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US Congress Certifies Trump Win Four Years After Capitol Riot
By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Donald Trump capped a historic political comeback on Monday as Congress certified his election victory, in a remarkable turn from four years ago, when a mob he had summoned to Washington ransacked the US Capitol.
The president-elect spent much of his campaign facing prosecution over the 2021 insurrection, when his supporters — fueled by his false claims of voter fraud — rioted to halt the certification of his defeat to Joe Biden
But Trump, 78, was voted back into office in November and Monday’s ceremony went much more smoothly, even with a major winter storm blanketing the capital and much of the country in snow.
“Donald J Trump of the state of Florida, has received 312 votes. Kamala D Harris of the state of California has received 226 votes,” Harris herself declared to assembled lawmakers after the counting was complete.
Harris — who oversaw the certification as part of her vice-presidential duties — said the official count “shall be deemed a sufficient declaration” for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance to take their oaths of office on January 20.
The ceremony marked the final blow to efforts to have the Republican leader face justice over the riot, the culmination of a multi-pronged alleged criminal conspiracy that prosecutors said Trump led — before they dropped all charges upon his election.
Trump has vowed to pardon an unspecified number of the rioters — around 900 of whom have admitted federal charges from trespassing and vandalism to assaulting police — describing them as “hostages.”
In a Washington Post op-ed, Biden slammed Trump’s allies for downplaying the violence of 2021 and urged Americans to be “proud that our democracy withstood this assault.”
“We cannot accept a repeat of what occurred four years ago,” he said. “An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day.”
Indiana conservative Mike Pence had Harris’s job — certifying his own defeat alongside Trump — in 2021 when, in a desperate bid to cling to power, the then-president demanded that he reject Biden’s victory.
Lawmakers in both parties have occasionally used the certification process to challenge elections, but more than half of House Republicans rejected the results in 2021.
– ‘Emotional trauma’
No Democratic leaders followed the Republican example this time around and there were no objections to certifying Trump’s victory — a process that took barely half an hour.
The former reality TV star was impeached for inciting the 2021 insurrection after delivering a raucous speech outside the White House early in the day, demanding that supporters march on the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
Thousands attacked the citadel of American democracy — battering police with metal bars and flag poles, smashing windows, sending lawmakers running in fear and chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”
Four people died — two from heart attacks, one from a potential overdose, and a rioter fatally shot by police as she tried to force her way into the House chamber. Four police officers committed suicide subsequently.
Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has vowed to investigate the House committee that probed the riot and found that Trump had instigated it after the failure of a host of other schemes to overturn an election he knew he had lost.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the Justice Department had over the last four years charged more than 1,500 people suspected of involvement in the “unprecedented attack on a cornerstone of our system of government.”
The certification — which launches a two-week countdown towards Trump’s January 20 inauguration — was designated for the first time as a national security special event, with 500 National Guard personnel on standby.
But the federal government and Washington public schools were closed Monday with up to a foot (30 centimeters) of snow expected.
“Four years ago today, our nation watched in horror as a terrorist mob stormed the Capitol grounds and desecrated our temple of Democracy in a violent attempt to subvert the peaceful transfer of power,” Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who was House speaker at the time of the rebellion, said in a statement.
“The January 6th insurrection shook our Republic to its core — and left behind physical scars and emotional trauma on members of our congressional community and our country that endure to this day.”
AFP
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Mahama’s inauguration: Ghanaian police IG controls traffic
Being a typically busy day in Accra, due to the inauguration of the President-Elect, John Dramani Mahama, and his vice, Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, the traffic situation especially around the Independence Square is expected to be challenging.
And, although he had already deployed many police personnel to the grounds of the inauguration to ensure security, law, and order, the Inspector General of Police, Dr. George Akuffo Dampare, was forced at a point to help in the work itself.
In images shared by Daily Graphic on Facebook, the IGP was captured directing traffic at a certain part of the city.
This is believed to have happened as he headed to the Black Star Square to join other invited guests and dignitaries for the inauguration of John Mahama as the president of Ghana.
“The IGP stepped out of his car en route to the inauguration grounds to direct traffic,” the caption of the post on Facebook said.
The momentous and historic occasion has drawn significant attention both domestically and internationally.
It is expected to be attended by 21 Heads of State, alongside three vice presidents, four ministers, and 24 envoys.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Information, the swearing-in ceremony will also feature a number of dignitaries from across the world, including 21 Heads of State from Africa and beyond.
Other dignitaries from across all sectors of the economy, including foreign leaders and security service personnel are also in attendance.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
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ICPC drags El-rufai’s ex-Chief of Staff to court over alleged money laundering
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has charged former Chief of Staff, to former Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Saidu, to the Federal High Court.
Saidu who was also a one-time Commissioner of Finance in Kaduna State during the El Rufai’s administration, was charged along with one Ibrahim Muktar, ‘’a public officer in the employment of Ministry of Finance,’’ on Tuesday.
According to charge No FHC/KD/IC/2025, the defendants are being accused of a two-count charges of Money Laundering, contrary to earlier claim that Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Saidu had been exonerated of all charges after 10 months of investigation.
The court document stated that sometime in March 2022 or thereabouts, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Saidu, who at that time Commissioner of Finance, ‘’did accept cash payment of the sum of N155,000,000.00 from one Ibrahim Muktar exceeding the amount authorised by law, which sum you received in cash through proxy to wit: Muazu Abdu, your Special Assistant and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section2(a) and punishable under the Section 19(d) of the Money Laundering(Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.’’
The ICPC also alleged that in the same March 2022 or thereabouts, Bashir Saidu ‘’indirectly took control of the sum of N155, 000,000.00 received in cash for and on behalf of you by one Muazu Abdul from Ibrahim Muktar, which fund you reasonably ought to have known formed part of the proceeds of an unlawful activity to wit: corruption and you hereby committed an offence contrary to section 18(2)(d) and punishable under Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering(Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.’’
Section 18(3) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 states that ‘’any person who contravenes the provisions of subsection(2) is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than four years but not more than fourteen years or a fine not less than five times the value of the proceeds of the crime or both.’’
The charge which was signed by the Assistant Chief Legal Officer of ICPC, Dr Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha, was filed on Tuesday, January 7, 2025 at the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Holden in Kaduna.
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Enugu State Government System Hacked, Over N1 Billion Stolen — Police reveals
Police authorities on Tuesday, revealed how a cyber criminal hacked into the system of the Enugu State Government and stole the whooping sum of N1,097,700,300 from its coffers.
The police said it took the swift intervention of the operatives of its departments, National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC), to trace the hacker and recover the stolen money.
The spokesman of the Force, Mr. Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja during a press briefing, gave the name of the suspected hacker as Onuma Osita.
The police image maker told newsmen that the hacker had already been taken into custody while the funds estimated to be $754,977 had been recovered and returned to the state government purse.
Adejobi said, “NPF-NCCC investigated a report by the Enugu State Government against one Onuma Osita who defrauded the Enugu State Government of over N1bn in a procurement fraud.
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