for the virus Monday, his deputy chief of staff Coalter Baker told ABC News.
The word comes days after it was revealed White House chief of staff Mark Meadows also contracted the virus. Subsequent reports revealed that five other White House and and a Trump campaign staffer have tested positive for the virus.
According to the statement: ‘Secretary Carson has tested positive for the coronavirus. He is in good spirits and feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery.’
It was not immediately clear why Carson’s test was performed at Walter Reed, the military hospital where Trump received treatment and where many top government officials receive care.
Trump took experimental medecines including Regeneron, which he claims ‘cured’ him.
Carson was at the Election Night Party, which Meadows also attended.
Weeks before the election, Trump and first lady Melania contracted the virus, which complicated Trump’s closing message that the nation was ’rounding the corner.’
The U.S. has been suffering record new infections of about 1,000 per day the last several days.
The White House has refused to disclose how many people who attended the party have gotten the coronavirus, and the revelations have come from media reports.
It was a similar story for the White House party announcing Trump’s nomination of now Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, which became a superspreader event. The ceremony also included indoor parties where officials were unmasked.
The news broke on a day Joe Biden was announcing his new coronavirus advisory panel of ‘distinguished public health experts,’ and Pfizer announced new progress in its vaccine. The company was not part of the administration’s Operation Warp Speed, which funneled billions to companies in advance of a viable vaccine discovery in order to speed production.
‘Maybe it saves the life of a member of a place of worship .. Maybe it saves your life. So please, I implore you, wear a mask. A mask is not a political statement,’ he said.
Another key member of Trump’s circle, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, revealed that he tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, although he has ‘no clue’ when he was infected.
Residents of the Maje, Soka area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital are in panic following the alleged invasion of the area by about 300 suspected herdsmen.
The Coordinator of the Oodua Peoples Congress in Oyo State, Mr Rotimi Olumo, who told our correspondent that residents of the area alerted him, said he went to the area and saw the three luxury buses that brought the suspected herdsmen to the area.
Olumo said the people, who suspected that the herdsmen had a suspicious mission in the area, prevented them from disembarking from the vehicles.
He said he alerted the police and some policemen from Sanyo Police Station were deployed.
The OPC coordinator said he was surprised to see a large number of Fulani people in the area, saying the area is not Sabo – a popular settlement for northerners.
Asked if the passengers came with their cattle, he said no but stated that they were suspected to be herdsmen.
Olumo said, “I received a series of calls this morning that some luxury buses brought some Fulani and Bororo herdsmen numbering about 300 to the area. They came around 07 am today. I went to the place and discovered that all the passengers in the vehicles are Fulani and Bororo.
“There is no Igbo, no Yoruba among them. This made the people suspicious and we have to be vigilant because of the security situation all over the country. We asked them questions but they refused to disclose their destination. So, we invited the police to come and see them.
“Policemen came from Sanyo Police Station and their response was very prompt. They took the buses to their station and parked them there before I left. One of the Fulani people came down to talk with the police but I didn’t know what they discussed. But everybody must be vigilant.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr Olugbenga Fadeyi, when contacted by our correspondent did not pick the phone and was yet to respond to the text message sent to him on this matter.
The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Monday, handed over to Air Vice Marshall Ahmed Mu’azu (retd.) to oversee the affairs of the commission.
Mu’azu would oversee the INEC pending the confirmation of Yakubu by the Senate.
Yakubu said, “You may recall that the current Commission was inaugurated in three batches. The Chairman and five Commissioners were sworn-in on 9th November 2015, followed by another six Commissioners on December 7, 2016, and one more Commissioner on July 21, 2018.
“The commission is a constitutional body whose members are appointed for five years which may be renewed for a second and final term. This means that my tenure and that of the first set of five Commissioners ends today.
“As you are already aware, the renewal of my tenure as Chairman of the Commission has been announced, subject to confirmation by the Senate. Our work as election managers requires us to enforce the law, regulations, and guidelines. In doing so, we must demonstrate strict respect for, and compliance with, the Constitution of Nigeria and subsidiary laws.
“Consequently, it will be inappropriate for me to remain in office beyond today, 9th November 2020, without confirmation by the Senate and swearing to another oath of office as provided by law.
“Pending the conclusion of the statutory process, the remaining National Commissioners have resolved that AVM Ahmed Mu’azu (retd.) will oversee the affairs of the Commission.
“It is therefore my pleasure to hand over to him in the interim. We have worked as a team for the last four years. Therefore, there is nothing new to anyone of them.
