By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered tighter controls on federal elections, including requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote, as the Republican continues to attack a system he insists remains tilted against him.

Experts swiftly denounced his executive order as an abuse of presidential power that could ultimately prevent millions of Americans from casting ballots, and rights groups already have vowed to challenge it in court.

Trump, now in his second term, has never acknowledged his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, and he maintains baseless claims of massive election fraud — particularly in absentee voting, a method which has become widely used across the United States.

“Perhaps some people think I shouldn’t be complaining, because we won in a landslide” last November, Trump said as he signed the executive order in the White House.

“But we’ve got to straighten out our election. This country is so sick because of the election, the fake elections,” he said. “And we’re going to straighten it out, one way or the other.”

Several states allow absentee ballots to be counted if they arrive after Election Day, provided they are postmarked before the polls close in their state.

For law professor Richard Hasen of the University of California, Los Angeles, this “dangerous” executive order could “potentially disenfranchise millions of voters.”

On his Election Law blog, Hasen calls Trump’s directive “an executive power grab,” and notes that federal elections are largely the responsibility of the states, with Congress setting rules for the conduct of elections.

The Brennan Center, a nonprofit public policy institute, denounced the executive order, posting on X that it “would block tens of millions of American citizens from voting. Presidents have no authority to do this.”

The powerful civil liberties group ACLU also slammed the order as “an extreme abuse of power” and suggested legal challenges would be filed. “We’ll see him in court,” it said.

Voting in US federal elections by non-citizens has been a criminal offense for decades, with the law threatening fines, imprisonment and deportation.

AFP

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The global body’s president Sebastian Coe said the decision taken by the World Athletics Council was further evidence his organisation would ‘doggedly’ protect the female category.

No timeline for the introduction of pre-clearance testing has been officially set out, but the PA news agency understands World Athletics’ intention is to have the testing in place for athletes wanting to compete in the female category at the World Championships in Tokyo in September.

Coe said on Tuesday: ‘It’s important to do it because it maintains everything that we’ve been talking about, and particularly recently, about not just talking about the integrity of female women’s sport, but actually guaranteeing it.

‘We feel this is a really important way of providing confidence and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competition.’

Former Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies MBE, who has spoken out vehemently on the issue of trans athletes competing in women’s events, was delighted by the news on Tuesday and called for medals to be re-issued for ‘unfairly robbed’ women.

She posted on social media platform X: ‘No more cheating in track and fields by males in a category for females. I’d very much like to see medals re issued for events ruined and women unfairly robbed!’

World Athletics conducted consultation on the proposal earlier this year, and Coe said: ‘Overwhelmingly, the view has come back that this is absolutely the way to go, within the caveats raised (on testing not being too intrusive).’

Asked whether he felt the policy would stand up to legal challenge and scrutiny, Coe said: ‘Yes I am, but you accept the fact that that is the world we live in.

‘I would never have set off down this path to protect the female category in sport if I’d been anything other than prepared to take the challenge head on. We’ve been to the Court of Arbitration on our DSD (difference of sexual development) regulations.

‘They have been upheld, and they have again been upheld after appeal. So we will doggedly protect the female category, and we’ll do whatever is necessary to do it.

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

A man identified as Wealth Nnamdi has been declared wanted by the Edo State Police Command over the alleged murder of his pregnant fiancée, Osasu Loveth Isaac, and her three-year-old daughter, Miracle, in Benin City.

The incident occurred on Idiangbona Street in Ovbiogoe Community following a heated argument between the couple on March 16, 2025.

Neighbours said they were used to their frequent quarrels so did not suspect the altercation would end in tragedy.

A source in the community, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the couple had been together for over three years after Nnamdi moved in with Osasu and her daughter from a previous relationship.

Their traditional wedding had been fixed for March 29, 2025 while the church ceremony was scheduled for April 6.

“It is heartbreaking because she was excited about the wedding. She was already pregnant for him, and they had been living together. But on Sunday, they had a serious argument. We didn’t think much of it because they usually fought,” the source said.

“When the argument stopped, we thought they had settled. But after two days, a foul smell started coming from their room. That was when we called the police.”

Spokesperson of the command, CSP Moses Yamu, who confirmed the incident said officers from the Ekiadolor Division forced the door open after neighbours reported a disturbing odour.

“The Edo State Police Command has since commenced an investigation into the gruesome m3rder of a woman popularly known as ‘Mama Hallelujah’ and her three-year-old daughter, Miracle,” Yamu stated.

“On March 18, 2025, at about 8:30 pm, the Ekiadolor Division received a report from a concerned neighbour who complained of a strong odour coming from the deceased’s apartment.

“Upon arrival, officers discovered the room locked from the outside. When they forced it open, they found the decomposing bodies of the woman and her daughter. The woman had a deep cut on her head, suspected to have been inflicted with a machete, while the child was found lifeless on the bed.”

Yamu noted that preliminary investigations point to Nnamdi as the prime suspect, as he has been missing since the discovery.

“The suspect has gone into hiding, and the command is making all efforts to track him down and bring him to justice,” he added.