Former President of the United States (US), Donald Trump, has been arrested by the US Marshals.

Reports obtained by Naija News on Wednesday morning claimed that the former US president, who is the first to be faced with a federal charges, has been put under arrest at the federal courthouse in Miami, where he will face 37 criminal charges related to his handling of classified documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort.

Trump is expected to plead not guilty at the next hearing of his case.

Trump’s second indictment comes just months after he was charged by a Manhattan grand jury in a separate hush-money case. Though the former president has denied any wrongdoing in both cases and has vowed to remain in the 2024 presidential race despite the charges.

Trump is, however, expected to speak further on his troubles and the 2024 race once he returns to his Bedminster resort in New Jersey.

According to reports, Trump was placed under arrest by deputy US Marshals and his booking process and that of his aide and co-defendant Walt Nauta have been completed, CNN reports from inside the courthouse.

The marshals are expected to take electronic copies of his fingerprints at some point during today’s proceedings. They are not expected to take a mugshot of Trump given his recognizability.

The former US president is likely to enter a plea and there will be a discussion of the conditions of his pretrial release. Trump could also be faced with some restrictions on his conduct as the case moves forward.

Tuesday’s proceedings will be overseen by a magistrate judge, expected to be Jonathan Goodman, who is the magistrate on duty in Miami this week, Naija News understands.

Speakers and their deputies emerged in various states of the federation as the legislatures were inaugurated across the country on Tuesday.

Zamfara

Hon. Bilyaminu Ismail from Zurmi West emerged as the speaker of the 7th Assembly in Zamfara State.

The speakership position was zoned to the Zamfara North Senatorial District to balance the political equation as the governorship slot went to the Zamfara Central zone while Zamfara West got the deputy governorship slot.
Hon. Adamu Aliyu from Gumi 11 was elected deputy Speaker.

Plateau

A first-time lawmaker, Hon. Moses Sule (PDP) got the speakership office.

Also, Joseph Bukar representing Shendam constituency (APC) nominated Gwattson Fom Dalyop of Jos South Constituency (PDP) as deputy speaker and was seconded by Dantong, (PDP), Riyom Constituency.

Sule appreciated his colleagues for choosing him to led them in the 10th Assembly and appealed for their cooperation to have a rancour-free assembly.

Enugu

The member representing Udi North State Constituency Hon. Uche Ugwu was elected the speaker of the Assembly.

For the position of deputy speaker, Hon. Jane Eneh of Awgu North Constituency nominated Prince Ezenta Ezeani of Igboetiti West Constituency.

His nomination was seconded by Okey Mba of Nkanu East

Ezeani was declared the deputy speaker of the 8th Assembly by the clerk, Dr. Emma Udaya.

Kwara

A member of the Kwara State House of Assembly representing Ilesha/Gwanra State Constituency, Salihu Yakubu Danladi, emerged as the Speaker of the House.

Naija News understands that 38-year-old Danladi, who was the Speaker of the 9th Assembly emerged unopposed during the inauguration of the House on Tuesday, June 13.

He was nominated by Zakari Danbaba from Kaiama State Constituency and seconded by Arinola Lawal from Ilorin East State Constituency.

Adamawa

A lawmaker living with a physical disability, Rt Hon Bathiya Wesley, became the speaker of the 8th Assembly of Adamawa State.

Wesley won the hotly contested election after consulting with key stakeholders and appealing to his fellow legislators.

In a phone conversation with Daily Trust on Tuesday after his swearing-in ceremony, Wesley, who represents the Hong Constituency, said he sees himself as “a child of destiny” and doesn’t identify as physically challenged.

Cross River

Rt Hon Elvert Ayambem has emerged as the new speaker of the 10th Cross River State House of Assembly.

Naija News understands that the lawmaker representing Ikom II State Constituency was elected for the position unopposed on Tuesday, June 13.

Also, Hon Sylvester Agabi representing Obudu State Constituency was elected Deputy Speaker.

Kano

A member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Jibrin Ismail Falgore, was elected as the new speaker for Kano State 10th House of Assembly on Tuesday.

Naija News reports that the member-elect representing the Rogo constituency in the state assembly won the election unopposed on Tuesday when lawmakers cast their lots.

Falgore was nominated by Lawal Hussaini (Dala/NNPP), with his nomination seconded by a member-elect from the opposition party, All Progressives Congress (APC), Musa Ali Kachako (Takai).

Delta

The member representing Warri South-West Constituency in the Delta State House of Assembly, Emomotimi Guwor has been elected as the Speaker of the 8th House of Assembly while Arthur Akpowowo who represents Ethiope-East Constituency, emerged the Deputy Speaker.

Guwor and other members of the State’s 8th Assembly were inaugurated after they swore an oath of allegiance.

