A Nigerian living in the United States has been elected to the country’s Congress.
Adeoye Owolewa, 31, ran on the platform of the Democratic Party to represent Washington DC in the House of Representatives, and won, making him the first Nigerian to be elected to the United States Congress.
31-year-old Nigerian, Adeoye Owolewa has been elected to the United States Congress making him the first Nigerian to achieve this feat
Oye Owolewa, whose father is from Kwara State and mother is from Oyo, is a PhD holder in Pharmacy from the Northeastern University, Boston.
A Nigerian woman, Esther Agbaje has been elected into the Minnesota House of Representatives in Tuesday’s U.S. general elections.
Agbaje who will be representing District 59B in the 134-member House on the platform of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), an affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party, won by a landslide polling 17,396 votes or 74.7 percent of the total ballots cast to defeat her closest rival, Alan Shilepsky of the Republican Party who polled 4,128 votes, representing 17.7 percent of the total.
The 35-year-old Nigerian woman graduated from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., with a degree in political science, holds a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and also a law degree from Harvard University.
Agbaje who once served at the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Affairs Officer, charged with managing the rule of law projects in the Middle East, currently works as an attorney in Minneapolis with a focus on general civil litigation and medical malpractice.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden, says it is not his place or incumbent President Donald Trump’s place to declare the winner of Tuesday election.
Biden, who spoke live from Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday night, said it is the place of the American people to declare their next president through the ballots.
He said, “We know this is gonna go long but who knows if it is gonna go longer. But we feel good about where we are. We believe we are on track to win this election.
“We know because beyond president’s early votes, the mailing votes is going to take a while. We gonna have to be patient until the hard work of counting votes is finished, until every vote is counted. But we’re feeling good about where we are.
“It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare the winner of this election. That’s the decision of the American people. But I am optimistic about this outcome.”
Already, polls are gradually closing across the United States and a long night of waiting for results lies ahead.
The first results are trickling in, with US media projecting wins for the Republican incumbent so far in 13 states including Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia — all states he won in 2016.
Democratic challenger Joe Biden has captured 11 states including his home state Delaware and big prize New York, plus the US capital Washington. As with Trump, so far, all states claimed by Biden were won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
So far, that gives Biden 126 electoral votes and Trump 89. The magic number is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.
Argentina football legend, Diego Maradona, on Tuesday underwent successful surgery for a subdural hematoma in his brain, a day after he was admitted to a hospital.
Leopoldo Luque, who is Maradona’s neurosurgeon and personal physician, has now given an update to reporters outside the Olivos clinic in Buenos Aires province.
“I was able to evacuate the hematoma successfully and Diego tolerated the surgery very well.
“Diego is under control. He has a small drain [to remove fluid] that we are planning to take out tomorrow. His stay at the hospital will depend on his evolution. But the start of his recovery was great. The way he reacted after the surgery is promising,” Luque said.
According to the doctor, the procedure took around 80 minutes.
Maradona is currently the head coach of first-division side Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata, but has sat out training as a precaution, to avoid the risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 as he is considered in the risk group.
There were strong indications on Tuesday that the Federal Government had begun a clampdown on promoters of #EndSARS protests by freezing their bank accounts.
Some #EndSARS promoters, who spoke separately to The PUNCH, said their banks informed them that the Central Bank of Nigeria had directed that their accounts should be frozen.
Last months, youths calling for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police protested for two weeks in major cities of the country.
On Tuesday, some promoters of the protests said their accounts had been frozen for the past two weeks.
The CBN, according to multiple complaints received by The PUNCH, reportedly instructed banks to place a ‘Post No Debit’ restriction on the accounts.
The banks, it was learnt, were able to implement the directive by tracking the ‘narration’ of transactions.
Bank transactions that included the narration #EndSARS or End SARS were immediately flagged while such accounts receiving funds were frozen.
Speaking to The PUNCH, a pharmacist, Bassey Israel, who was in charge of the #EndSARS medical team in Port Harcourt, said his account with Access Bank marked 003397XXXX had remained frozen since October 15.
According to him, when he learnt of the development, he went to the bank to find out the reason for it. Israel said he was informed by a bank officer that the directive came from the apex bank.
