Politics
Trump pressures Republicans to block Biden’s win
Donald Trump has called out Republicans who plan to support certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the US election as members of a “surrender caucus”, deepening the intraparty split over the looming transfer of power in Washington.
The US President, in a series of tweets on Monday morning, pressured lawmakers from his own party to join his attempt to overturn the results of the November election, less than three weeks before Biden’s inauguration as president.
Trump, according to Financial Times, is facing a backlash from across the political spectrum over a call he made during the weekend to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, urging him to “find” extra votes to reverse Mr Biden’s win in the southern state.
A joint session of Congress is expected on Wednesday to certify Biden’s electoral college victory.
Twelve Republican senators, led by Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, have said they will object to Biden’s win based on unfounded allegations of voter fraud, although many Republicans are expected to accept the election result — triggering Trump’s wrath.
“The ‘Surrender Caucus’ within the Republican party will go down in infamy as weak and ineffective ‘guardians’ of our Nation, who were willing to accept the certification of fraudulent presidential numbers!” Trump wrote.
Earlier in the day, Trump had singled out Tom Cotton — a reliable ally of the president on Capitol Hill — for criticism after the senator from Arkansas said he would not join other Republican objectors to Biden’s win.
“@SenTomCotton Republicans have pluses & minuses, but one thing is sure, THEY NEVER FORGET!”, the president wrote.
In a statement on Monday, Rob Portman, the Republican senator from Ohio, defied Trump’s wishes and said he would not object to Biden’s certification.
“The Constitution created a system for electing the President through the Electoral College that ensures the people and the states hold the power, not Congress. I cannot support allowing Congress to thwart the will of the voters,” he said.
Trump’s increasingly frantic efforts to avoid leaving the White House on January 20 have created a febrile atmosphere in Washington and stoked new fears over the prospects for a smooth transition on inauguration day.
They have also prompted warnings from business that some Republicans were threatening democracy by attempting to oppose certifying the presidential election results.
“Efforts by some members of Congress to disregard certified election results . . . undermines our democracy and the rule of law and will only result in further division,” said Tom Donohue, chief executive of the US Chamber of Commerce, the business lobby.
Almost 200 business leaders signed a separate statement from the Partnership for New York City, warning that attempts to thwart certification of the results “run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy” and would distract from responding to the country’s health and economic crises.
Democrats said they were disturbed by Mr Trump’s approach. At a rally ahead of two pivotal Senate run-off races in Georgia on Tuesday, Kamala Harris, the incoming vice-president, attacked Trump for his call to Raffensperger.
“It was certainly the voice of desperation, most certainly that. And it was a bald, bald-faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the United States,” she said on Sunday night.
Ted Lieu, a Democratic lawmaker from California, and Kathleen Rice, a Democratic lawmaker from New York, on Monday asked the FBI to open a criminal investigation into Trump’s call for “solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes”.
Nevertheless, Mr Trump’s most loyal backers on Capitol Hill have stuck by him. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican senator from Tennessee and one of the upper-chamber lawmakers intending to object to the certification of Biden’s victory, told Fox News on Monday that the president’s call to Raffensperger searching for votes was “not a helpful call”.
But she reaffirmed the plan to object to Biden’s victory and establish a commission to report back on fraud claims within 10 days.
“When there are allegations of fraud and when there’s all this conversation that is taking place around the election results, one of the things that we should do is define the problem and then offer an action item that will get us to a solution,” she said. “And that’s exactly what we are doing.”
metro
Probe Me Over $16bn Power Spending If You Have Evidence – Atiku Dares FG
Probe Me Over $16bn Power Spending If You Have Evidence – Atiku Dares FG
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has thrown down the gauntlet to President Bola Tinubu’s administration, demanding that it substantiate allegations linking him to alleged wrongdoing in the controversial $16 billion power sector expenditure or cease what he describes as a campaign of political distraction. In a statement released on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku insisted that he should be investigated and prosecuted if the government possesses credible evidence against him, stressing that political accusations cannot replace proof. The former Vice President accused the Tinubu administration and its supporters of reviving decades-old allegations to divert public attention from pressing questions surrounding the management of government revenues following the removal of petrol subsidy.
Atiku noted that the National Assembly had previously investigated the power projects, but he was never invited to respond to any allegations of misconduct. “The National Assembly investigated the power projects. I was never invited to answer any allegation of wrongdoing,” he stated. He acknowledged that he chaired the National Council on Privatisation while serving as Vice President but clarified that he did not oversee the implementation of the power project. “Yes, I chaired the National Council on Privatisation as Vice President. But on the power project, I disagreed with its concept and did not preside over its implementation. The responsible minister did. The same applies to the Aluminium Smelter matter,” Atiku explained.
