Four Nigerian-Americans have won elective positions in the November 3 midterm elections in the United States, while the outcome of another candidate, Segun Adeyina, remained pending in Georgia as votes were being counted.

The winners are Will Jawando, Junior Ezeonu, Oye Owolewa and Carol Kazeem, who secured positions in local government and State legislatures across Maryland, Texas, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania.

In Maryland, Jawando, the Democratic candidate, won the race for Montgomery County executive, defeating Republican candidate Esther Wells.

Results published by NBC Washington on Wednesday showed Jawando polling 237,383 votes, representing 78.15 per cent, against Wells’s 66,383 votes, or 21.85 per cent, with 72 per cent of the expected votes counted.

Jawando, who previously served on the Montgomery County Council, is the son of a Nigerian father and an American mother. His Nigerian heritage and political career have featured in reports by The Baltimore Banner and The Washington Post.

In Texas, 27-year-old Ezeonu secured a seat in the state House of Representatives for District 101. He had defeated incumbent Chris Turner in the Democratic primary and was the only candidate on the ballot for the November general election after no Republican entered the race.

According to his campaign biography, Ezeonu was born in Onitsha, Anambra State, and moved to Texas at the age of two.

He was elected to the Grand Prairie City Council in 2021 and later became the city’s youngest mayor pro tempore.

In Washington DC, Owolewa, the Democratic candidate, won an at-large seat on the District of Columbia Council.

Local publication – The 51^st – reported that Owolewa secured 69 per cent of the vote, against 21 per cent recorded by independent candidate Elissa Silverman.

Owolewa, a pharmacist and son of Nigerian immigrants from Kwara and Osun states, previously served as the District’s elected shadow representative.

The position allows its holder to advocate for Washington, DC, statehood but does not confer voting rights in the US Congress.

Meanwhile, Kazeem, also a Democrat, retained her seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing District 159.

The result of Adeyina’s contest in Georgia had yet to be called as of Wednesday, with votes still being counted.

The former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has vowed that his campaign in Sokoto will proceed despite alleged intimidation, declaring that the party will resist any attempt to turn Nigeria into a one-party State.

Atiku stated this on Tuesday in Abuja while addressing the press on developments ahead of the party’s campaign in Sokoto.

He said what is unfolding in Sokoto is not ordinary political competition but a calculated campaign to frustrate the ADC, obstruct its campaign and deny Nigerians the freedom to choose.

“Public facilities that should be available to every political party for legitimate campaign activities have been blocked. Logistical support has been withheld. These are not harmless administrative delays. They are deliberate attempts to deny ADC a level playing field,” he said.

Atiku alleged that the leadership of the Department of State Services was recruiting people to stage protests in Sokoto to create disorder and give the APC-controlled state government a pretext to impose a curfew and prevent the campaign from taking off.

“We know where some of these protesters are assembled: an office behind Zenith Bank on Koko Road. Trucks are stationed there and dispatched to key points, including roundabout. These mobilised protesters are causing gridlock. Commuters are being threatened and, in some cases, beaten,” he said.

He said security agencies existed to protect Nigerians and uphold the law, not to recruit protesters or help a political party manufacture a crisis.

“This is not intelligence work. It is political interference dressed in official uniform. I call on every officer involved to stop immediately and return to constitutional duty of impartial service,” he said.

Atiku accused the Tinubu administration of devoting too much energy to weakening credible opposition and too little to solving the problems facing Nigerians in the last three- and-a-half years.

Italian authorities have deported a Pakistani imam, Ali Kashif, following public outrage over undercover television footage in which he reportedly defended the marriage of girls as young as nine years to adult men.

The deportation followed an investigation by Italian television programme Fuori dal Coro, which aired footage of Kashif discussing the age at which girls could be considered adults under his interpretation of Islamic teachings.

During the undercover interview, Kashif reportedly argued that a girl could be considered an adult after her first menstruation, suggesting that girls as young as nine could marry adult men.

His comments triggered widespread criticism and prompted Italian authorities to investigate the matter.

According to Italian media reports published on April 3, 2026, the Brescia Police Headquarters carried out his expulsion on the instructions of Police Commissioner Paolo Sartori.

Authorities reportedly classified Kashif as a potential threat to public safety and social order. His immigration status also became a factor in the decision, as he was reportedly found not to have a valid residence permit.

Following the decision, the Pakistani national was escorted to Milan’s Malpensa Airport and placed on a flight to Islamabad, Pakistan.

Kashif had reportedly served occasionally as an imam at two Islamic centres in Brescia, Italy.

The case has reignited discussions about child protection, religious freedom, immigration enforcement and the responsibility of religious leaders to uphold the laws of the countries where they operate.

Italy’s legal framework prohibits child marriage, and the authorities’ action against Kashif was reportedly based on public-order and immigration provisions.

However, available reports indicate that the deportation was an administrative immigration measure, not a publicly reported criminal conviction.

The development highlights Italy’s position on protecting minors and enforcing its immigration laws, regardless of the religious or cultural arguments advanced in defence of child marriage.

The incident has drawn attention to the intersection of child protection, religious interpretations and national laws.