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Food for Living: Congrats Joe Biden – President Elect of the United States of America
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
It’s always a thing of joy to watch the United States of America’s presidential election. Every four years, US citizens go to the polls to elect their leaders in the House of Representations, Senate, and Presidency. The world is always at standstill every four years as the United States citizens go to the polls to elect their leaders. The presidential election always draws attention because of its effect on the global world.
This year’s election saw a new twist because the Coronavirus pandemic made many citizens, especially the Democrats to vote by mail as opposed to the Republicans who preferred to vote in person. The rave, crave and anxiety which is normally associated with the Presidential election wasn’t felt this year because many of the citizens weren’t “fired up”, however, Americans experienced a new dimension in the 2020 presidential election due to the way they voted.
Before the election, the polls saw Joe Biden winning with a slight margin in all the swing states. However, Democrats were not ready to leave any stone unturned, they did their best to ensure that they reached out to all voters, especially in the swing states to vote by mail, but President Trump encouraged his base to vote in person.
In the past, election results were usually known on election night or the early hours of November 4, but this year’s election took a new twist because most of the citizens preferred to vote by mail in an effort to curb down the spread of the virus. Before the election, journalists, politicians, and political analysts have opined that the results of the election will not be known until after a week or more because all mail-in boxes need to be counted. These pundits were right. On November 3, there was tension in the land and globally as all eyes were glued to the television waiting anxiously for the results to trickle in.
As the results of the election began to trickle in, Republicans and supporter of President Trump felt very happy and confident they will win the election. President Trump wasn’t left out of this euphoria. On the other hand, Democrats on the other hand were a little bit uneasy because it appears the Republicans were winning with a high margin especially as it relates to the swing states votes which will decide the election.
It’s important to mention that, in the American presidential election, the president is elected via electoral College. Any presidential candidate that secures more than 270 electoral votes is automatically declared the winner. This electoral college has been condemned by some schools of thought as been flawed. Schools of thought that support the electoral college do it because it gives all Americans a sense of belonging as opposed to using the popular vote which merely determines votes of each state. Proponents of the Popular vote do it because it defines democracy (government of the people for the people and by the people). This school of thought didn’t factor in what will be the case if a State with a great population like Texas, Pennsylvanian, Illinois, Virginia, and New York all vote for a candidate while States with smaller populations like North. Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming vote for a candidate and their votes don’t carry much, they might be shortchanged, especially when the states with small population vote for a more credible candidate.
It’s instructive to note that Democrats and Joe Biden encouraged their voters to vote by mail to reduce the spread of the virus, but Republicans on the other hand encouraged their voters to vote in person. President Trump even told his voters to vote in person because the virus is not real.
As the results began to trickle in, all eyes were fixed on the swing states. (Pennsylvanian, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada). President Trump appears to be leading with a decent margin. When it became clear, the election will be a very close one, all Americans were anxious about who will win the election. As the tension was increasing Joe Biden came out to address the citizens assuring them to remain calm and wait for the election results. He also added he’s optimistic he will win the election when all the votes are counted.
President Trump on his own part stated he’s winning and announced that the counting should stop. He went on to say he has won the election, that Democrats were trying to rig the election with mail-in votes. The election began to get interesting when Democrats woke on November 4 to see that they have hope in the election seeing the change in election results. Reality began to set on President Trump when Joe Biden began to pick up votes in the swing States.
As citizens were anxiously waiting for the results to come in, President Trump began to make accusations, saying that the election was rigged and there was a fraud. After four dates of waiting for the election result, CNN projected Joe Biden as the winner of the election which was the result Joe Biden needs to have become the President-elect of the United States of America
Immediately after Joe Biden was announced the projected winner of the election, President Trump refused to concede the election. He rather assembled a team of lawyers to contest the election results on grounds of fraud. But each time he goes, the court dismissed all the claims for having no evidence.
President Trump also stated he won’t invite Joe Biden to the White House as usually done by the previous President. This singular decision attracted top Republicans who are in a position to call the president to order. Another group of people that love Donald Trump are Nigerians. In fact, Nigerians love Donald Trump and adore him like an idol. If asked why they love Trump and hate Joe Biden, their response will be he’s a Christian and against gay and abortion. Some even said, he queried president Buhari over killing of Christians? These interesting Nigerians didn’t realize that not all Democrats love Gay and some Republicans are gay.
