Trump seeks expedited appeal of Pennsylvania court ruling

 

President Donald Trump’s campaign would seek an expedited appeal after a federal judge in Pennsylvania on Saturday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block millions of mail-in ballots.

Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis, said in a joint statement that they would seek an expedited appeal to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

They said the latest development will help quicken their effort to push the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, packed with appointees of Trump.

The lawsuit claimed that some counties in Pennsylvania allowed mail-in voters to fix problems with the ballots by casting provisional ballots, which the campaign said were cast illegally for Democrat Joe Biden.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann was made on the grounds that the lawsuit provided “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence.”

“In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state,” wrote the judge, who was appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama.

U.S. media have projected that Biden has won 306 Electoral College votes, surpassing the 270 votes needed to clinch the presidency.

The watershed moment came on Nov. 7, when Pennsylvania was called for Biden, who now leads Trump in the state by over 81,000 votes, a margin believed to be insurmountable even if those erroneously cast ballots were excluded.

For Trump campaign, time is ticking away as Pennsylvania is scheduled to certify its election results on Monday, all but certain to grant its 20 Electoral College votes to Biden.

While Biden has claimed victory, Trump launched a slew of litigations challenging the results in states that, in addition to Pennsylvania, also include Michigan, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.

Most of those efforts have either been withdrawn by the campaign itself or rejected by the courts, which cited the lack of proof as the reason.

PM NEWS

FG wants trailers at Ogere removed, as 400,000 vehicles ply Lagos-Ibadan road daily

 The federal government on Saturday ordered owners of trailers at Ogere section of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to remove the articulated vehicles.

Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said ongoing construction works would commence in the area shortly.

He gave the directive during a town hall meeting with stakeholders at Ogere in Ogun State after inspecting the road from Lagos.

In attendance were traditional rulers, representatives of the major tribes, civil society, state government officials, contractors and traffic regulatory agencies.

“My appeal to you (articulated vehicles) is for you to leave the road today immediately,” NAN quoted him as saying.

The minister told the task force on traffic laws newly constituted by Ogun State Government to enforce the directive.

He stressed that parking on the highway was a violation of the laws.

Fashola insisted that operators were supposed to provide parking spaces for their fleet, adding that government’s construction of truck parks was to support them.

He condemned truck drivers for pouring diesel and petrol on the highway, causing road degeneration.

Julius Berger and RCC, contractors handling sections one and two of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway project, made presentations.

The firms also gave statistics many Nigerians would find interesting.

They said 400,000 vehicles plied the road daily; 3,000 per hour.

The expressway is regarded as the busiest in the country.

- DAILY POST

Oyo: Three reportedly killed as Customs, smugglers clash in Igbo-Ora

 

At least, three people have died as a result of gunshots they sustained during a clash between some Customs officers and some suspected smugglers in Igbo-Ora town.

DAILY POST reports that Igbo-Ora is one of the town in Ibarapa geo-political zone in Oyo State.

Our correspondent gathered on Saturday that those that died included a soldier, a Customs officer and a resident of the town.

The incident occurred on Thursday, DAILY POST learnt.

It was learnt that some Customs officers from the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A and the smugglers clash on Thursday.

DAILY POST gathered that the two clash after the Customs officers intercepted a bus suspected to be carrying some bags of foreign rice from the smugglers.

A native of Igbo-Ora who spoke with DAILY POST on Saturday confirmed the incident.

He said, “Yes, there was a clash between some Customs officers and some smugglers on Thursday.

Spokesman of NCS in Oyo/Osun command, Mr. Kayode Wey when contacted said that he has no official report.

Wey, who confirmed that there was a clash between some Customs officers, however, said that he has not been informed about the details of the incident.

He said, “I don’t have official report. I don’t have. It is when I have that we can give you details.

But, Public Relations Officer of the state Police Command, Mr. Olugbenga Fadeyi, when contacted, said that investigations have commenced to unravel what transpired during the clash.

Fadeyi said, “There was no initial official report to the Police on the incident.

“But, investigation had commenced into the clash and further development will unfold soonest.”

- DAILY POST

Cristiano Ronaldo not leaving Juventus

 

Cristiano Ronaldo will remain with reigning Italian champions Juventus despite recent reports of a Real Madrid return.

Ronaldo, 35, left Madrid in the summer of 2018 following nine trophy-laden seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu for a new challenge in Serie A.

The Portugal captain has won back-to-back Scudetti in his two seasons to date, scoring 71 goals in 94 games in all competitions.