“I wish to express my appreciation for the support of the Commission members, the Resident Electoral Commissioners, the Secretary to the Commission, the Director-General of the Electoral Institute, Directors, members of the technical team, heads of the various security agencies deployed to INEC and all staff of the Commission nationwide. I look forward to working with you again.”
The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, is today expected to hand over to an acting chairman who will oversee the affairs of the agency pending the confirmation of his (Yakubu) reappointment by the Senate.
The ceremony is scheduled to take place at the conference hall of the commission’s headquarters in Abuja at 2pm, according to an invitation sent out to journalists by Yakubu’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi.
Until his reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari, Yakubu was first appointed INEC chairman in October 2015 but was officially sworn in on November 9, 2015.
The Guardian gathered that the INEC boss would hand over to one of the seven national commissioners whose tenure will not lapse before November 9. It is, however, still unclear which of the electoral commissioners will occupy the chairmanship position in acting capacity pending Yakubu’s return.
The seven national commissioners whose tenure will not expire before November 9 include Abubakar Nahuche, Air Vice Marshal Ahmed Mu’azu (rtd), Prof. Okechukwu Ibeanu and Dr. Adekunle Ogunmola. Others are Malam Mohammed Kudu Haruna, Mrs. May Agbamuche-Mbu, and Barrister Festus Okoye.
It was gathered that the remaining five commissioners have served two terms and, therefore, are not eligible to act in Yakubu’s stead.
But in a terse message to journalists, Oyekanmi confirmed that “the acting chairman will be introduced at the event on Monday.”
President Buhari had on October 27, 2020 reappointed Yakubu, a professor of Political History and International Studies, for another tenure of five years subject to confirmation by the senate.
Buhari, in a letter to the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said: “In accordance with the provision of Section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), I am pleased to present for confirmation by the Senate, the nomination of Prof. Mahmood Yakubu for appointment as chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a second and final term.”
According to a new report, a former aide is claiming Melania Trump plans to divorce her husband after he leaves the White House.
According to a new claim from a former aide, Melania Trump is “counting down the minutes” until she can divorce Donald Trump, after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
Trump has yet to concede defeat in the US 2020 election, despite Joe Biden winning more than 270 of the electoral college votes.
Former aide to Melania, Stephanie Wolkoff, who recently released a book, has come out to claim that Melania is already negotiating a post-nuptial agreement that would give her son, Barron, an equal share of the Trump fortune.
A new report in the Mail Online, also claims former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman alleged Melania’s 15-year marriage with Donald Trump is already over.
She said: “Melania is counting every minute until he is out of office and she can divorce.
“If Melania were to try to pull the ultimate humiliation and leave while he’s in office, he would find a way to punish her.”
It was once reported that Melania did not expect her husband to win in the 2016 election and when she heard the news that they would soon be expected to move into the White House, she burst into tears.
At the time the First Lady’s communications director dismissed the book, saying it is “clearly going to be sold in the bargain fiction section”.
“Mrs Trump supported her husband’s decision to run for president and in fact, encouraged him to do so. She was confident he would win and was very happy when he did,” said Stephanie Grisham.
Juanita, a 24-year-old Ghanaian woman, has bitten off the penis of Emmanuel Ankron, a suspected armed robber who had asked for a blow job after allegedly raping her.
Blow job is the activity of giving sexual pleasure to a man by using the mouth on his penis.
According to BBC, the incident occurred at Obuasi area of Ashanti region in Ghana on Saturday.
Ankron, 23, was said to have entered Juanita’s room at midnight with a cutlass and locally made pistol. But after carting items including money, a television set, and a phone, he had allegedly raped the woman.
Still not satisfied, he had asked his victim to give him a blow job before he would finally leave the room.
In her statement to the police, Juanita said that she bit off her attacker’s penis in the process of giving him the blow job.
“The man asked me to suck his penis. It was in the process that I bit off his penis,” she said.
The suspected rapist was said to have swiftly left the room, sensing he was bleeding profusely.
The young lady, who is believed to be a student, said she thereafter went to Anglogold Ashanti Hospital for treatment after the incident.
On getting to the hospital, Juanita said she discovered that her attacker also came there for medical attention. She then alerted the police and the suspect was arrested and put under guard at the hospital.
Godwin Ahianyo, Ashanti regional police spokesman, who spoke on the incident, said it is being investigated.
The police added that the retrieved part of the penis bitten off by Juanita had been preserved at the hospital amid the investigation.
