Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has hinted that he would make good his threat of destroying his American Green Card if the Republican Presidential candidate, Donald Trump wins the elections.
The literary giant said in an interview that the public should watch out for ‘WOLEXIT’ on January 20, 2017, the day Trump will officially take over power as the 45th President of the United States of America.
In the interview granted to The INTERVIEW MAGAZINE, Soyinka said he was scared at what America and the world would become under Trump’s presidency.
When he was asked if he would still go ahead and destroy his US green card, he said, “Come January 20, 2017; watch out for my WOLEXIT!”
The professor was apparently playing on BREXIT, a term which is used to refer to Britain’s historical exit from the European Union.
He admitted that as the Election Day drew nearer, the possibility of Trump emerging victorious became clearer.
“The possibility (of Trump’s victory) was looming nearer and nearer, getting scarier and scarier,” he said.
“As the Election Day approached, the specter became near palpable. I refused to switch on the television this morning until I had stiffened myself with a strong espresso. I felt disaster in my marrow.
“Trump’s wall is already under construction. Walls are built in the mind, and Trump has erected walls, not only across the mental landscape of America but across the global landscape.
“I am glad you referred to the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – that was one anniversary in reversal!”
Senators from the Southeast region of the country on Wednesday met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu led the delegation to the meeting which was held behind closed-doors.
Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting, chairman of the South-East Caucus, Eyinnaya Abaribe, said the region “is far much short-changed at this time than other zones.”
Abaribe described their deliberations with the president as fruitful, adding that Buhari promised to look into all the issues raised.
“This is the South-East Caucus in the Senate and we came to see the President because of the issues we have in the southeast,” Abaribe said.
“We had a fruitful discussion with the president. He has promised us that he is going to look into the problems of South-East.
“We know that there are problems everywhere, but we also believe that the South-East is the zone that is far much short-changed at this time than other zones.
“We also talked about the issue of appointments from the South-East, especially with respect to the National Security Council. The president also told us that governors of the South-East have also engaged him on the same problems we engaged him on.
“There is a concerted effort from the people of the South-East to be sure that we engage with this government meaningfully. We are reassured with the response we got from the president and we look forward to further interaction with him in this manner.”
On his part, Ekweremadu said the concerned presented to Buhari included the issue of general infrastructure- roads, rail and airports as well as the issue of security with him and that of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
President Muhammadu Buhari has joined political leaders across the world to congratulate the newly elected President of the United States of America, Donald Trump on his victory at the polls.
The president also pledged to work together with president-elect in order to strengthen the bi-lateral ties between Nigeria and America.
Buhari posted the following message on his official social media handle: “On behalf of the Govt and people of Nigeria, I congratulate President-elect @realDonaldTrump on his victory in the US presidential election.
“I look forward to working together with President-elect Trump to build on and strengthen relations between Nigeria & the USA.”
Meanwhile other world leaders have been sending in congratulatory messages to the would be 45th American president.
Mexican President, Enrique Nieto tweeted his congratulations to Trump in a string of posts saying: “Mexico and the U.S. are friends, partners and allies who should continue working for the competitiveness and the development of North America.”
Turkish President, Recep Tayyip-Erdogan, whose relations with the US had turned sour following the foiled coup attempt in the country earlier in the year, said he hopes Trump’s election marks a new era in the U.S.
Addressing a business group in Istanbul on Wednesday, Erdogan said: “Personally and on behalf of the nation, I wish to consider this decision by the American people a positive sign and wish them a successful future.”
In italy, Premier Matteo Renzi, a known supporter of Hilary Clinton was quoted as saying: “In the name of Italy, I congratulate the president of the United States and wish him well in his work, convinced that the Italian-American friendship remains strong and solid.”
According to the Chinese state Television, President, Xi Jinping put a telephone call across to Trump when the news of his victory broke.
“I place great importance on the China-U.S. relationship, and look forward to working with you to uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation,” he was quoted as telling the US president-elect.
British Prime Minister, Theresa May, in her message stated: “We are, and will remain strong and close partners on trade, security and defense.”
Russian President Vladmir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared particularly impressed by Trump’s Victory.
Putin said he was ready to work with the incoming president to rebuild the “degraded” relations between the two World Powers.
“(Trump) spoke about resuming and restoring relations with Russia,” Putin said.
