The prosecution of former US President Donald Trump has evenly divided Americans but appears to have boosted his chances of winning the Republican nomination for the 2024 election, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday, April 6.
The poll was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday April 5, following Tuesday's indictment of Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records by prosecutors in New York City. The survey of 1,004 U.S. adults has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for all respondents and plus or minus 6.3 percentage points for the 368 Republicans who participated in the poll.
The survey found that 49% of all Americans think it was right for prosecutors to pursue the first criminal case against a U.S. president or former president.
Some 84% of self-described Democrats said the charges were merited, while only 16% of Republicans agreed.
Some 40% of Republicans said the case made them more likely to vote for Trump in 2024, while 12% said it made them less likely to support him. Another 38% said it had no impact.
Trump leads the field for the Republican nomination by a wide margin, with 58% of Republicans saying he is their preferred nominee. That is up from 48% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not officially entered the race, came in second at 21%.
While Democrats and Republicans are deeply split over the prosecution of the case, the survey showed a strong belief that Trump arranged payments to porn star Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal to keep them quiet about alleged extramarital relationships.
Some 73% of Americans believed that to be the case, including 55% of Republicans, the poll showed.
76% of Republicans think some in law enforcement are working to delegitimize Trump through politically motivated investigations, compared to 34% of Democrats.
51% of all respondents, but only 18% of Republicans, said the charges should disqualify Trump from again running for president.
The Director, Media and Publicity, Tinubu/Shettima Campaign, Bayo Onanuga has asked US President, Joe Biden, not to take seriously the open letter written by Chimamanda Adicihe where she berated the United States and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for congratulating President-elect Bola Tinubu.
In the letter titled ‘Nigeria’s Hollowed Democracy’ and published in The Atlantic, the author questioned why Americans keep congratulating the winner of Nigeria’s disastrous election in February. Adichie pointed out that following the passage of the 2022 Electoral Act in Nigeria, which gave legal backing to the vote-counting process, Nigerians trooped out to vote on the morning of February 25.
She writes: “Many Nigerians went out to vote holding in their hearts a new sense of trust. Cautious trust, but still trust.”
She says what followed was a breach of that trust, when on February 26 social media became flooded with evidence of voting irregularities: “numbers crossed out and rewritten; some originally written in black ink had been rewritten in blue, some blunderingly whited-out with Tipp-Ex.”
Reacting to her letter, Onanuga in a tweet posted on Friday morning, described her letter as a fiction written over the loss of her tribesman, Peter Obi.
“Dear President Joe Biden, please just trash the open letter by Chimamanda on Nigeria’s election once it gets to your desk. She wrote fiction, inspired by the monumental loss of her tribesman Peter Obi.”
A 25-year-old groom has died in an explosion after his bride’s ex gifted them a music system rigged with explosives.
One day after their nuptials on April 1, the newlywed groom was at his home with family in Chhattisgarh’s Kabirdham district, India, when he was killed.
The groom, identified as 25-year-old Hemendra Merawi, and his brother, 30-year-old Rajkumar, unwrapped a music system gifted to Hemendra and his wife at their wedding. After setting it up and turning it on, the device exploded, police told The Express.
Both Hemendra and Rajkumar were killed in the blast that police said was so violent, it blew off the roof of the house and damaged three walls.
Five other family members, including an 18-month-old child, were injured in the explosion.
Hemendra’s new bride, only identified as a 29-year-old woman, was at her parents’ home at the time of the incident, news media reported.
After questioning Hemendra’s wife and other family members, police narrowed in on an ex-lover of the bride as the prime suspect.
Police have arrested the ex who gifted the newlyweds the music system rigged with explosives.
Sarju Markam, 33, who worked as an auto mechanic, was located and detained at his job on April 3.
Investigators found that Markam, who was already married with children, was upset after the bride rejected his desire for her to become his second wife, according to The Independent.
He became vengeful after she decided to marry Hemendra by way of an arranged marriage, police told The Express.
A day before the nuptials, Markam called the then bride-to-be and tried to convince her to not go through with it.
Following the phone calls, investigators say, Markam hatched his revenge plan.
Police said Markam had some experience in electronic repair work and had some knowledge of explosives after working at a stone-crushing unit which led him to create the wedding gift bomb.
Before quitting his job at the stone crushing unit around 2015, Markam stole 250 grams of ammonium nitrate which police suspect he used to create the explosive device that killed Hemendra and his brother.
In addition to the ammonium nitrate, Markam also utilized 1.5 kilograms of gunpowder he had taken from firecrackers, gasoline and several other materials to rig the music system, The Express reported.
Markam then had a friend take him to the wedding venue on March 31 where he placed the wrapped music system under several wedding gifts before departing.
Markam’s friend who gave him a ride had no knowledge of Markam’s plans, police told The Express.
Markam faces life imprisonment under India’s Explosive Substances Act, Vice reported.
Twitter users have pointed out that a Nigerian pharmacist, Emeka, bears a striking resemblance to the late Igbo leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Coincidentally, the pharmacist who shared the photos on Thursday, April 6, 2023, also bears the same name as the late Ikemba Nnewi and was once in the military.
The post have elicited varying reacts on Twitter, with many users telling him to ‘ask some serious questions’
The Nigerian Medical Students Association (NiMASA) has opposed the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to make it compulsory for graduates in medical and dental fields to work in Nigeria for five years before being granted a full license.
The sponsor of the motion, Ganiyu Johnson (APC/Lagos), said the move was to check the mass exodus of medical professionals from the country.
The legislation is titled, “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act, Cap. M379, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to Mandate Any Nigeria Trained Medical or Dental Practitioner to Practice in Nigeria for a Minimum of Five Years Before Granted a Full License by the Council in Order to Make Quality Health Services Available to Nigeria; and for Related Matters.”