“Reporters will ask me, what do you think about this whole question of ‘is America ready for you?’ What I tell them is, you know what? This is not a new conversation for me. I’ve heard this conversation every time I have — and now here’s the operative word — won. But every time, every time, I ran for these offices: They’re not ready for you. It’s not your turn. It’s not your time. Nobody like you has done this before. Oh, I think you’d be great, but I don’t think everybody else is ready. And I didn’t listen.” These were the words of Kamala Devi Harris at an event held in Nevada in October 2019, where she spoke on gender equity, while a Democratic presidential hopeful at the time.
Obviously, she did not listen. Else, she would not have gone on to become the vice-president-elect of the United States.
AMERICAN, ASIAN, AFRICAN?…LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT HARRIS’ MULTI-RACIAL ORIGIN
Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California to Shyamala Gopalan, a biologist, and Donald J. Harris, a Stanford University professor emeritus of economics. Gopalan arrived in the US from Tamil Nadu, India, in 1958 as a 19-year-old graduate student to pursue a doctorate in nutrition and endocrinology at Berkeley. Donald arrived in the US three years earlier from Jamaica for graduate study at UC Berkeley. The young couple met in 1962 and got married while still in school. They had Harris first and later, her sister, Maya — chairperson of Harris’ presidential campaign.
Gopalan and Donald separated after the latter took a professorship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Gopalan filed for divorce in December 1971, when Harris was seven and won custody of her daughters in June 1973.
Kamala Harris’ parents, Shyamala Gopalan and Donald Harris, with her as a baby. (Courtesy of Kamala Harris)
“They didn’t fight about money. The only thing they fought about was who got the books,” Harris wrote in her 2019 memoir, “The Truths We Hold”.
Harris told a virtual crowd at the 2020 Democratic National Convention that her parents “fell in love in that most American way — while marching together for justice in the civil rights movement of the 1960s”.
“My parents would bring me to protests — strapped tightly in my stroller,” she said in August, in her first public remarks after being named Biden’s running mate.
She wrote that her parents struggled with “incompatibility” and that she and her sister spent the bulk of their time with their mother, but would see her dad “on weekends and spend summers with him in Palo Alto”. Harris described her mother as the person with the most important influence on her life.
“Had they been a little older, a little more emotionally mature, maybe the marriage could have survived. But they were so young. My father was my mother’s first boyfriend,” she wrote.
FIRST OF HER KIND
“My mother used to say: ‘Don’t sit around and complain about things, do something,” Harris told her supporters at her kick-off rally in Oakland. Gopalan would also tell a young Harris that “you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you’re not the last.”
A breast cancer researcher who died of colon cancer in 2019, Gopalan would no doubt be proud of the daughter she birthed as Harris told The New Yorker in a 2019 interview that she was the first of her kind — gender and colour — to win every position she ran for.
“Here’s the thing: every office I’ve run for I was the first to win. First person of color. First woman. First woman of color. Every time.”
The exception to this feat is that Carol Moseley Braun, a Democrat from Illinois, was the first black woman elected to the senate in 1992. Harris is the second. She is, however, the first South-Asian senator elected into that position
She was the first African-American woman to serve as San Francisco’s district attorney, the first woman of colour to serve as her state’s attorney-general, and the first woman of colour to serve California in the US senate.
JOURNEY TO ATTORNEY-GENERAL
After studying political science and economics (1986) at Howard University, Harris earned a law degree (1989) from Hastings College. In 1990, Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California.
In February 1998, Terence Hallinan, San Francisco district attorney, recruited Harris as an assistant district attorney. She served as San Francisco’s district attorney from 2004 to 2011 and California’s attorney general from 2011 until 2017 — becoming the first female and the first African-American to hold the post.
ONCE BIDEN’S RIVAL, NOW HIS ‘PARTNER’
Harris announced her intention to run for president on the platform of the Democratic Party in January 2019. In the first 24 hours that followed, she reached a record set by Bernie Sanders in 2016 for the most donations raised in the day following an announcement. During the first Democratic presidential debate in June 2019, Harris scolded Biden for “hurtful” remarks he made, speaking fondly of senators who opposed integration efforts in the 1970s and working with them to oppose mandatory school busing. However, she ended her campaign in December 2019, citing a shortage of funds. Biden announced her as his running mate in August 2020.
‘AN INDIAN GODDESS’
A young Kamala Harris at her mother’s laboratory at UC Berkeley. (Courtesy of Kamala Harris)
Harris’ first name, Kamala, of Indian origin means “lotus” or “pale red” in Sanskrit. She may also have been named after Kamala, another name for Lakshmi, a popular Hindu goddess. Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of prosperity, good luck, and beauty, and she’s often depicted with the lotus flower.