“We understand the way to that will be difficult, taking into account the current state of degradation of relations between the US and Russia…. Russia is ready and wants to restore the fully fledged relations with the US.”
Netanyahu on his part said: “President-elect Trump is a true friend of the State of Israel (and) I look forward to working with him to advance security, stability and peace in our region.”
However, President Francois Hollande of France was less optimistic and he did not hide it.
He said Trump’s victory marks the start of “a period of uncertainty. This new context requires that France be strong.
“What is at stake is peace, the fight against terrorism, the Middle East and the preservation of the planet,” he said.
Trump, a political newcomer, pulled off a major upset on Wednesday to defeat former US Secretary of State as well as former first lady, Hilary Clinton.
The Federal Executive Council, FEC, has ratified the Lake Chad Basin Water Charter, paving the way for the document to be sent to the National Assembly for enactment into law.
The council meeting which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday also approved the procurement of 38 Patrol vehicles for the mines inspectorate division of the Ministry of Mines and Steel.
Minister of Water Resources, Sulaiman Adamu and Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kayode Fayemi, briefed State House Correspondents of the meeting’s outcome.
Adamu said that the Lake Chad Basin Water Charter was signed in 2012 by all member countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and required 95% of member countries to ratify it before it comes into effect.
He explained that “the charter seeks to strengthen cooperation between all members and to forge some kind of consensus on issues relating to environment, security and the future of the lake itself.
“As you are aware, the lake has been threatened by climate change. It has shrunk to less than 10 per cent of its original size 40, 50 years ago and efforts are being put in place to ensure the lake is safe from extinction and to improve the security situation which as you know, is part of the reasons for the current restlessness and insurgency by youths in the North East.
“We are also expecting other countries to ratify the charter so that we can strengthen the relationship in the Lake Chad Basin Commission.”
On the purchase of vehicles for the Mines and Steel sector, Fayemi noted that the states of the federation as well as the Federal Capital Territory would benefit from the procurement.
“For a decade, no vehicle has been purchased for the mines and steel inspectorate division to oversee what is going on in our various states,” he said.
He added that the procurement of the vehicles will also help in tackling illegal mining activities and other challenges facing the sector.
Fayemi said: “Over the last two to three months, all the approvals we have got for vehicles not just ours in Mines and Steel Ministry but the ones for the Prisons Service, Immigration and the EFCC are procurement authorised to buy vehicles from local assembly plants so that we can begin to strengthen our automotive industry.
“The government remains committed to that and this approval is further confirmation of the government’s commitment in that direction.
“It also speaks directly to our determination to begin to focus lot more seriously on the activities of informal or illegal miners,” he added.
Indeed, for any keen observer of governance in post-colonial Africa, Nigeria must be a very depressing address. And this is more so for the simple reason that no country, in many people’s reckoning, has done so much as Nigeria in consistently and consciously making itself an object of perpetual ridicule in the comity of civilized countries of the world.
That explains why those who argue that Africa’s backwardness is a function of Nigeria’s pathetic leadership vision cannot be entirely wrong after all. Even Nigeria’s own citizens, who look up to their country to provide the required domestic and international leadership, have continued to be utterly disappointed and embarrassed in very many ways.
Take for example the case of Bridget Agbahime. On June 2, the 74-year-old kitchen utensils trader from Imo State was brutally attacked and killed at Kofar Wambai Market in Kano by a Muslim mob who accused her of blasphemy. According to reports, she was pounced upon and murdered after she refused to allow a Muslim man perform ablution in front of her shop.
As expected, the circumstances of Bridget’s death sparked outrage within secular, Christian and progressive Muslim circles across the country and beyond, provoking once again that troubling question as to when these ignorant killings in the northern part of the country in the name of Allah would come to an end.
On behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, promptly issued a statement describing the incident as “sad and regrettable.” In the usual tone of such statements, it urged the people not to take the laws into their hands and affirmed that justice would be done in the matter.
On his part, Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, also called a meeting attended by prominent personalities including state chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Ransome Bello, the husband of the deceased, Pastor Mike Agbahime, of Deeper Life Bible Church, Igbo leaders in Kano, Islamic scholars and security agencies.