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The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate for the 2027 election declared that he had repeatedly made himself available for investigation since leaving office in 2007. “I have repeatedly asked to be investigated. I left office in 2007 and have spent much of the period since then opposing governments in power. If there is evidence that I stole public money, why has no government produced it before a court?” he queried. Atiku challenged the authorities to reopen the matter if they believed there was a genuine case against him. “It is still not too late. Investigate me. Invite me. Produce the evidence. Prosecute me if you have a case. But propaganda cannot substitute for evidence,” he said.
The former Vice President linked the renewed allegations to his persistent criticism of the Federal Government’s handling of the economic consequences of petrol subsidy removal. He argued that Nigerians had been promised that eliminating the subsidy would free funds for development, but citizens had instead faced higher costs of transportation, food, and other essentials. “Today, petrol is more expensive, transportation is more expensive, food is more expensive and the purchasing power of the Nigerian worker has been devastated,” he said. Atiku further questioned how additional government revenues were being deployed, alleging that tax incentives, waivers, credits, and concessions continued to benefit powerful economic interests. “So our question remains brutally simple: where is the people’s money?” he asked. He accused the government of hypocrisy for withdrawing economic relief from ordinary Nigerians while maintaining interventions that benefited major corporate interests. “You cannot take relief away from the poor, celebrate the resulting revenue and then tell the same impoverished citizens that government intervention on their behalf is economically irresponsible while interventions benefiting powerful interests are called incentives. That hypocrisy is precisely what we are challenging,” Atiku stated.
Atiku dismissed what he described as sponsored social media attacks, insisting they would not prevent him from demanding transparency over public finances. “The people who removed subsidy from the poor cannot frighten us into silence by resurrecting allegations that governments with all the investigative machinery of the Nigerian state have had nearly two decades to establish,” he declared. He challenged the government to either substantiate the allegations or address questions over the use of funds generated after subsidy removal. “If you have evidence against Atiku, bring it. If you have a case, prosecute it. But if you have neither, stop manufacturing distractions and answer Nigerians: You removed the subsidy. You collected the savings. Where is the money?” he demanded.
Probe Me Over $16bn Power Spending If You Have Evidence – Atiku Dares FG
Politics
Ogun 2027: Radio Interview that Triggered APC Move for Hunye’s Arrest, Prosecution
Ogun 2027: Radio Interview that Triggered APC Move for Hunye’s Arrest, Prosecution
What Happened in Osun Will Be a Child’s Play in Ogun — Hunye
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State has distanced itself from Abayomi Hunye and called for his arrest and prosecution for allegedly impersonating a governorship candidate of the party, following comments he made during a radio interview in which he vowed to challenge the emergence of Senator Solomon Adeola, popularly known as Yayi, as the party’s 2027 governorship candidate.
Hunye, who described himself as an APC governorship aspirant, made the comments on Tuesday during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State.
During the programme, Hunye warned that the political crisis surrounding the APC’s 2027 governorship ticket could become far more intense than the recent political upheaval witnessed in Osun State.
“They saw what happened in Osun. What happened in Osun is going to be a child’s play to what is going to happen in Ogun State in 2027,” he said.
The comments appeared to have heightened the controversy surrounding the APC governorship ticket and prompted the party to disown Hunye, insisting that he had no authority to present himself as its governorship candidate.
The party maintains that Adeola is its duly nominated candidate for the 2027 Ogun governorship election.
Hunye, however, said he remained committed to his legal challenge against the outcome of the party’s governorship primary, arguing that the dispute was fundamentally about the integrity of the process and the right of party members to participate in a free and fair contest.
According to him, political grievances cannot simply be suppressed by imposing a preferred candidate on party members.
“What happened in Osun was the same thing. You cannot deprive people of their rights and want them to now keep quiet. They will not keep quiet,” he said.
Hunye also accused Governor Dapo Abiodun and the APC leadership of imposing Adeola on other aspirants, challenging the party to subject the senator to a transparent primary if he was genuinely popular among party members.
“He imposed him on us. And you want to force us to obey it. If you agree that he is popular, let the primaries be free and fair. And if he wins the primary, everybody will agree,” Hunye said.
He maintained that his court action was not driven solely by personal ambition, but by what he described as the need to ensure that the APC’s candidate emerged through a credible and acceptable process.
Hunye further claimed that opposition to Adeola’s emergence extended beyond his camp, alleging that some members of Governor Abiodun’s cabinet were also unhappy with the development.
