US President Biden excuses self from seeking re-election, endorses VP Harris

Biden said he would “speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”

Joe Biden on Sunday dropped out of the US presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s new nominee, in a stunning move that upends the 2024 race for the White House.

The 81-year-old Biden stepped aside after weeks of pressure from Democrats following a disastrous debate performance, throwing the election battle against Republican Donald Trump into unprecedented turmoil.

“While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”

Biden said he would “speak to the nation later this week in more detail about my decision.”

The Democratic Party is now plunged into chaos and needs to find a new candidate by November’s election, with Vice President Kamala Harris the frontrunner.

Biden bowed out after weeks of pressure that began with a disastrous debate performance that raised fears over his health.

The stunning move makes Biden the first president in US history to pull out so late in an election race, and the first to bow out because of concerns over his mental acuity and health.

Biden spent more than three weeks resisting calls to step down following the shock of the June 27 debate, at one point insisting that only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to back out.

In a bid to show he was up to the job, he gave a number of interviews and what was billed as a “big boy” press conference in which he took numerous questions, but made further gaffes including calling Harris “Vice President Trump.”

A tide of voices within his own party calling on him to go, starting with donor and actor George Clooney and ending with former president Barack Obama, sealed his fate.

The end finally came shortly after Biden had been diagnosed with COVID-19, forcing him off the campaign trail and into isolation.

Biden’s decision to pull out also caps a tense and chaotic period in the US election, with Trump having survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally on July 13.

He joins a small club of US presidents who have decided to throw in the towel after just one term, with the last being Lyndon Johnson in 1968 — a year also marked by political turmoil and violence.

Johnson’s replacement as nominee, then-vice president Hubert Humphrey, went on to lose heavily to Richard Nixon.

But Democrats are counting on Harris to fare better, and hoping that she can prevent convicted felon Trump from making a sensational comeback to the Oval Office.

In recent weeks, the Biden campaign has reportedly been quietly carrying out a head-to-head survey of voters measuring how she matched up against Trump.

While Harris struggled to make an impact in her first years in the White House, she has emerged in the last year as a strong performer on the campaign trail on key messages such as abortion rights.

The former prosecutor has also made much of her life story as the first woman in US history to hold the vice presidency, as well as the first person of Black and South Asian origin.

Harris is now set to be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19 in what promises to be a dramatic moment — and a heartrending one for Biden.

Biden took office in January 2021 pledging to heal the “soul of America” after four turbulent years under Trump and the shock of the January 6, 2021 Capitol assault by his supporters.

Overcoming a reputation for verbal flubs, Barack Obama’s former vice president pushed through a massive Covid recovery plan and a green industry scheme.

US allies welcomed his pledge that “America is back” following Trump’s trampling on international alliances, and his strong support for Ukraine as it battled Russia’s 2022 invasion.

But he faced criticism over the catastrophic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and inflation that meant overstretched Americans ignored otherwise positive economic numbers.

Behind it all were the ongoing concerns about his age with a series of senior moments, including tripping up the stairs to Air Force One and falling off his bike, contributing to the doddery image played up by Republicans.

Pro-Wike Assembly faces setback, as court rejects prayers to bar Gov Fubara from spending public funds

Last week, the governor vowed never to govern the state on bended knees despite mounting political pressure.

Amaewhule-Fubara

A Federal High Court in Abuja has declined to bar Governor Siminalayi Fubara from spending government funds pending the hearing and determining the suit filed by the pro-Wike lawmakers group now known as Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly.

Ruling on the motion ex parte marked FHC/ABJ/CS/984/24, Justice Emeka Nwite declined to grant the prayers, though he ordered the plaintiffs to put the defendants on notice.

Justice Nwite however granted the motion ex parte to serve the 5th to 10th defendants in the matter by substituted means saying “the leave is hereby granted to the plaintiffs/applicants, to serve the 5th to 10th defendants/respondents with the plaintiffs/applicants’ originating, and any other process (es) filed or issued in this suit by substituted means to wit: by publishing same in the Nation Newspapers.”

The judge further adjourned the matter to the 7th of August to hear the motion on notice.

The 5th to 10th defendants are Mr Fubara, Accountant-General of Rivers; Rivers Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC); Chief Judge of Rivers, Justice S.C. Amadi; Chairperson of RSIEC, Adolphus Enebeli and the Government of Rivers State respectively.

The 1st and 2nd plaintiffs being the Rivers State House of Assembly and Martin Amaewhule, had filed the suit through their counsel, Joseph Daudu SAN against the Central Bank of Nigeria, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank PLC, and the Accountant General of the Federation as the 1st to 4th defendants.

The court ruling comes after Fubara, last week, vowed to remain upright, and never to govern the state on bended knees no matter how much he is pushed politically.

“I will not, I repeat, I will not govern our dear State on my knees (bending). If that was the purpose, I would not do that. I will stand to govern our dear State and stand continually on the side of right,” the governor emphasised.

He said there was a fierce battle to destroy the soul of the state, but expressed optimism that he will win the battle, with the support of well-meaning persons who are standing firmly with him.

Governor Fubara remarked at the country home of Sir Celestine Omehia in Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State last Saturday.

The governor, accompanied by some elders of the State, was in Ubima to commiserate with Sir Omehia, who had just laid his late mother, Mrs Ezinne Cecilia Omehia, to rest after 95 years.

Fubara told Omehia and other elders at the gathering of the need for every true lover of the state, to unite and be resolute in the fight to safeguard the soul of Rivers State.

“And I am happy to say, and I’ve said it over and again, it doesn’t matter the number of people that are standing with me, I will stand on that side of truth.”

The governor decried the evil of politics of bitterness and the telling danger it has on the progress of the state, which according to him, should be discouraged as a bad political culture in contemporary times.

He urged whoever claimed to love Rivers State, not to be party to anything, directly or indirectly, that will bring the state backwards.

“Anybody who claims to love this State should not be party to anything, directly or indirectly, that will bring us backwards,” he said.