He said, “I am in charge of End SARS medical team in Port Harcourt and we had people donating for medical supplies, food, water, ambulance services and these donations were made directly into my account and of course these donations had End SARS descriptions so I think that was how they were able to flag my account. I noticed that on October 15, I was trying to make a debit transaction on my account and noticed that there was a restriction.
“So, I called the bank and I was told that there was indeed a restriction but I should go to any branch near me and when I did so, the branch manager sent a mail to the branch where I opened the account. The response to the mail was that there was a directive from the CBN to restrict the account.
“The lady was surprised and even asked me if I had any issue with the CBN and I responded that if I had any issue with the CBN, I wouldn’t be in the bank in the first place, I would be on the run. I asked what could be done and she gave me no answer. She had to show me the mail on her computer which I read. It was directly from the CBN and it read, ‘Place this account on PND.”
When asked if others had similar problems, Israel said, “I know many persons that have this same challenge.”
Israel said the money in the frozen account was a substantial sum.
Another #EndSARS protester told one of our correspondents that she had not been able to access her account and had been informed that it was frozen.
She, however, wished to remain anonymous for fear of being victimised by the government.
One of the promoters of the #EndSARS movement, Feyikemi Abudu, also confirmed in a tweet that the accounts of several persons involved in the protests had been frozen.
The acting Spokesman for the CBN, Abdulmumin Isa, who was first contacted last week on the telephone, asked the correspondent to give him some time.
However, after one week of waiting, Isa had yet to provide any information on the matter.
The Spokesman for Access Bank, Abdul Imoyo, said he could not make comments on individual accounts of customers for confidentiality reasons.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Immigration Service on Monday prevented a promoter of the #EndSARS movement, Modupe Odele, from travelling.
Although the NIS officers did not disclose the reason for their action, it is believed that the action was taken because of her alleged role in the #EndSARS protests.
President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are battling it out for the White House, with polls gradually closing across the United States Tuesday — and then a long night of waiting for results ahead.
The first results are trickling in, with US media projecting wins for the Republican incumbent so far in 19 states including Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee — all states he won in 2016.
Biden has captured 17 states including his home state Delaware and big prizes California and New York, as well as the US capital. As with Trump, so far, all states claimed by Biden were won by Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
So far, that gives Biden 213 electoral votes and Trump a maximum of 138, because Nebraska splits its electoral votes based on congressional district (see note below).
The magic number is 270. Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states that have yet to be called.
The following is a list of the states won by each candidate and the corresponding number of electoral votes, based on the projections of US media including CNN, Fox News, MSNBC/NBC News, ABC, CBS and The New York Times.
TRUMP (138)
*Alabama (9)
Arkansas (6)
Idaho (4)
Indiana (11)
Kansas (6)
Kentucky (8)
Louisiana (8)
Mississippi (6)
Missouri (10)
Nebraska (5) *
North Dakota (3)
Ohio (18)
Oklahoma (7)
South Carolina (9)
South Dakota (3)
Tennessee (11)
Utah (6)
West Virginia (5)
Wyoming (3)
BIDEN (213)
California (55)
Colorado (9)
Connecticut (7)
Delaware (3)
District of Columbia (3)
Hawaii (4)
Illinois (20)
Maryland (10)
Massachusetts (11)
New Hampshire (4)
New Jersey (14)
New Mexico (5)
New York (29)
Oregon (7)
Rhode Island (4)
Vermont (3)
Virginia (13)
Washington (12)
* Nebraska splits its five electoral votes — two electors are assigned based on the plurality of votes in the state, and the other three are awarded based on congressional district. Biden could eventually peel at least one of these votes away.
Following the End SARS protests in Nigeria, the Global Amnesty Watch, GAW, and some right groups have alleged that some celebrities attempted to create anarchy using fake news.
The right groups claimed that some Nigerian celebrities and international Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs, incited violence through fake news.
In a memorandum sent to the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution with pieces of evidence, GAW named popular singer Falz, DJ Switch, Feminist Coalition, Burna Boy, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Nnamdi Kanu of being responsible for purveying fake news aimed at causing anarchy in the country.