Her mother told the Los Angeles Times that: “A culture that worships goddesses produces strong women.”
On her Twitter bio, Harris describes herself as “Vice President-Elect of the United States. Senator, Wife, Momala, Auntie. Fighting for the people. She/her.”
She married Douglas Emhoff, a corporate lawyer in Los Angeles, in 2014 at a small and private ceremony officiated by her sister, and according to Harris, Cole and Ella, her husband’s children from his previous marriage call her Momala. She has no children of her own.
‘TOP COP’
Harris: “Life imprisonment without parole is better and more cost-effective punishment.”
As district attorney, Harris championed some progressive reforms in her home state, including instituting a programme in San Francisco that offered first-time drug offenders education and work opportunities instead of jail time. She has been criticised over her stance on the death penalty, but when Tulsi Gabbard, member of the US house representing Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district, accused her in 2019 of withholding key evidence that would have “freed an innocent man from death row” during her time serving as California attorney-general, Harris replied, saying: “My entire career I have been opposed — personally opposed — to the death penalty. And that has never changed.”
Harris said life imprisonment without parole is a better and more cost-effective punishment than the death penalty, and has estimated that the resultant cost savings could pay for 1,000 additional police officers in San Francisco alone.
As a senator, she has advocated healthcare reform, a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, the DREAM Act, a ban on assault weapons, and progressive tax reform.
AN INSPIRATION
Harris has shattered records and made history — but it is not just for herself. It is for all the blacks and young girls who look up to her.
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I won’t be the last,” Harris said in her victory speech on Saturday evening.
In 2005, she was featured along 19 other women in a Newsweek report profiling “20 of America’s Most Powerful Women”. In 2008, she was named as one of the 34 Attorneys of the Year by California Lawyer magazine. In 2010, California’s largest legal newspaper, The Daily Journal, designated Harris as one of the top 75 women litigators in the state, and one of the top 100 lawyers in the state. In 2013, Time named Harris as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World”. In 2018, Harris was named the 2018 recipient of the ECOS Environmental Award for her leadership in environmental protection.
‘THE LITTLE THINGS’
Harris in her kitchen
Beyond the rigours of her legal and political career, Harris is an enthusiastic cook who bookmarks recipes from the New York Times’ cooking section and has tried almost all the recipes from Alice Waters’ “The Art of Simple Food”. Her go-to dinner entree is a simple roast chicken.
Her favorite books include “Native Son” by Richard Wright, “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, “The Joy Luck Club” by Amy Tan, “Song of Solomon” by Toni Morrison, and “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis.
She typically wakes up around 6am and works out for half an hour. She starts her day with a bowl of Raisin Bran with almond milk and tea with honey and lemon before leaving for work.
Kamala and her husband
“If I’ve had a particularly crazy day, I try to squeeze in a nice hot bath before I go to bed. And I have a hot cup of tea, usually some kind of chamomile. One of the things that I do to relax at the end of the day is I read recipes. I have a whole collection of cookbooks, so if I’m at home, I read them. It could be Marcella Hazan or Alice Waters. Sometimes I just do the New York Times cooking app if I’m on the road, or I try to get past the paywall on Bon Appétit,” Harris said, commenting on how she unwinds.
Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), says there is not enough evidence to prosecute 33 personnel of the now disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS) of the police indicted by a presidential panel in 2019.
The panel was chaired by Tony Ojukwu, executive secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), between 2018 and 2019.
The committee’s report indicted 35 police officers in 12 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) but recommended 33 for prosecution.
The panel also recommended that N249 million be paid to 57 victims
The report was submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2019.
According to PUNCH, Malami’s position set up a committee to review the recommendations by the Ojukwu panel.
The AGF said the cases were not properly investigated and asked Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), to probe the cases.
“The report of the panel does not meet prosecutorial needs. No proper investigation was concluded in all the cases,” he said.
“Admissible evidence such as exhibits, medical evidence, statements of the suspects and witnesses that can be used in court have not been obtained or recorded in the appropriate sheet from the suspects and witnesses by the appropriate.
“The indicted officers should be made to undergo disciplinary actions immediately and dismissed where appropriate.
“That the IGP who is well aware of the sensitivity of the matter should be advised to set up a special investigation team to conduct a thorough investigation into the individual cases.
