Politics

Trump: I’ll leave if electoral college votes for Biden

Published

4 years ago

November 27, 2020

The United States President, Donald Trump, has said that he will leave the White House if the electoral college votes for Democratic president-elect Joe Biden on January 6, 2021.

The President’s comments are the closest he has come to admitting defeat in election and set stage for college vote on 14 December.

Biden won the presidential election with 306 electoral college votes – many more than the 270 required – to Trump’s 232. Biden also leads Trump by more than six million in the popular vote tally.

The electoral college is due to meet on 14 December when each state’s nominated electors will cast their votes for the winner of the state’s presidential ballot. The votes are officially counted by Congress on 6 January.

When asked about Trump’s comments, Biden campaign spokesperson, Michael Gwin said, “President-elect Biden won 306 electoral votes. States continue to certify those results, the Electoral College will soon meet to ratify that outcome,” adding, “Biden will be sworn in as President on January 20, 2021.”

Can Trump actually stage a coup and stay in office for a second term?

Trump has so far defied tradition by refusing to concede defeat, instead making a series of baseless claims about alleged ballot fraud and launching legal attempts to challenge the outcomes in several states such Pennsylvania and Michigan.

But desperate efforts by Trump and his aides to overturn results in key states, either by lawsuits or by pressuring state legislators, have failed.

Speaking to reporters on the Thanksgiving holiday, Trump said if Biden – who is due to be sworn in on 20 January – was certified the election winner by the electoral college, he would depart the White House.

Trump’s comments, made to reporters at the White House after speaking to troops during the traditional Thanksgiving Day address to US service members, appear to take him one step nearer to admitting defeat.

Asked if he would leave the White House if the college vote went against him, Trump said, “Certainly I will. And you know that,” adding that, “If they do, they’ve made a mistake.”

However, Trump said it would be “a very hard thing to concede” and declined to say whether he would attend Biden’s inauguration, which is due to take place on 20 January.

It was the first time he had taken questions from reporters since election day, and at times he turned combative, calling one reporter a “lightweight” and telling him “don’t talk to me like that”.

Trump’s administration has already given the green light for a formal transition to get underway. But Trump took issue with Biden moving forward.

“I think it’s not right that he’s trying to pick a Cabinet,” Trump said, even though officials from both teams are already working together to get Biden’s team up to speed.

At one point he urged reporters not to allow Biden the credit for pending coronavirus vaccines.

As for whether or not he plans to formally declare his candidacy to run again in 2024 – as he has discussed with aides – Trump he didn’t “want to talk about 2024 yet.”

In late-night tweets, Trump complained that the media had not covered his news conference in the way he had wanted, saying the main point he had tried to make was that he won the election. Twitter flagged his comments.

Showing that he intends to stay in the political fray until the end of his term, Trump said on Thursday he would travel on 5 December to Georgia, a once solidly Republican state he lost narrowly to Biden, to campaign for two Republican Senate candidates.

Sources: Reuters and Associated Press

Politics

Factional Obidient movement planning to dump LP – Chieftain

Published

20 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Trends Admin

Factional Obidient movement planning to dump LP – Chieftain

The Coordinator, Obidient Youth Ambassadors, Meche Oswald, has revealed plots by a factional Obedient Movement within the Labour Party (LP) to float another political platform.

However Oswald said their exit would not affect the party in any form due to the strong forces behind the Labour Party Directorate of Mobilisation and Integration (DMI).

The coordinator, in a statement, said with the current happenings in the Obidient Movement, the true intention of those who kicked against the establishment of the DMI had been made public.

In June 2024, the Labour Party created the Directorate of Mobilisation and Integration and appointed Marcel Ngogbehei as the director general.

Since its creation, the directorate has been able to coordinate the support groups in the party, commanding about 75 per cent loyalty from the groups across the country.

Recently, the directorate set up state and local government coordinators with the aim to strengthen the party’s grassroots structure ahead of the 2027 elections.

And each of those state and LGA structures is said to be continuously recruiting, spreading like wildfire.

“The Labour Party platform in 2027 will boast of massive numbers of volunteers willing to work and support the Party’s candidates across board,” Oswald added.

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He said with DMI’s extensive grassroots presence in every community across Nigeria, it would be extremely challenging for the factionalized Obidient movement to promote any other political platform.

He said the DMI’s strategic and innovative approach had undoubtedly raised LP’s banner as a force to reckon with within the political environment.

Oswald said, “The strong forces behind DMI are, in fact, young formidable members of the Obidient movement, and this poses a significant threat to a faction of the movement who have concluded arrangements to exit the Labour Party for another one that will favor their individual goals.

“I am particularly impressed by the foresight of LP Chairman, Barrister Abure, and DMI Director-General, Marcel Ngogbehei. The reports rolling in from various states are loud and encouraging.