At that meeting the governor named the prime suspect in that heinous crime as one Alhaji Dauda. He said the killing was “unjustifiable” and that justice would be done in accordance with the provisions of the Nigerian constitution.
The Police corroborated the governor as regards Dauda. Olabisi Okuwobi, Assistant Commissioner of Police who was then Force Public Relations Officer, issued a statement saying two key suspects, Dauda Ahmed and Zubairu Abdullahi, were already in custody and would be speedily prosecuted.
Added Okuwobi: “In order to ensure a diligent and professional investigation the Inspector General of Police has directed the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID) to deploy the Homicide Section of the Department to immediately take over the investigation of the case and ensure a meticulous investigation and speedy prosecution of arrested suspects.”
Apart from Dauda and Zubair, the investigation led to the arrest of three more suspects namely Abdulmumeen Mustafa, Abdullahi Abubakar and Musa Abdullahi. The five suspects were charged at the Kano Magistrate court on a four-count allegation of allegedly inciting disturbance, culpable homicide, joint act and mischief.
And five months into the incident, more than enough time for Nigerians and the Agbahime family to have arrived at a closure on that act of bestiality, what did the people get? Just when they were bracing for a firm prosecution that will lead to conviction, they were treated to the familiar abracadabra that is peculiar to the country’s legal system. In what must go down as a classic judicial swindle, the chief magistrate, Muhammad Jibril, acting on the advice of the Attorney General of Kano State, discharged the suspects and terminated the case.
According to the Kano State government, “There is no case to answer as all the suspects are innocent.” Really? And this from a State whose governor had called the killing “unjustifiable” and vowed to go all out to ensure that the culprits are treated in line with the country’s laws? Where is the justice Buhari promised in his reaction to Bridget Agbahime’s killing? What the Kano government did to this case is not the kind of thing that should happen in a government that professes “change.”
Surely now, the widower, Mike Agbahime, and the entire Agbahime family must be heartbroken. It would not be surprising to hear that the man has suddenly developed some serious health problem, for this is the sort of perversion of justice that led to the death of Justice Atinuke Ige, whose husband, Bola Ige, was assassinated at their Bodija residence in Ibadan in 2001. Sixteen months later, the woman died from a heartbreak resulting from glaring manipulation of justice by state prosecutors who deliberately messed up the trial of suspects arrested in connection with her husband’s gruesome murder.
This is not the first time blasphemy killings would occur in the northern part of the country. In 1995, in the same Kano, a young Igbo trader, Gideon Akaluka, was beheaded by Muslim fanatics who stormed the police station where he was being held for alleged blasphemy. The head was hoisted on a stick and used as trophy which the mob carried round the streets in a chilling victory parade. There was neither arrest nor prosecution.
In 2007 Christiana Oluwasesin, teacher and mother of two, was beaten to death by her own students at Government Day Secondary School, Gandu, Gombe State. The sixteen suspects arrested in connection with the crime were released without any charge. In addition to the Agbahime case, this year has also witnessed blasphemy killings in Talata Mafara in Zamfara State, and Padongari in Rafi local government area of Niger State. In these two cases as in others, not one person was arrested and made to face the law.
Suffice to say that blasphemy killers in Nigeria, a secular, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country are never brought to justice. Yet without justice there can never be peace. And the absence of peace means there is no unity. Agbahime’s case happens to be the first time an attempt, no matter how idle and unenthusiastic, has been made to arraign alleged perpetrators of blasphemy execution.
But against all expectations, the case has decidedly been bungled by the government which ought to protect citizens, messed up in a manner that powerfully vindicates those who insist that Nigeria is not yet a nation, that much as the people desire to live together as one, there is an urgent need for a roundtable meeting of its various stakeholders to fashion out a modern nation by agreeing on terms for the people’s coexistence. Call it whatever name, Nigerians have to work towards arriving at an acceptable framework that determines the basis of a much desired unity in a re-invented country.
A cornerstone of that framework must be justice for all, regardless of your background or where you come from. As it is now, no matter what any Nigerian leader at whatever level preaches about Nigeria, with the way they have been denied justice, the Agbahime family, or the children of Oluwasesin, for instance, will never, ever feel that they belong to this country.
But this government can still redeem itself and that is what it should do by revisiting the Agbahime case and making sure those who killed that woman are truly punished. Otherwise, not only that this country will continue to be a laughing stock in the eyes of the world, one would be persuaded to queue behind those who still argue with candid vehemence that we are yet to have a country.