The right groups called for the punishment of those named in misinforming Nigerians that led to a “near-breakdown of law and order” that accompanied the EndSARS protests, particularly in Lagos State.
The memorandum was signed by Abdulmalik Alfa, Werigbelegha Zinake, Linda Etafia and Sadiq Abdullahi on behalf of International Human Rights Protection Forum (IHRPF), Centre for Human Rights Advancement in Nigeria (CHRAN), Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN) and Make Nigeria Better Initiative (MNBI).
GAW also fingered celebrities like “Folarin Falana poplarly known as Falz, Disc Jockey, DJ Switch, Feminist Coalition, Burna Boy, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Nnamdi Kanu of being in the forefront of this campaign to destroy the nation with fake news.”
“The EndSARS protest across the country is assumed in many quarters to be without a leadership structure. While this position has been canvassed in numerous quarters, however, there seems to be a link with regards to the provision of logistic support to the protesters across the country. It is instructive to state that the EndSARS protest was funded from a well-concealed network that raised over N75 Million from donations from individuals in Nigerian and outside the shores of the country through a group called The Feminist Coalition,” the memorandum reads in part.
They also absolved the military of “any wrongdoing at Lekki toll gate, Lagos or anywhere in the country.”
Recall that DJ Switch had accused soldiers of killing peaceful protesters in Lekki toll gate.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed he had won the US election, despite the final results not yet being given, and said he would go the Supreme Court to dispute the counting of votes.
“We did win this election,” Trump said in a speech from the ceremonial East Room of the White House.
“For the good of this nation, this is a very big moment. This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner. So, we will be going to the US Supreme Court,” Trump stated.
The Republican, who according to initial results is in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Joe Biden, said he would go to court and “we want all voting to stop.”
He appeared to mean stopping the counting of mail-in ballots which can be legally accepted by state election boards after Tuesday’s election, provided they were sent in time.
The Ekiti State House of Assembly on Tuesday passed a bill to amend the law of the newly-upgraded University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere Ekiti, and renamed it after the late former governor of old Ondo State, Bamidele Olumilua.
The university, which was upgraded from the College of Education, Ikere Ekiti, is now to be known as the Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Ikere Ekiti when assented to by the Governor, Kayode Fayemi.
The bill for the amendment of the law which upgraded the college to university to the effect of the renaming of the university after Olumilua, was sponsored by Adeoye Aribasoye and supported by members via a voice vote at the plenary.
The speaker, Funminiyi Afuye, while speaking on the honour for the former governor, who died on June 4 at the age of 80, said, it was “to capture his contribution to the socio-political and economic life of Ekiti State and the old Ondo State in general”.
Afuye described Olumilua as “a man of integrity who deserves to be immortalised,” saying, “He (Olumilua) was the first Ekiti man to be elected as governor in the whole of Nigeria. He lived a very exemplary life, he resented cant and humbug.
“He occupied a very high level in the hall of fame in Ekiti that we need to let the generations yet unborn to know that somebody came known as Bamidele Olumilua.”
The Federal Government is seeking the approval of $1.2 billion loan from the National Assembly to address issues in the agriculture value chain, finance minister Zainab Ahmed said on Tuesday in Abuja at the ministry’s budget defense.
Ahmed told the House of Representative Committee on Finance that the loan would be sourced from the Brazilian Government.
“We need to address issues in the agriculture value chain as the country moves towards other sources of revenue.
“Already, the federal government is making efforts to acquire100,000 hectares of land per state for food production.
“Roads will be built in such locations to provide access for farm inputs and ease the movement of farm produce to the markets.
“If the farmers can move their farm produce to markets, it will reduce post-harvest losses,” she said.
The minister also spoke on the Police reforms and prayed that the review would be completed quickly so that while the appropriation process is going on, the revised salaries would be included in the 2021 budget.
“If it’s not completed, we will contemplate doing amendment or supplementary budget,” she said.
She said that the federal government was bent on the use of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for the payment of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
She added, however, that ASUU’s newly developed University Accountability and Transparency Solution (UTAS) would also undergo verification by experts.
The minister said that N1.647 billion was proposed for personnel cost, N1.70 billion for overhead, while N4.005 billion was allocated for the ministry’s capital expenditure in 2021.