“DMI is a child of destiny and a testimony to visionary leadership. Great leaders have the ability to foresee the future and prepare accordingly; this is exactly what Marcel has done.

“Every malicious attempt to bring LP to disrepute has been effectively neutralized, leaving the gang of traitors confused.

“They have been fighting tooth and nail to see that the directorate is rendered inoperative because they feel it rivals their goals.

“Instead of coming up with strategic ideas on how to make the faction under their control work, they are preoccupied with dirty plans of how to bring someone else down.

“I have never seen such a level of callousness being exhibited by humans against others; even animals have a level of soberness.

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“We are all witnesses to the numerous complaints that almost weighed down the party. In fact, someone emphatically said the party is dead.

“Why, then, are certain individuals unhappy that the party they declared dead has now fully resurrected with total reinvigoration?

“The DMI dares to challenge the obstacles on the way of LP, igniting the flame of an intellectual youthful movement that has taken up the challenge to lead in this liberation struggle.

“This is the dawn of a new era. We should celebrate the birth of the indomitable spirit of DMI, forged in the crucible of struggle. Since its inception, the DMI has not wavered in its mission to fight for the true emancipation of the Nigerian people.”

He urged the youth league to stand as the vanguard of the national democratic revolution and keep charging forward.

Factional Obidient movement planning to dump LP – Chieftain

Politics

Omo-Agege pledges support for Tinubu, says he remains committed APC member

Published

20 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Trends Admin

Former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege

Omo-Agege pledges support for Tinubu, says he remains committed APC member

Former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has said reports of his plan to dump the All Progressives Congress (APC) and team up with former Kaduna State governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, to float a phantom new political party is shocking.

Omo-Agege, in a release issued by his media adviser, Sunny Areh, said the story is a product of allegation journalism with no iota of truth.

He stated that associating his name with the political group Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, is said to be working on, is a clear case of fable without any basis whatsoever.

“In the weird publication, it was alleged that Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Deputy President of the Senate in the 9th Session, is scheming to abandon the All Progressives Congress (APC) to team up with Mallam Nasir el-Rufai to float a phantom new political party, is not only shocking but idiotic,” he said.

Omo-Agege, flag bearer of the APC in the 2023 governorship election in Delta State, affirmed his APC membership, noting that President Bola Tinubu will not be deterred or distracted by reactionary forces determined to keep the people in perpetual penury.

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He said, “Having led the APC to its best ever performance in the 2023 general elections in Delta State where the party won two of the three senatorial seats and Senator Ovie Omo-Agege was narrowly cheated from coasting to victory in the Governorship election, he will do better in 2027.”

While urging the APC faithful to disregard the hatchet job, he said the perpetrators have resorted deploying blackmail and subterfuge to sabotage the APC.

“Let it be known that as the leader of APC in Delta state and having taken it through a record showing in the 2023 general elections, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege remains irrevocably committed, steadfast and primed to the task of completing the job of rescuing the state from the serial failed administrations in 2027.

“Together with other progressive forces, he will steer the state to true prosperity and take her away from the trajectory of missed opportunities, failed policies and incorporated corruption to the path of development as a frontline oil producing state in the Niger-Delta.

“Already, our dear President’s reform agenda for re-tooling Nigeria’s economy to a productive one is bearing fruits and the people are testifying to the renewed hope of all facets of the population.

“President Tinubu will not be deterred or distracted by reactionary forces determined to keep the people in perpetual penury,” Omo-Agege’s stated.

Omo-Agege pledges support for Tinubu, says he remains committed APC member

Politics

Tinubu is first real politician to become Nigeria’s president – PDP leader

Published

21 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Trends Admin

Segun Sowunmi

Tinubu is first real politician to become Nigeria’s president – PDP leader

Segun Sowunmi, former spokesman for ex-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, has declared President Bola Tinubu as the first true politician to ever ascend to the presidency of Nigeria.

In an appearance on TVC News, Sowunmi compared Tinubu’s political career with that of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Muhammadu Buhari, and Goodluck Jonathan, claiming that none of them could be considered “real politicians.”

Sowunmi explained that while Obasanjo and Buhari were military men and Jonathan rose to power due to unforeseen circumstances, Tinubu’s success in politics places him in a unique position.

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He stated: “Obasanjo and Buhari couldn’t call themselves politicians because they were soldiers. Jonathan couldn’t call himself a politician because he came in over the misery of others, but Tinubu is a politician.”

Sowunmi also spoke on the challenge faced by the opposition under Tinubu’s leadership.

“In the present dispensation of the APC, President Tinubu-led federal government, the first thing we need to accept and which we are accepting now is that our work is cut out for us,” Sowunmi added.

He concluded by stressing the need for fresh, quality minds to rethink the dynamics of democracy and opposition in Nigeria, especially in light of Tinubu’s political experience.