Kaduna

Honorable Yusuf Liman and Honorable Magaji D. Henry were on Tuesday elected as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly respectively.

An unnamed teenager has reportedly shot dead his friend while testing bullet-proof charm in Ekiti state.

The deceased was a JSS 2 student at Erinjinyan Community High School in Ekiti West Local Government Area.

The tragedy happened on Monday when the two boys involved were playing with a Dane gun, a local said.

The gun was said to belonged to the father of the suspect, who was a palace hunter.

The teenagers were allegedly testing the potency of a bullet-proof charm.

The suspect and his father have been since been apprehended by officers from Aramoko Divisional Police, while the corpse of the victim has been deposited in the mortuary of an undisclosed hospital.

Efforts to get the police to confirm the incident were futile as the spokesperson of the Ekiti State Police Command, Sunday Abutu, failed to pick up his calls.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has told the new leadership of National Assembly that it is time to get on and move swiftly with the business of governance in the service of Nigeria.

The president stated this on Tuesday in a message on the election of Senator Godswill Akpabio and Rt. Honourable Tajudeen Abbas as the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 10th National Assembly.

Tinubu, who described their election as a good development, congratulated them and rejoice with the new Deputy Senate President Jibril Barau and House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu for their well-deserved victories.

He said being elected by their peers as presiding officers and assuming the leadership of the National Assembly remained a great honour that came with huge responsibility, adding that “I trust that you will justify the confidence reposed in you by your members and many Nigerians.”

He also wished Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Honourable member Idris Wase and Honourable Aminu Jaji who he said enriched the process with their participation in the leadership election the best and a successful tenure in the 10th National Assembly.

The president urged them to sustain the same level of enthusiasm they brought to the leadership contest in the discharge of their duties to their constituents and Nigeria.

“My congratulations to all members of the National Assembly, across party lines, who, today, enlisted into the service of the blessed people of our great country.

“We have all been called upon and accepted the responsibility to diligently and faithfully serve our fatherland with the oath we took. It is time to get on and move swiftly with the business of governance in the service of Nigeria,” he added.

Tinubu expressed his preparedness to “transparently” work with the National Assembly, saying “Nigerians expect distinguished Senators and Honourable members to make laws and carry out oversight duties that will enhance the performance of government to achieve successful outcomes including improving their quality of life.”

The president said promises made during campaigns could only be fulfilled when both the executive and legislative arms of government worked “together in harmony but with respect for our respective prerogatives and in the best interest of our country.

“I will remain a partner in progress for peace, stability and prosperity of Nigeria. I count on the leadership of the 10th National Assembly and all members to work and walk with me on this governmental journey.
“Once again, I send my best wishes.”

A chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima has disclosed that decisions taken so far by President Bola Tinubu are poised to make the country better.

This was made known on Monday by Galadima at the inauguration of the Nuite De-Paris Restaurant owned by Maria Namvar, an Iranian investor, in Abuja.

He said Tinubu, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is starting well as president, adding that he hopes the tempo will be maintained.

“For those of us who have been in trenches in politics for the last 45 years, you will know that this time around the difference is clear,” he said.

“We do appreciate Mr President and so far he hasn’t disappointed us for having been on the right track so far.

“We do pray and hope that the action man will continue the work he is doing to make Nigeria a better place for us.”

Also speaking, Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, the iyaloja-general of Lagos and daughter of the president, said she will always support entrepreneurs who are striving to make available job opportunities for the youths.

On her part, Namvar said she is ready to invest more in Nigeria, adding that “there are plenty of opportunities” in the country.

The Nigerian Bar Association on Tuesday told the President, Bola Tinubu, that the determination of what “constitutes “illegal orders” still remains a matter within the exclusive preserve of the courts of law” and not the presidency.

The NBA made the clarification in a letter released by its president, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, in reaction to a statement by the President, during his Democracy Day address, “that the unnecessary illegal orders used to truncate or abridge democracy will no longer be tolerated.”

Maikyau, in the letter, reaffirmed that the NBA will at all times “vehemently oppose any attempt by any person or group of persons to truncate or in any way abridge our democracy”, he, however, insisted that the president cannot ascribe to himself that role.

Maikyau further congratulated Tinubu on his swearing-in as the sixth democratically elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and tasked the new government to focus on the immediate issues of national security, economy and administration of justice.

The letter read in part, “What Nigerians require is a well-thought-out, informed, all-inclusive and purposeful intervention, with as much information made available to the public, to the extent permitted within the parlance, so as to reassure Nigerians of the sincere commitment of the government in the area of security.

“Government must be transparent; the people must, by deliberate and conscious investment in manpower development and equipment purchase/procurement, be taken out of the state of fear, which decades of bloodshed and flourishing criminal activities have plunged the country into; the psyche of Nigerians must be recovered from the place of despair and despondency! The right people must be given the task of implementing security plans and policies.”