Reports believe that Ronaldo has become frustrated with Juve’s efforts to cut players’ salaries to offset financial losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Reports also said he has made efforts to smoothen relations with Madrid president Florentino Perez, leaving the door open to a possible comeback in the future.

Juve’s club director Fabio Paratici has however insisted that their star man is going nowhere.

“I can reassure you about Cristiano Ronaldo’s future here at Juventus,” the director explained to DAZN.

“We don’t pay too much attention to transfers rumours, there is lots of news every day.”

Ronaldo netted a brace in Juve’s win over Cagliari on Saturday, and is now ten goals away from becoming the highest-scoring player in football history.

- PM NEWS

How activist campaigning against insecurity was shot dead near Kaduna train station

 Rabiu Auwal, an advocate of #SecureNorth, a group campaigning against insecurity, has been killed by suspected bandits.

Auwal lost his life when gunmen struck near the Rigasa train station in Kaduna on Friday night.

The graduate of Bayero University, Kano, was returning from a trip with some other activists when the unfortunate incident happened.

He was said to be in the company of El-Khaddab Arewa, an activist who is battling for his life at 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, in the hospital after the attack, and Sani Khalil, who has not been accounted for since the incident.

A security source, who spoke off the record, said Khalil might have been abducted.

Auwal was laid to rest in Kaduna on Saturday morning.

In a Facebook post, Nura Usman, one of the friends of the deceased, wrote: “In his quest to push for Security and safety of the North, he changed his Profile DP on WhatsApp and Facebook all to #SecureNorth frame. Unknown to him, he will be consumed by same Insecurity. Comrade Rabiu Auwal has done his best while alive to draw the attention of the authority to do it major responsibility of Securing the lives and Property of the People.”

Mohammed Jalige, spokesman of the Kaduna police command, neither responded to calls nor replied text messages, seeking his confirmation of the incident.

Kaduna has recorded multiple attacks in the last one week.

Gunmen broke into the Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic in Zaria and abducted a lecturer and two children, last Saturday.

Eight students of the Ahmadu Bello University, still in Zaria, were abducted on Kaduna-Abjua road on Sunday.

Many persons were also abducted around the axis last week.

- THECABLE

End SARS: Gen Bello ordered soldiers to release bullets at Lekki Toll Gate – Army

 

The Commander of the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Taiwo, has disclosed the roles played by Lt.- Col. S.O. Bello and Brig.-Gen. F.O. Omata during the shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos State.

Following the End SARS protest, soldiers had reportedly shot and killed peaceful protesters at Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020.

However, Taiwo said Bello who was the Commander on ground had given the order for the soldiers to shoot in the air, NAN reports.

Taiwo who is a military witness disclosed this during cross-examination at the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry for Restitution, on Saturday in Lagos State.

He stated that Bello was the Commanding Officer of the 65 Battalion which was at the Lekki tollgate on the fateful day and Omata was also present at the scene with him.

“When I called Bello he said that while they were being deployed, they were attacked by hoodlums and they released some shots into the air.

“Bello had arrived the scene first before Omata, as the whole 81 Division Garrison had been given the mandate to secure the whole Eti-Osa corridor.

“Omata had left Obalende to meet up with Bello and patrol the whole area,” he said.

- DAILY POST

Boston court set to jail Nigerians Iyalekhue, Osawaru for online scams

 

Two Nigerians, Nosayamen Iyalekhue and Esogie Osawaru have pleaded guilty for defrauding victims using various online scams during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Osawaru pleaded guilty 12 November, Iyalekhue, 33, pleaded guilty to one count charge of wire fraud on Thursday.

U.S. Senior District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel in Boston, Massachusetts has scheduled sentencing for March 4, 2021.

Both risk 20 year jail terms.

Iyalekhue, a former teller at TD Bank in Norwood, Massachusetts from 2018-2019, was arrested in June 2020 along with 27 year-old Osawaru.

Iyalekhue and Osawaru participated from 2016 in a series of romance, pandemic unemployment insurance, and other online scams designed to defraud victims by convincing them to send money to accounts controlled by them.

They were caught when they started having unemployment benefits deposited into their accounts in May 2020.

To carry out the scam, the defendants used false foreign passports in the names of others, but with their photos, to open numerous bank accounts, and in turn directed the victims to send money to these accounts.

Iyalekhue and Osawaru then rapidly withdrew the victims’ money from various bank branches and ATMs, often multiple times during a single day.

The schemes included collecting unemployment insurance in the name of others during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The charging statute provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, and forfeiture.

The defendant is also subject to deportation proceedings.

Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division made the announcement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom of Lelling’s Securities, Financial and Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case

- PM NEWS