“That after thorough investigation, the cases that are federal offences or fall within the FCT will be prosecuted by the office of the HAGF while those that are state offences will be transferred to the respective states for prosecution.”
David Abdulrazak Atta, a Twitter user, has linked Modupe Odele, Rinu Oduala and Mr Macaroni, three top #EndSARS activists, to Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president.
The trio are among prominent figures at the forefront of the #EndSARS protest aimed at ending police brutality and excesses of operatives of the now-disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS).
But in a Twitter thread on Sunday, Atta shared screenshots of past tweets made by the three individuals wherein they could be seen expressing their support or interest for Atiku.
He also accompanied his posts with terse comments wherein he questioned the credibility of the activists who claim to be championing the course for good governance in the country.
In one of the tweets, Rinu, one of the youth representatives on the Lagos state judicial panel of enquiry into police brutality, openly campaigned for the former vice-president.
“I still believe in Atiku. #Atikulated. AsoRock by May 2019,” she had written in the now-deleted tweet.
In another tweet, Mr Macaroni, a social media comedian, can be seen commending the former presidential candidate while also asking if he could send his account number.
“Fantanbulous! Your excellency, sir, I am thinking that I should send my account number. So you can freaky it up. #Youaredoingwell,” he had replied to a tweet by Atiku in February this year.
In the same vein, Odele, a member of the Feminist Coalition, whose passport was seized by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), also appeared to be rooting for Atiku in a 2014 tweet.
“Atiku’s campaign managers, I will like to meet them,” she had written.
Atiku was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2019 election where he lost to President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Nobody knows the joy of winning better than I do, believe me. I have always been a winner for as long as I can remember. Okay? Nobody knows the beauty of fighting to win better than I do. I am always a fighter and when I fight, I win. Everybody knows that.
I have reached the very top. Absolutely. And I reached the top at a very tremendous speed. You all know it. The first time I ran for office, I ran for president. It was beautiful. Right? What usually takes great men three attempts before they get a win, I won in a landslide the very first time I ran. I heard that it has never been done anywhere else in the world.
In the last four years, I have accomplished for America things that presidents that were in office for twelve years did not accomplish. It is not even close. I made America a big-league winner again. I put billions and billions of dollars into your pockets through my amazing tax cuts. I have shown you that everything is possible if you have the right man to do the right job. Everybody is saying so.
All over the world, there is huge respect for America again, in some cases, even massive fear. Bigly! Which is good. I made it happen. Nobody messes with America because I highly insisted on it. I placed America first, which is fair. I stopped those out of control dope and overrated countries that get away with murder at the expense of America. It didn’t happen again. Not on my watch! I was tough so that America would be triumphant.
The world had never seen anything like that before.
Because of me, the next generation of Americans will grow up knowing that America is the greatest nation on earth, full of courageous men like me. Thanks to me, they will grow up knowing that ours is a Christian nation where it is allowed to say Merry Christmas. Our children and grandchildren will grow up knowing that the whole world is out there for them to dominate and not bow to the sissies who think that we must worship the environment at the expense of the staggering economy that I built.
Frankly, I have done everything that I set out to do – most of which were things that have never been done before. I have in place the greatest military that humans ever assembled for our incredible men and women in uniform. I assembled it in just four years by rebuilding our powerful military that they destroyed due to neglect and incompetence. I secured America from coast to coast with walls and wires, cages and visa bans. I took care of it, just as I promised I would do. I returned America under God. Before I came, they had taken America to the shrines of the devil.
Americans love me because of these outstanding accomplishments. I have seen it on the faces of fabulous Americans while I travelled around the country in the last few weeks.
To be perfectly honest, I could stay around and fight. And it is a fight that I know that I will win. But I have decided not to. There is no point.
I believe that I have nothing else left to prove. My achievements will be around till the end of time. I won’t be surprised if, by January 20, 2021, my face would go up on Mount Rushmore to join other presidents of my calibre. It won’t surprise me one bit. People think it is going to happen.
To all my special supporters, I say thank you for the unbelievable fantastic ride. Don’t despair, for I will send you a brilliant comforter. Those stupid little lightweights on the other side who have no clue may taunt you. When those clowns do, remind the goofy and crooked losers that I made America great again. Tell those terrible lowlifes that they have proved themselves unworthy of Donald Trump’s genius and have opted to reduce America to a Second Class nation in the world. Total Disaster!
So, my fellow American, I bide you all farewell. May God bless you, and my God bless the United States of America.
Yours truly,
President Donald J. Trump
The 45th President of the United States.