As the June 2017 deadline for the switch-over from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television, DTT, broadcasting draws nearer, the Nigerian government is set to abandon the country’s first communication satellite – the Nigeria Communication Satelite, NIGCOMSAT1 – which had gulped about $362 million, or over N144 billion.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, as well as the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, had attributed the development to a plethora of reasons including the fact that there is no backup to switch to, if the satellite, for any reason, packs up.
According to the authorities, experts had warned that the entire DDT broadcasting could hit the rocks if the system fails.
Mohammed was quoted recently as saying: “The process of digitization is unstoppable and irreversible; it’s not a matter of choice. If we do not follow the world to digitalise and meet the June 2017 target, it means our telephones, televisions and radios would not be free from interference.
“When the White Paper on utilisation came out, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the digital team set up by government, paid a visit to Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) and explained to them how ready they were to patronise them.
“Unfortunately, as we speak today, NIGCOMSAT has no redundancy. In other words, they have no backup. If we sign with them and for any reason the satellite goes down, it means we cannot transmit,” the minister said.
He added that as soon as the satellite challenge is sorted out, the Federal Government would have no choice but resort to the main local player.
Similarly, Shittu, who was at the National Council on Communication Technology in Kaduna, last week, and was quoted as saying that investors were apprehensive about losing data to an unreliable satellite.
He revealed that government was already making plans to acquire two backups for NIGCOMSAT at the cost of $550 million.
“Once that is done, we can beat our chest and say, ‘nobody should take Nigerian money outside for the purpose of storing data’. I am confident that with the Federal Government’s approval, we will get what we want.”
The Federal Government has filled a 9-count charge of money laundering and corruption against a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Sylvester Ngwuta.
Justice Ngwuta was one of the seven senior Justices whose residences were raided by operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS at midnight between October 7 and 8.
He and the six other judges had since been suspended by the National Judicial Council, NJC, pending the conclusion of investigations into the corruption allegation brought against them.
In the suit, filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, Ngwuta was accused of illegally retaining the sum of N35,358, 000.00 in his possession contrary to the money laundering (prohibition) Act 2011.
He was alleged to have retained in his possession $319,596.00 and 25, 915 pounds which are part of the proceeds of unlawful act contrary to the money laundering Act.
The monies, including the sum of 280 South African Rand, were said to have been recovered from Ngwuta’s home during a search by the DSS.
Also recovered from the Judge’s residence were four diplomatic passports, one official and two standard Nigerian passports all in the name of the defendant.
Ngwuta was accused of allegedly obtaining multiple passports contrary to section 10 of the Immigration Act, 2015 and punishable under the same section.
The charge added that he allegedly made false statement to the Passport Office regarding his date of birth in order to enable him procure an additional diplomatic passport.
He was also alleged to have in his possession two valid diplomatic passports and thereby committed an offence under section 10 of the Immigration Act.
The case file has not to be assigned for trial.
Recall that Justice Ngwuta had, just after the DSS raid on his residence, written a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Mahmud Mohammed, narrating his ordeal at the hands of the security operatives and claiming that he has no knowledge of how the DSS came about the monies purportedly recovered from him.
He claimed that he had some money in his house but that the amount was nothing near what the DSS said they found.
Ngwuta said: “The only bag that contained money was the small bag I locked with a padlock which I unlocked when ordered to do so. The bag contained the sum of $25,000, £10 and a brown envelope containing the sum of N710,000 which was a monthly allowance paid to me for September 2016.
“In the brief case, which I carry to my office daily, I had the sum of N300,000 and some loose change. The above are the only sums of money taken from me along with my phones, papers and other household items.
“I do not know how they came about the huge sums of money I saw for the first time in my parlour on the early hours of Saturday, October 8,” he stated.
He was not predicted to win, although the polls anticipated that it would be a close race. But to the surprise, nay, shock of many people in the United States and around the world, by Wednesday morning, Donald Trump, the Republican Party candidate, had cruised safely to a historic presidential election victory, which has left pundits stunned.
Trump, the first US President-elect without any record of public or military service, defeated Hilary Clinton of the Democratic Party – a candidate described by President Barack Obama as “probably the most qualified person to ever run for the oval office.”