While admitting that the preponderance of views supports the removal of subsidy by the new government, Maikyau noted the need to ameliorate the effect of the removal on the citizens.

He said, “What remains, however, is the need to immediately deploy such measures that will address the ensuing difficulties associated with the withdrawal of the subsidy.”

“With the level of infrastructural deficits in many respects and the reliance on petroleum products as the primary source of power for most businesses, entrepreneurs, and private users, there is an urgent need to put in place policies that will help cushion the effect of this otherwise laudable decision before its positive impact will begin to be felt or noticed within our socio-economic space.”

On the issue of the administration of justice, the NBA President noted that “every aspect of our judicial infrastructure requires fundamental rethinking.”

“Our approaches to policing, adjudication, bail, sentencing, and imprisonment need changes in significant ways. Achieving the desired justice system will be a process, not an event.”

“Nevertheless, change must be accelerated to keep up with the expectations of Nigerians, particularly those of the poorest and most vulnerable communities. Such change must be thoughtfully planned and carefully managed. We are confident that under your able leadership, Nigeria will be able to respond effectively to these various challenges.”

Senator representing Borno South district, Ali Ndume has disclosed that President Bola Tinubu sneaked out to beg some lawmakers to support his preferred candidates for the 10th national assembly leadership positions.

This was made known on Tuesday by the Senator while speaking in an interview with Channels Television.

Ndume said the president deployed his “foot soldiers” to deliver his preferred candidates.

Recall that the Senator representing Akwa Ibom north-west, Godswill Akpabio was elected senate president after polling 63 votes to defeat his challenger, Abdulaziz Yari, who scored 46 votes.

Barau Jibrin, a senator from Kano, was declared deputy senate president.

Tajudeen Abbas, a lawmaker representing Zaria constituency in Kaduna, was elected speaker, while Benjamin Kalu from Abia state, was declared deputy.

The new leaders of the national assembly got the backing of the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu.

Reacting to the development, Ndume said the president is an “experienced” politician, adding that he convinced many lawmakers to support his preferred candidates.

“When I contested last time (2019), everybody was on the other side because the party and president endorsed Ahmad Lawan,” he said.

“It is almost a repetition of the same thing, the party and the president had a preferred candidate but this president (Tinubu) is an experienced politician who has played a lot of politics.

“He deployed his foot soldiers to complement our (campaign team of Akpabio) efforts and that made a difference. The vice president assisted us.

“He called some people. He even went to some people. It is politics. He sneaked out to visit some people and begged them to support. He has his reasons and there were convincing.”

…. Judges, Lawyers Watch Video Of EU Criticizing Presidential Election

Lawyers representing the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress took their turn to cross-examine the People’s Democratic party Situation room National Coordinator,
Dr. Alex Adum Ter Esq, at the Presidential Election Petition Court sitting in Abuja, after he tendered video evidence of the comments of the Commission’s head and the European Union Observer Mission to Nigeria on the polls.

The PDP as well informed the court of its subpoena against the INEC chairman, Yakubu Mahmood following the constant objection to certified true copies of electoral documents tendered at the PEPC by the electoral umpire’s lawyers.

At the resumption of sitting on Monday, PDP counsel, Chris Uche SAN,
presented before the court , his star witness, Dr Alex Adum Ter Esq who served as National Coordinator of the PDP Situation room during the 2023 election.

He adopted his witness statement on oath wherein he mentioned the video of the INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood, INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye as well as the European Union Election Observer Mission, as evidence including the certificate of authenticity of the videos in line with the Evidence Act 2011.

But the lawyers representing INEC, President Bola Tinubu and All Progressives Congress vehemently opposed the videos being tendered as evidence and played before the court.

But the five-man panel of the court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani noted their objections, reserved ruling till judgement but gave the PDP go ahead to play the video evidence.

The first video was where Mahmood said no going back on using BVAS for voter accreditation and transmission of election results in realtime.

The second video was where Okoye said there will be no incidence forms on election day and that if BVAS fails to work, the election at such polling unit will be rescheduled for the next day.

The third video showed the press briefing of the EU Observer Mission to Nigeria where its official, Barry Andrews, said there was a lack of critical planning and lack of transparency on the part of INEC regarding the transmission of scanned polling unit results to IREV.

After the videos ended, Uche applied to tender screenshots of the IREV portal of INEC as at March 18 and March 19, as mentioned by the witness.

He also tendered the INEC CTC IREV report showing 9403 polling units uploaded as of March 1, out of 176,000 polling units.

INEC lawyer A.B Mahmoud opposed the “so called” screenshots of IREV by the PDP while counsels to Tinubu and APC aligned with his objection, except for the one certified by the electoral umpire.

