Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden has clenched victory after scoring the electoral 270 votes in the US Presidential elections.
Joe Biden will be the 46th president of the United States, CNN projects, after a victory in Pennsylvania puts the Scranton-born Democrat over 270.
This is a developing story, details to follow…
Ivory Coast opposition leader and former Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan was under arrest on Saturday for creating a rival government after President Alassane Ouattara’s election victory, his wife and a spokeswoman said.
Ivorian prosecutors are pursuing “terrorism” charges against more than a dozen opposition leaders who boycotted the October 31 vote, in which Ouattara won a third term in office, and announced they were creating a transitional council.
The standoff has raised fears of protracted instability in the world’s top cocoa producer, whose disputed 2010 presidential election led to a brief civil war.
Affi N’Guessan was arrested overnight after the public prosecutor confirmed on Friday he was being sought by the police, his wife, Angeline Kili, told the Reuters news agency.
“I confirm that my husband was arrested during the night but I don’t know where he is right now,” she said. Genevieve Goetzinger, a spokeswoman for Affi N’Guessan, said on Twitter he was arrested in the southeastern town of Akoupe while en route to his hometown of Bongouanou.
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress APC Hon John Obande has called on the Benue State Chairman of the party, Abba Yaro to immediately resign or face immediate suspension.
He said Yaro has lost confidence of members long before the 2019 general elections where he was the informant to the PDP, thereby selling the election for peanuts.
In a statement, Hon. John Obande said: ”His reckless statement on Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi, a Co-convener, Concerned APC Members (CAM), our Leader, who is rebuilding the Party is criminal and should be disregarded.
”We shall ensure Abba Yaro’s suspension from his ward beginning from Monday, 9th November, 2020.”
Abba Yaro had issued an ultimatum to Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi to withdraw his statement on the APC Caretaker Committee in which he warned of consequences should refuse to withdraw those allegations within 24 hours, or face disciplinary action.
Obande, a Chieftain of the Party in Benue South insists that, Abba Yaro is only playing a script to siphon money from the Caretaker Committee because he lacks the moral standing to recommend any disciplinary action against a senior member of the Party like Comrade Okpokwu Ogenyi who was due to win the Governorship Primary election in 2019 before Sen. George Akume forced him to step down.
Obande said, Abba Yaro has no right to call on Comrade Okpokwu to withdraw his statement, he would be mentally sick to think that such a genuine movement for the soul of our Party will be thrown into the dustbin.
”Is the mandate of the caretaker committee not to reconcile members, organise Convention and hand over So, what is the rubbish Abba Yaro is saying or is he begging for food or recognition?
Already, there are series of petitions against the State Chairman ranging from abuse of office, financial misappropriation, lack of capacity and anti-Party activities since 2015.
Miscreants brandishing dangerous weapons prevented Lagos emergency workers from putting off the petrol tanker fire that gutted Kara Bridge outward Berger early Saturday.
The head of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Oluwafemi Oke Osanyitolu, narrated how the team abandoned the effort, despite calling for police help:
“The agency responded to the incident at 0105hrs this morning according to the State emergency response plan.
“The joint team was waylaid on arrival by a group of miscreants brandishing weapons and was forced to seek extra police cover from the Isheri Police Station.
“The operation commenced with the police protection until the group of assailants grew larger and caused significant damage to vehicles and threats to life of our personnel.
“The team was forced to suspend the Recovery operation for safety reasons.
“It is of note that this attack is part of a very worrisome trend of first responders being attacked in the course of their duties. Lagosians are urged to refrain from endangering the lives of emergency responders”, Osanyitolu said.
Many vehicles were reportedly burnt in the inferno triggered by the tanker.
The human casualties have not been ascertained.
No fewer than 106 women will serve in the 117th US House of Representatives beginning on January 3, according to ABC News projections.
This represents 24 per cent of the total 435 lawmakers in the lower legislative chamber.
It beats the previous record of 102 women set in the outgoing 116th session, the news outlet reported, citing the Center for American Women and Politics.
Another record has also been set with an increase in the number of women of colour elected to the lower chamber in this election cycle.
Out of the 106 female Reps elected in Tuesday’s polls, no fewer than 46 are women of color, beating the 2019 record of 44, the medium reported.
Female Republicans are also making new gains with no fewer than 24 projected to win their elections at the end of counting.
President Donald Trump has warned his Democrat challenger Joe Biden not to “wrongfully claim” the White House as electoral college votes showed the former vice president close to an insurmountable lead.
Trump, who has consistently threatened legal proceedings since Tuesday, made this known via Twitter Friday.
He wrote, “Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning!”
FRSC Marshal, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi,
Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), said in Lagos on Friday that the agency lost about 27 patrol vehicles to the October #EndSARS protest.
Oyeyemi made the disclosure when he visited the FRSC Lagos State Command to assess the extent of damage done to its properties by hoodlums pretending to be protesters.
“We witnessed the highest level of vandalism in Lagos State around Oko-Afo, Lekki, and at our Ojodu Berger Headquarters.
“It is colossal, I counted it myself 13 vehicles were burnt and three were vandalised in Lagos alone. I think we lost about 27 patrol vehicles nationwide,’’ he said.