For instance, apart from being a Democrat, I am also an ordained minister of God, and does that mean I support gay and abortion? NO! And for supporters of Trump who support on his morality group, I have one question for you. What do you say to a person who says “when you are a star, you can do anything to a woman, “you can grab women by the pussy”.
One begins to wonder if this is a rational way of supporting a leader. It should be noted that most Nigerians are emotional, religious, and sentimental. Once they perceive you as someone who doesn’t play their card, they write you off. These interesting Nigerians fail to look at the ideologies of each party and the personality of each candidate.
Once an election result is called, it is generally expected for the losing candidate to call the winner, but this didn’t play out as President Trump is learning how to lose. President Trump has refused to call Joe Biden, the President-Elect. He even refused intel brief for Joe Biden. According to sources familiar with Trump, he has no plans of attending the inauguration.
You may be wondering what led to the loss of the President Trump. Well, we shall discuss a few topical reasons why he lost. When you juxtapose President Trump’s personality and morality stand, you begin to wonder how and why some people support a man who has little or no sympathy and human empathy. This is because, under this watch, more than 243,000 people have died from COVID-19, while there have been more than 10 million recoded cases all because he didn’t take it serious.
Furthermore, the social uprising and George’s Floyd’s death has really awakened Americans because the Black race does not seem to matter to President Trump and White Supremacy. This act also influenced the minds of many voters to vote against an incumbent. After George Floyd’s deaths, systematic racism was given life by President Trump’s admirations.
President Trump’s claim of fraud is baseless because this is one of the ‘most secured’ elections in American with the highest popular vote in US history. As a matter of fact, Tom Ridge, a former Pennsylvanian Republican Governor said, as a lifetime Republican, this is the first he’s voting for a Democrat. He said that President Trump’s claim of fraud is shameful, baseless, and unsubstantial.
When it comes to American politics, it’s literally dicey because it’s always heavily contested and very close. It’s quite unfortunate people who don’t have insight about the election and are not even on the ground to know what’s happening base their understanding and opinion on hearsay evidence and half-baked truth from bloggers who spread false information just to appeal to the sentiment of gullible minds.
Americans were truly fed up with President Trump’s style of leadership and as such, they came out in an unprecedented manner to vote for Joe Biden. It’s interesting to note that Joe Biden made history by having the highest number of votes in the US presidential election. Also, Kamala Harris made history by being the first woman to be elected Vice President in the US.
As Joe Biden and Kamala Harris prepare to restore the soul of America, I pray they succeed and hope they’ll unite the divided country. I, therefore, call on loving and good people to support them.
On behalf of the Global Empowerment & Mentoring Imitative Inc, I, Henry Anyaehiechukwu Ukazu join other world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their victory as the 46th President- elect and Vice President-elect of the United States of America.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He’s a self-discovery expert and works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success and President of gloemi.com. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, as the winner of the just concluded Ondo State governorship election, held on Saturday, November 16, 2024.
The Returning Officer for the election Olayemi Akinwumi, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State declared Aiyedatiwa winner of the election on Sunday, extending the governor’s stay at the Government House in Alagbaka, Akure.
Governor Aiyedatiwa polled 366,781 votes to defeat his closest rival and a former deputy governor of the state Ajayi Agboola who flew the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag. He scored 117,845 votes, more than twice lower than the APC candidate.
“That Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa of the APC having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” the returning officer said at exactly 2:30 pm at the INEC collation centre in Akure.
The declaration came hours after the collation of results for the election began in the early hours of Sunday. Although the collation centre went on breaks, the APC took a commanding lead with over 200,000 votes ahead of the PDP.
The final results showed that the APC won the election in a landslide, clearing all 18 local government areas.
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
There is no gainsaying the fact that everyone desirous of making impact in life must live a life of purpose. This is where knowledge and information come to play. It is these knowledge and information that will set an individual apart from his contemporaries.
I strongly believe, if one is not informed, they are ill-informed, and when they are ill-informed, they can’t perform well in any given endeavour. This is because information leads to reformation and transformation. We can therefore, confidently say that information leads to formation because everyone is a product of what they know.
Knowledge acquisition is one of the best things that can happen to anyone. People with knowledge are revered, and highly respected. Having knowledge is like having money. People from all walks of life will seek you.
There are different kinds of knowledge, and they include Revealed Knowledge, which comes from those who wrote the Bible and Intuitive Knowledge, which comes from the mind. It is the ability to gain knowledge without conscious reason or explanation.