The court still admitted them while reserving ruling till judgement.

Under cross-examination by INEC lawyer, Mahmoud, Ter admitted he was not at the INEC National Collation Centre in Abuja.

The witness said he remained in Abuja on election day and the days following the election up until the declaration of result, adding that he voted.

“You are not an ICT expert?,” Mahmoud asked him.

“I am not an ICT expert,” he replied.

Mahmoud asked him why he made reference to certain calculation errors in the final results but did not specify details of such errors in his statement of oath.

The witness said he did not but added that statisticians the PDP engaged reviewed the IRev and had the actual figures.

He insisted there were no technical glitches on election day.

During cross examination by Tinubu’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi SAN, Ter said his statement on alleged corrupt practices were received from PDP state and local government collation agents.

When pressed further, he agreed that the polling unit result is the primary source of validating election results.

Asked how he knew that there was deliberate bypass of the BVAS machine during the presidential election, the witness said he got it from videos shared to the PDP situation room by party agents.

Asked if he had in his statement, any other final result different from the one announced by INEC.

The witness said he had none.

APC counsel, Benjamin Umoh SAN pressed further on the use of BVAS, saying it is used for accreditation and transmission of scanned result after poll result has been announced at polling unit.

He answered in the affirmative.

The star witness was then discharged from the testimony dock.

Uche subsequently called the 20th witness by the name Olatunji Shelle, a retired naval officer and politician who served as Lagos State PDP Collation agent.

He admitted he was not at his polling unit when counting was concluded and announced.

When asked by the INEC lawyer to substantiate his allegation about secret polling units in Lagos, the witness said he had an idea about them but did not visit any of them.

“As at today, Labour party won Presidential election in Lagos as declared by INEC?,” Tinubu’s lawyer Yusuf Ali SAN asked him.

“Yes,” he replied.

He was asked to confirm if the Labour party won the presidential election in Lagos state, to which he replied, saying “That is as announced by INEC.”

Uche subsequently called for adjournment of his matter till Tuesday.

He also informed the court that he has subpoenaed the INEC chairman and national Commissioner to appear in court and produce electoral documents, since their lawyers are busy objecting CTCs of documents from their Commission.

THE WHISTLER reports that before now, the PDP had brought 18 witnesses, largely state collation officers and INEC ad-hoc staff, to substantiate their claim that the election was rigged.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on Tuesday, denied claims that it already gave a license to Alhaji Aliko Dangote, owner of the Dangote refinery to import the Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) also known as petrol pending completion of his refinery.

The company stated that it is not within its jurisdiction to grant a license or permit for fuel import.

According to the report, published in a national daily, the writer alleged that the imported fuel would be discharged at the Dangote barge and pumped into tanks to be sold at a market-dictated price to marketers while work progresses at the refinery.

But reacting to the report, the media relations manager at the NNPCL, Onyi Sunday who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune over the phone, described the report as misleading stating that the company was not a regulatory organization.

Her words:” The report is misleading. We don’t grant licenses or permits because we are not a regulatory organization. The responsibility lies with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), not NNPCL. You should check with them. NNPCL has just a small stake of 20 per cent in the refinery.”

However, efforts to reach the NMDPRA Spokesperson, Mr. Kimchi Apollo failed as his phone line was off at the time of filing this report.

Ali Ndume, a senator from Borno South Senator senatorial district, has made it clear that he should not be held responsible if Godswill Akpabio does not live up to expectations in his new position as the Senate President.

Ndume was a significant supporter of both Akpabio and deputy speaker Barau Jibrin during their recent election.

Following the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, Senator Ndume appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today yesterday, where he addressed concerns about his endorsement of Akpabio and the potential repercussions on his own reputation.

When asked whether Akpabio’s performance would reflect on him as one of his endorsers, Ndume countered the notion, stating, “I don’t think that is right. I’m not Akpabio. Even before God, Akpabio will account for his own; I will account for mine.”

Ndume firmly believed that he should not bear any responsibility for Akpabio’s actions in his new position.

Acknowledging his endorsement, the Majority Leader of the ninth Senate admitted, “I said he’s the best. If he turns out to be the worst, I’m not going to be responsible. How can you hold me accountable? I didn’t force anybody to vote. I believe he’s the best, but I don’t know what he will do tomorrow. I can’t say that.”

Ndume emphasised that his expectation of Akpabio’s performance is based on their four-year acquaintance.

He highlighted Akpabio’s previous role as a minority leader while he served as the majority leader, emphasizing his intelligence, passion for certain issues, and his ability to transcend tribal affiliations.

He said with a background as a qualified lawyer, minister, and commissioner, he said Akpabio possesses the necessary qualifications to meet the expectations of Nigerians.