According to him, the unfortunate incident has crippled the patrol activities in some areas especially in places like Lagos, Edo, Delta, Imo, Osun, Enugu, Adamawa, and Anambra states where some offices were burnt.
The FRSC boss said that issuance of drivers’ licences had been put on hold in some states as a result of the vandalism of the offices.
“We need to look for vehicles to begin skeletal services, especially in Lagos State. We can’t fold our arms because Lagos State accounts for about 33 per cent vehicular density in the country and we are moving towards the end of the year.
“Ember months is a critical period and that’s why Lagos State is the first point of my visit. We will rise and ensure our responsibilities are fulfilled,’’ he said.
Oyeyemi added that FRSC personnel were returning to their duty posts in droves after the protest, but that the officers were still facing challenges of hostilities by road users.
“To put a patrol vehicle on the road now will cost about N24 million. It is costly, but I have forwarded my reports to the Secretary to the Federal Government and he has promised to act on them.
“I enjoin Nigerians to be modest when they are doing things; the level of damage is too much; the money meant for other activities will now be diverted in repairing some of this burnt offices,’’ Oyeyemi lamented.
US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has said he is going to win the US presidency as his lead grew over President Donald Trump in battleground states, although television networks have held off from declaring him the victor as officials continued to count votes.
“The numbers tell us… it’s a clear and convincing story: We’re going to win this race,” Mr Biden said, adding that he and his running mate Kamala Harris were already meeting with experts as they prepare for the White House.
Mr Biden’s speech was originally planned as a victory celebration, but he changed his approach in the absence of an official call from television networks and other election forecasters.
Still, it amounted to a blunt challenge to Mr Trump.
The Republican incumbent kept out of view in the White House on Friday as Mr Biden’s lead grew in the four states that will decide the outcome: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.
Leading Mr Trump by 4.1 million votes nationwide out of a record 147 million cast, Mr Biden said Americans had given him a mandate to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, the struggling economy, climate change and systemic racism.
“They made it clear they want the country to come together, not continue to pull apart,” Biden said.
He said he hoped to address Americans again on Saturday.
Mr Trump has remained defiant, vowing to press unfounded claims of fraud as his Republicans sought to raise $60 million to fund lawsuits challenging the results.
But some in his camp described the legal effort as disorganized, and so far they have not found success in the courts.
On the fourth day of vote counting, former Vice President Biden had a 253-to-214 lead in the state-by-state Electoral College vote that determines the winner, according to Edison Research.
Democrats grew increasingly frustrated that networks had not yet called a winner.
Securing Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes would put Mr Biden over the 270 he needs to win the presidency after a political career stretching back nearly five decades.
Mr Biden would also win if he prevails in two of the three other key states.
Like Pennsylvania, all three were still processing ballots into the early hours.
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has distanced himself from the campaign posters which presented him as running mate to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, in the 2023 presidential election.
El-Rufai, who spoke with State House correspondents after a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said he had also called Amaechi on the matter.
He added that the former Rivers State governor denied knowledge of those behind the posters.
He stressed that the individual who went to court to compel him to contest the 2023 election did so to attract attention, saying no one can be compelled to do anything against his wish.
The governor said: “I don’t know who is printing those posters, wasting his or her money printing posters. I heard about them. I called Minister, Amaechi, and asked him whether he knew anything about them; he said he didn’t know.
“I think we need to trace who is doing it and ask that person. I am the governor of Kaduna State; I have job to do. I haven’t delivered on the promises I made to the people of Kaduna State. Until I do that I don’t want to discuss anything.
“I am in politics. People will approach you, but whether they are genuine or not is another matter and whether you are interested or not is another matter.
“I just want to be the best governor that I can be and satisfy the aspirations of the people of Kaduna State from now to 2023. After 2023, everything is in the hand of God. It is not in the hand of anyone.”
The 2023 campaign posters of the two All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains appeared in major streets of Abuja on Thursday.
The messages on the posters sighted in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and some highways in the nation’s capital read: “The People’s choice,” and “Today may not be the best, but tomorrow will be better.”
President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has told associates he has coronavirus, according to people familiar with the matter, adding to the outbreaks connected to the White House.
It wasn’t immediately clear when Meadows learned that he had contracted the virus or whether he had developed symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. He informed a close circle of advisers after Tuesday’s election, one of the people said.
Meadows didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment. White House spokespeople didn’t respond to numerous e-mails and phone messages requesting comment.
A Trump campaign aide, Nick Trainer, is also infected, according to two people familiar with the matter. He and campaign spokespeople declined to comment.
Meadows has remained involved in Trump’s post-election effort to challenge votes in several states where he trails former Vice President Joe Biden, according to one person familiar with the matter.
The chief of staff was at the Trump campaign headquarters with the president on Tuesday without a mask, and returned on Wednesday also without a mask, two people familiar with the situation said.
The people familiar with the matter asked not to be identified because the two cases had not been announced.
More than three dozen people associated with the president or the White House have been infected by the virus, including the president, his wife, Melania, and his youngest son, Barron. Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, and other aides tested positive for the virus late last month, shortly before the election.