Others are Empirical Knowledge, which is information gained through observation, experimentation, and direct experience, rather than through theoretical reason or intuition; Authoritative Knowledge, which is the knowledge a man has because of his expertise in a particular field; and finally but not the least, Rational Knowledge, which is a form of knowledge that uses reasoning and philosophy to understand the world.
From this illustration, a decisive mind can see that knowledge is priceless. Knowledge is like education. It can provide security and access. Even the Book of life says in Proverbs 4:13, “your education is your life, guard it very well”; and in Hosea 4:6 that “my people perish for lack of knowledge”.
From my personal experience in life, apart from death, one of the greatest levelers of all time is education. This is because the child of a certified pauper can become a man of means tomorrow if properly educated. That explains why children from humble backgrounds ought to take their education very seriously, especially if they don’t have affluence.
On a personal note, I come from a very humble background, my late parents didn’t have the opportunity of acquiring a decent education, but they knew the value of education and endeavored to give me and my siblings a decent education. In retrospect, when I look back and see some of my contemporaries whose parents couldn’t give them a decent education, I bless my late parents because education has exposed me to lots of opportunities in the United States, and the global world in addition to granting me an audience with the high and mighty in society.
Sometimes, when I look at my modest achievement, I’m deeply humbled because I know it is the grace of God. Who am I to author two amazing trailblazers’ books, get featured and profiled by the New York Times, engage in high level conversation with leaders of thought and captains of industries. Apart from the grace of God, intentional seeking of knowledge, and wise counsel from mentors and strategically positioning myself have been some of the cornerstone to my success.
Imagine if my late parents didn’t give me a decent education and opportunity of travelling to the United States, most of these opportunities and exposure wouldn’t have been readily available.
When one is decently enlightened, educated and informed about life, their level of reasoning and understanding differ from an ordinary man. If one desires to go far in life, one must seek knowledge.
It is your knowledge that sets you apart from others.
According to Dr. Yomi Garnett, an accomplished Ghostwriter, “If you are a man of great knowledge, people will have great respect for you. If you are a man of great wisdom, people will have great reverence for you. And if you are a man of both, great knowledge and great wisdom, you will be the most eminent of men. But in real terms, people don’t care how much you know, or how much wisdom you have, unless they know how much you care.”
The moral of this quote is that despite the knowledge and information at one’s disposal, if one lacks empathy, their knowledge, experience and whatever they have mean nothing.
The importance of knowledge cannot be overemphasized. In our contemporary society, a fast way of attracting opportunities is by showcasing the knowledge at one’s disposal. It is so sad that many people don’t take time to read, research and learn new trends applicable in their industry, and in the world generally and as such, they find it difficult to fit in and grow.
It is instructive to note that when you seek knowledge, opportunities will seek for you. A major reason people are poor is simply because they are not solving problems and to solve problems, one ought to have understanding. Do you know that if you don’t have money, the reason is often because you are not solving a problem, or you are not solving enough problems, or you are not solving the right problem or you are not solving problems for the right people. Generally, we make money because we have something unique to offer to the world. Therefore, to solve problems, one must have knowledge and information.
We currently live in an age of technological, where skills, talent and creativity are in high demand. Any progressive being that desires to go far must be intentional in seeking knowledge. Successful acquisition of knowledge, information and understanding can lead to discernment and wisdom.
In conclusion, as you journey towards life, if you want to make an impact, seek opportunities, and earn more money, do yourself a favour by endeavoring to seek knowledge, wisdom, and information. You can’t get these by sitting on your sofa or staying in your comfort zone.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Daniel Bwala as Special Adviser, Media and Public Communications (State House).
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, announced this in a statement, on Thursday.
A former aide of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election, Bwala worked actively for his former principal who lost to Tinubu.
However, after the elections, he worked his way into the camp of Tinubu, sparking controversy.
Onanuga also announced the appointments of three directors-general of various agencies.
They are:
(1) Mr. Olawale Olopade — Director-General, National Sports Commission
(2) Dr. Abisoye Fagade — Director-General, National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism
(3) Dr. Adebowale Adedokun — Director-General, Bureau of Public Procurement
Olopade, the new Director-General of the National Sports Commission, is a sports administrator with many years of experience in the sector.
He served as commissioner of youth and sports in Ogun state and was chairman of the local organising committee of the 2024 National Sports Festival.
The new Director-General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, Dr. Abisoye Fagade is a marketing communication professional. He is the founder and managing director of Sodium Brand Solutions.
Adedokun, the new helmsman of the Bureau of Public Procurement, was the director of Research/Training and Strategic Planning at the bureau before his appointment.
Daily Trust