“Quite a number of people in Dapo Abiodun’s cabinet are with us. They are not happy. People are not happy,” he claimed.
The radio interview has since become central to the latest development in the dispute, with the APC using Hunye’s public statements and his self-description as an aspirant to reinforce its position that he has no mandate to speak or act as the party’s governorship candidate.
The controversy comes as political activities intensify ahead of the 2027 Ogun governorship election, with the APC leadership seeking to consolidate support around Adeola while the internal dispute over the primary process continues to generate tension.
Hunye’s warning that the situation in Ogun could surpass the political crisis witnessed in Osun has also added a new dimension to the dispute, raising concerns about the possibility of further confrontation within the ruling party if the grievances of aggrieved aspirants and their supporters remain unresolved.
Politics
APC Petitions Police, DSS Over Ogun 2027 Governorship Claim, Seeks Hunye’s Arrest
APC Petitions Police, DSS Over Ogun 2027 Governorship Claim, Seeks Hunye’s Arrest
I’m ready to honour police invitation – Hunye
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, and the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), demanding the arrest, investigation and prosecution of Mr. Abayomi Hunye over his alleged impersonation as the party’s governorship candidate in Ogun State for the 2027 general elections.
The ruling party also urged the security agencies to stop Hunye from further parading himself as its candidate, warning that his continued claim could mislead the public, undermine electoral integrity and potentially threaten public peace in the state.
The development followed Hunye’s recent declaration at an event in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, where he reportedly presented himself as the APC governorship candidate for the 2027 election and unveiled Chief Abayomi Odunowo as his purported running mate.
The APC had on Monday publicly disowned Hunye, describing his claim as mischievous and insisting that he was not its governorship candidate.
In separate petitions dated August 24 and signed by the party’s Director of Administration, Ayoola Olajolo, the APC asked the police and DSS to urgently intervene in the matter.
In the petition to the Inspector-General of Police, the party described Hunye’s action as a “grave threat to public peace and electoral integrity,” alleging that he had been using both traditional and social media platforms to parade himself as the party’s candidate.
The APC stated: “The Subject has notoriously and unlawfully taken to the public domain, including print and social media, parading himself as the governorship candidate of our party for the forthcoming January 2027 election.
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“I wish to state unequivocally that this claim is false, fraudulent, and a deliberate act of impersonation designed to mislead the public and destabilise the peace of Ogun State.”
The party further alleged that Hunye had been suspended from the APC on April 7, 2026, following a petition from his Tube Ward in Ipokia Local Government Area.
According to the APC, the suspension was subsequently ratified by the Ogun State Working Committee and communicated to the party’s national headquarters.
The party also maintained that it had conducted its governorship primary election in the state and that Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola and Mrs Balogun Abiodun remained its recognised governorship candidate and running mate respectively.
Consequently, the APC asked the police to invite Hunye for questioning and investigate what it described as possible offences arising from his conduct.
The party specifically requested that the security agency investigate and prosecute him, where appropriate, for alleged impersonation, conduct likely to cause a breach of peace and alleged violation of the Electoral Act, 2026.
It also urged the police to restrain Hunye from further presenting himself as the APC candidate in order to prevent what it described as a possible breakdown of law and order in Ogun State.
The party pledged to cooperate fully with the investigation and provide additional statements or evidence that may be required.
Meanwhile, reports that Hunye had gone into hiding after security operatives allegedly visited his residence to deliver an invitation for questioning have been denied by the politician.
Hunye, while reacting to the development, dismissed the claim that he was on the run, insisting that he remained available and was prepared to honour invitations from the security agencies.
He questioned the basis for reports that he had evaded the operatives by jumping over his fence.
“Somebody was saying they came to my house and I jumped the fence. Why won’t I honour it? How can I be on the run?” Hunye asked.
He added that he would honour any invitation issued by the security agencies, noting that an invitation scheduled for September could not reasonably be interpreted as an indication that he was fleeing.
“If somebody invited me for September, I’ll be running now? The question is, have they visited my house?” he said.
Hunye further insisted, “I heard that they’re saying they came to my house and I jumped the fence. How can I be on the run? If I’m invited for September, I’ll definitely honour it.”
The dispute has added a fresh layer to the unfolding political contest ahead of the 2027 governorship election in Ogun State, with the APC now seeking the intervention of security agencies to settle what it considers a case of impersonation and potential threat to electoral order.
APC Petitions Police, DSS Over Ogun 2027 Governorship Claim, Seeks Hunye’s Arrest
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