Trump’s victory shattered expectations and revealed deep anti-establishment anger among American voters and set the world on a journey into the political unknown.
The Republican nominee has achieved one of the most improbable political victories in modern American history, despite a series of controversies that would easily have destroyed other candidacies, extreme policies that have drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle, a record of racist and sexist behaviour, and a lack of conventional political experience.
So what gave Trump his victory over a more experienced candidate? Despite Trump’s shortcomings as a candidate, analysts say he tapped effectively into the anti-establishment anger among working class Americans and those ordinary folks in rural areas who turned out in huge numbers in this election.
Right from the beginning of his campaign, Trump projected himself as the anti-establishment candidate determined to change the face of governance in America, and painted his opponents as establishment politicians.
During one of the presidential debates when he referred to himself as a politician, Trump quickly retorted, “I can’t believe I’m calling myself a politician.”
This was why he defeated other Republican candidates such as Ted Cruz and Mike Rubio who had public service record as senators. And this was why Clinton’s opponent during the democratic primaries, Senator Bernes Sanders, also did very well and nearly caused an upset. Even though he is a politician and a senator, he had presented himself as an outsider in the Democratic Party establishment.
In fact, some analysts have suggested that if Sanders had been the democratic presidential candidate, the party could have won the presidency. Clinton has been a regular feature in Washington for more than three decades as First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State. While her experience makes her uniquely qualified for the oval office, she faced an electorate that has deep distrust, even resentment, for politicians.
Thus, some would say, Trump was also uniquely qualified to take advantage of the peoples’ desire for change and anger at regular politicians. He had never held any public office nor contested any election. All his life has been in the private sector where he has been successful as a businessman, building a vast empire and popular brands.
When he gave his first victory speech Wednesday morning, Trump captured this phenomenon. He told a cheering crowd of supporters: “ We did not run a campaign; this was an angry movement.”
Anti-establishment issues that endeared him to mostly white American voters are his stance on immigration, trade and economy. He promised Americans that his immigration plans would make the people safer as undocumented immigrants and “criminals” would be thrown out of the country.
His immigration policy dovetails into his economic policy as it would keep jobs for Americans. This is sweet music to working class Americans whose concerns have not been addressed by Washington.
Although Trump’s rhetoric on immigration and trade has been described as impracticable, it appeared to have resonated with majority of Americans.
Other issues that appeared to have defined this election include the Clinton email palaver, which made the electorate to distrust her further and the racial divide that has polarised the country. Foreign policy is also an area of fundamental difference between the candidates. While Trump plays on fear and said he would make America safe by banning Muslims and others from entering the country, Clinton espoused partnership with Muslims and Muslim countries.
Trumps election has provoked despair in other parts of the world due to the uncertainty it portends. No one knows what President Trump would do. It remains to be seen how he hopes to “To Make America Great Again.” But the world, and many in his country, would hope that he proves them wrong about him.
A senior protocol officer at the University of Ibadan, Adedeji Charles Taiwo, has landed himself in “hot soup” for allegedly forging the signature of Julius Okojie, the immediate past Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, NUC, in order to get travel document for his “client.”
Taiwo, a Principal Executive Officer in the institution, on July 13 approached the Consular and Immigration Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a note-verbal, special request for visa, in favour of one Jegede Lukmon Adeyemi to travel to Soul National University South Korea, allegedly signed by Okojie.
But a director in the Consular and Immigration Department of the ministry who noticed some irregularities in the request, quickly alerted officials of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, I CPC, who promptly effected his arrest.
Taiwo had not only forged the letterhead of the NUC but also the signature of its Executive Secretary. However, unknown to the amateur forger, Okojie signed such documents with red ink. So, when the approving director saw the note verbale purportedly from the NUC signed by Okojie in purple ink, he got suspicious and invited the ICPC.
Under interrogation, Taiwo confessed that he forged the note verbale in a business and that he lifted and scanned Okojie’s signature from a previous request made to the ministry.
Indeed the former NUC boss provided the original document that was copied, a note verbal dated July 12, 2016 requesting the ministry to process visas for three lecturers in the zoology department of the University of Ibadan.
On July 18, ICPC charged Taiwo to court after establishing that the accuse had indeed forged Okojie’s signature and the letterhead of the NUC.