However, NiMSA, in a statement signed by its President, Ejim Egba said the proposed bill is a breach of the fundamental human right of doctors as enshrined in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria as amended.
According to the association, the bill is aimed at strangulating the medical profession.
The statement reads: “The search for greener pastures abroad can be reduced by making our land and pasture green, properly equipping our hospitals, better treatment for doctors and the brain drain will be adequately controlled. Rep. Johnson at this point should be steering conversations on medical tourism and not doctor slavery. We firmly believe that this bill is not the solution to the problem of brain drain, and we stand against it in its entirety in the strongest possible terms.
“The intention behind the sponsorship of this bill does not take into consideration the root causes of brain drain in Nigeria. The issue of brain drain is multifaceted and requires a more comprehensive approach to tackle it. Instead of trying to forcefully take doctors as slaves, the lawmakers should be focusing on creating an enabling environment that encourages doctors to stay and work in Nigeria.
“The lack of infrastructure, inadequate and inappropriate remuneration, and poor working conditions are some of the major factors driving medical professionals away from Nigeria. These issues need to be addressed if we want to attract and retain our healthcare professionals; make our land green.”
NiMASA added that the bill is a violation of the fundamental human rights of medical professionals and should not see the light of day.
They said the government has no right to force doctors to work in a particular location against their will.
It continues: “We also unequivocally state that this bill will discourage students from pursuing medical education in Nigeria, which will further exacerbate the problem of the shortage of healthcare professionals. A better way to bring up the issue of being trained with ‘taxpayer subsidies’ would be to have it optional, the option of paying for medical education at the real cost value, the option of obtaining student loans, and also the option of going for the subsidised medical education with the caveat of staying behind for a certain number of years to ‘pay back.
“Besides, not all doctors in the country are trained on subsidy; one thing the bill failed to capture. Doctors need to have a choice, even before they start their training so they can make better-informed decisions.
“Additionally, we strongly believe that the bill is arbitrary in nature and totally unconstitutional- it deprives the Nigerian-trained medical and dental practitioners of their fundamental right to freedom of movement by arbitrarily imposing restrictions on their movements against the provision of Section 41 the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“In conclusion, NiMSA vehemently opposes this bill in part and in one whole. We call on the Sponsor of the bill to withdraw it with immediate effect and seek better ways of finding a lasting solution to the problem of brain drain by consultative collaboration with relevant stakeholders in the health sector coupled with the government’s willingness to address the root causes and underlying issues that drive healthcare professionals away from Nigeria.”
Palpable tension engulfed parts of Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti state capital after unknown gunmen suspected to be armed robbers killed a middle aged motorist identified simply as Mr. Olasunkanmi Joseph.
According to Punch, the masked assailants were said to have caught up with the man in his car around the Irona area of the capital city on Thursday, April 6, 2023.
Sources told the publication that the gunmen trailed the man and attacked him when he got stuck in traffic.
“It was as if he knew he was being trailed, judging by the manner he drove to that point but his assailants caught up with him in the traffic congestion, when he could no longer move. The gunmen, who were dressed in black dragged him out of the car to the ground. They shot him dead. They carried a sack from his car and zoomed off in their car. Nobody can say exactly what the bag contained, whether money or another thing,” he said.
The Nation, however, reported that the gunmen carted away N10m the deceased went to withdraw from a commercial bank in Ado-Ekiti, adding that he was on his way home when the incident happened.
A roadside trader in the area, who craved anonymity, said the victim was chased to the area and was trying to negotiate the roundabout when he was held down by the heavy traffic and was blocked by the assailants.
Also speaking, a middle-aged man who simply identified himself as Paul, narrated that the victim was trying to escape from the area, but the heavy traffic in the area held him down before he was shot by the assailants who rode on a motorcycle.
"The man already knew he was being pursued as he tried to manoeuvre the roundabout in haste. But he was held down by traffic congestion, ”he said.
The incident resulted in a pandemonium as commuters, roadside traders and passersby scampered for safety as the gunmen shot sporadically.
Meanwhile, a Facebook user, Aje Smith, who identified the victim fondly as Mr. Jossy, a POS operator, said that he rescued them during the hardship caused by cash scarcity.
Spokesperson of the State police Command, Sunday Abutu, who confirmed the incident, said that investigation has commenced.
“We got the information and investigation has commenced to ensure the arrest and prosecution of those that perpetrated the act. The Commissioner of Police is enjoining anyone with useful information concerning the incident and/or other ugly incidents within the state and how the perpetrators could be apprehended to approach his office or the nearest police station,” Abutu said.
The PPRO said that the body of the deceased had been deposited in the morgue.
Technology entrepreneur and investor, Osaretin Victor Asemota, has narrated how a Nigerian bride-to-be visited her married boyfriend for one last ‘mekwe’ before her traditional and white wedding.
Asemota shared the story on Twitter at the weekend.
Gunmen suspected to be cultists have k!lled a final-year student of University of Benin (UNIBEN) identified simply as Desmond.
The deceased popularly known as ‘Mayor’ was shot d€ad in his room at the Hall 3 Hostel at about 9pm on Monday, April 3, 2023.
The late student was said to be in the Department of Public Administration and a Kegite chief.
A student who pleaded anonymity said the d€ceased was shot in the face at point-blank range.
"The k!lling of Desmond has caused panic in the school. Students are even afraid to stay in the hostel. He was shot in the face and had no chance to survive the attack.” the student said.
It was gathered that his remains has been deposited in the mortuary at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).
Anthony Joshua marks his return to action with a unanimous decision victory over Jermaine Franklin, the judges scoring it 118-111, 117-111, 117-111 in favour of the former two-time world champion.