He is now facing a four – count charge bordering on making false statement, conferring undue advantage, producing a false document and forgery.
The four – count charge reads:
“That you Adedeji Charles Taiwo(M) sometime in July, 2016 or thereabout at, Abuja while being in the employment of University of Ibadan knowingly made false statement to the Director, Consular and Immigration Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja to wit: ‘Request for Note-Verbal’ ref. NUC/ES/439/VOL.10/152 dated 12/07/2016 purporting same to be signed by Executive Secretary of National University Commission, Professor Julius A.Okojie with intention to mislead when you knew the statement is false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 25(1)(a0 and punishable under section 25(1) (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000,
“That you Adedeji Charles Taiwo(M) sometime I July, 2016 or thereabout at, Abuja while being in the employment of University of Ibadan used your position as Principal Executive Officer Passage and Protocol to confer unfair advantage on one Mr. Jegede Lukmon Adeyemi by introducing the said Mr Jegede Lukmon Adeyemi to the Director, Consular and Immigration Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as staff in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ibadan via a letter captioned “Request For Note-Verbal” ref. NUC/ES/439/VOL.10/152 and dated 12/07/2016 when you knew he is not a staff of the said University and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000,
“That you Adedeji Charles Taiwo(M) sometime in July, 2016 or thereabout at Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court made false document to wit: “Request for Note-Verbal” ref. NUC/ES/439/VOL.10/152 dated 12/07/2016 on the Letter head of National Universities Commission purporting same to have emanated from the Office of the Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission with the intention that it may be acted upon s genuine and you hereby committed n offence contrary to section 363 and punishable under section 364 of the Penal Code CAP 532 Laws of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja 2006, and
“That you Adedeji Charles Taiwo (M) sometime in July, 2016 or thereabout at buja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court forged the signature of the Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission, Professor, Julius A. Okojie on letter titled “Request for Note-Verbal” ref. NUC/ES/439/VOL.10/152 dated 12/07/2016 with the intention that it may be acted upon s genuine and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 363and punishable under section 364 of the Penal Code CP 532 Laws of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja 2006.”
Six witnesses are listed to testify against the accused, including Okojie and a director in the foreign affairs ministry.
Donald Trump will become the 45th US president after a stunning victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, in what many analysts have described as a Brexit-Style Upset.
The Republican nominee’s projected victory came down to a handful of key swing states, despite months of polling that favoured Clinton.
The battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and North Carolina cleared the way for his.
Trump’s victory in Wisconsin put him over the 270 out of 538 electoral college votes needed to win the White House.
The US president-elect took to the stage at his victory rally in New York and said: “I just received a call from Secretary Clinton. She congratulated us on our victory.”
“Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.”
He added: “It is time for us to come together as one united people.”
Trump, a real estate tycoon, former reality TV star and political neophyte, was universally ridiculed when he declared his candidacy in June last year.
Clinton, on her part, had dreamed of becoming the first female US president, however, the former secretary of state did not show up for what was meant to be her victory rally across town in Manhattan.
Similarly, Democrats were also unable to wrest control of the Senate from Republicans, who retained their majority in both chambers of Congress.
By the end of polls, Clinton had suffered major blows in Democratic-leaning states like Pennsylvania and Iowa, where a Republican has not won since 2004.
New Hampshire and Michigan – which were meant to be part of the Clinton firewall – remained too close to call as of Wednesday morning.
Trump, a populist billionaire, provoked controversy on the campaign trail for comments about women, Muslims and a plan to build a wall along the US-Mexican border, while Clinton saw her campaign dogged by FBI investigations into whether she abused state secrets by operating a private email server during her time as US secretary of state.
Last Sunday, the law enforcement bureau cleared her once again of any criminality.
Meanwhile, the global financial market is already reacting to Trump’s emergence as President-elect.
The US dollar has fallen by three percent to the Japanese yen, while the Mexican Peso is ploughing fresh record lows against the US dollar and the euro.
The greenback fell as much as 3.8 percent against the yen, the biggest intraday decline since the Brexit referendum, 2.4 percent against the euro and 2.3 percent against the Swiss franc.
For the Nigerian naira, a drop in the dollar may not necessarily yield a strengthening of the currency against other currencies, but the naira will be stronger, relative to the dollar.
