The United States Department of Homeland Security has said it will deport no fewer than 79 convicted Nigerians listed on its ‘worst-of-the-worst’ criminal list.

PUNCH Metro findings on the DHS website on Monday revealed that the 79 Nigerians were convicted of offences bordering on fraud, drug peddling, assault, manslaughter and robbery, among others.

An accompanying note showed that the convicts were arrested as part of the United States’ crackdown on criminal immigrants.

The note read, “The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is highlighting the worst of the worst criminal aliens arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, the hardworking men and women of DHS and ICE are fulfilling President Trump’s promise and carrying out mass deportations, starting with the worst of the worst, including the illegal aliens you see here.”

The list showed that the convicted Nigerians include Boluwaji Akingunsoye, Ejike Asiegbunam, Emmanuel Mayegun Adeola, Bamidele Bolatiwa, Ifeanyi Nwaozomudoh, Aderemi Akefe, Solomon Wilfred, Chibundu Anuebunwa, Joshua Ineh, Usman Momoh, Oluwole Odunowo, Bolarinwa Salau, and Oriyomi Aloba.

Others are Oludayo Adeagbo, Olaniyi Akintuyi, Talatu Dada, Olatunde Oladinni, Jelili Qudus, Abayomi Daramola, Toluwani Adebakin, Olamide Jolayemi, Isaiah Okere, Benji Macaulay and Joseph Ogbara.

Also listed are Olusegun Martins, Kingsley Ariegwe, Olugbenga Abass, Oyewole Balogun, Adeyinka Ademokunla, Christian Ogunghide, Christopher Ojuma, Olamide Adedipe, Patrick Onogwu, Olajide Olateru-Olagbegi, and Omotayo Akinto.

Others include Kenneth Unanka, Jeremiah Ehis, Oluwafemi Orimolade, Ayibatonyе Bienzigha, Uche Diuno, Akinwale Adaramaja, Boluwatife Afolabi, Chinonso Ochie, Olayinka A. Jones, Theophilus Anwana, Aishatu Umaru, and Henry Idiagbonya.

Further names on the list are Okechukwu Okoronkwo, Daro Kosin, Sakiru Ambali, Kamaludeen Giwa, Cyril Odogwu, Ifeanyi Echigeme, Kingsley Ibhadore, Suraj Tairu, Peter Equere, Dasola Abdulraheem, Adewale Aladekoba, and Akeem Adeleke.

Also included are Bernard Ogie Oretekor, Abiemwense Obanor, Olufemi Olufisayo Olutiola, Chukwuemeka Okorie, Abimbola Esan, Elizabeth Miller, Chima Orji, Adetunji Olofinlade, Abdul Akinsanya, Elizabeth Adeshewo, Dennis Ofuoma, and Boluwaji Akingunsoye.

Others are Quazeem Adeyinka, Ifeanyi Okoro, Oluwaseun Kassim, Olumide Bankole Morakinyo, Abraham Ola Osoko, Oluchi Jennifer and Chibuzo Nwaonu.

Trump’s administration has continued to crackdown on criminal and illegal immigrants across the US with many Nigerians in the country affected by the policy.

Saturday PUNCH reported that some Nigerians went into hiding while others are returning home secretly over the intensified deportation campaign led by President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The sweeping actions, which include house-to-house enforcement raids, have stirred panic, debate and protest, particularly following a series of high-profile, deadly incidents involving the federal immigration officers.

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US President Donald Trump announced a trade deal to reduce tariffs on India, sending Mumbai stocks soaring on Tuesday, as he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to stop buying Russian oil over the war in Ukraine.

Trump said he was cutting levies on Indian goods to 18 per cent. He had previously imposed 25 per cent “reciprocal” tariffs on many products, plus an additional 25 per cent for New Delhi’s purchases of Moscow’s oil.

The deal eases months of tensions over India’s oil purchases — which Washington says fund a conflict it is trying to end — and restores the close ties between Trump and the man he describes as “one of my greatest friends.”

But while Modi thanked Trump for the “wonderful” phone call and the easing of tariffs, he made no mention of Trump’s assertion that he would halt Russian oil purchases.

“Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump said the United States would lower the reciprocal duty imposed on India during his waves of global “Liberation Day” tariffs last year from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.

A White House official told AFP that an additional 25 per cent tariff Trump had slapped on India in August for its purchase of Russian oil would also be dropped.

Trump added that Modi “agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela. This will help END THE WAR in Ukraine.”

The United States has effectively been overseeing Venezuelan oil exports since toppling the South American country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, in a military operation in January.

India had further agreed to buy more than $500 billion in US energy, tech, agricultural, coal and other products, Trump said, without giving further details.

Indian investors welcomed the news, sending Mumbai’s Nifty index up almost five per cent at the open.

Modi was one of the first leaders to visit the White House after Trump’s return to the presidency a year ago, but efforts to secure a trade deal had foundered over India’s Russian oil purchases.

As recently as December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a visit to New Delhi that he was ready to continue “uninterrupted shipments” of fuel to India despite US pressure.

Trump also said in October that Modi had promised to stop buying Russian oil, but an agreement did not materialise at the time.

“Wonderful to speak with my dear friend President Trump today. Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff of 18 per cent,” Modi said in a post on X on Monday.

The Indian leader, however, made no mention of oil sales.

A recent EU-India accord may have been a catalyst for the sudden Trump announcement, said Tanvi Madan, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Centre for Asia Policy Studies.

“It is possible that the Indian trade agreement with the EU… incentivised Washington to get to yes,” Madan told AFP.

Madan added that the “devil will be in the details” in the sectors that will get relief under the deal.

For India, “the Russia question remains,” said Farwa Aamer, director of South Asia initiatives at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

“Even though it has and will change its oil import structure away from Russia, India would still want to keep relations steady,” Aamer added.

India emerged as a major buyer of Russian oil after the start of the Ukraine war, providing Moscow with a crucial export market as Europe sharply reduced purchases.

In 2024, Russia supplied nearly 36 percent of India’s total crude imports, around 1.8 million barrels of discounted oil per day.

Modi added, however, that “President Trump’s leadership is vital for global peace, stability, and prosperity.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for ending the brief but intense armed conflict between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan in May.

AFP

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Bill and Hillary Clinton will testify in a US House investigation surrounding deceased sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesman for the ex-president said, heading off a potential vote to hold the couple in contempt.

They had originally refused to appear before lawmakers examining how authorities handled earlier investigations into the disgraced financier, who had connections and correspondence with the world’s business and political elite.

“The former President and former Secretary of State will be there. They look forward to setting a precedent that applies to everyone,” Clinton spokesman, Angel Urena, said on X.

The House Rules Committee had advanced resolutions accusing the Clintons of defying subpoenas to appear in person to explain their links to Epstein, who died in custody in 2019.

The Epstein affair continues to cast a long shadow over Washington, entangling some of the most prominent names in US politics and highlighting the sharp partisan battles that have shaped the scandal.

Democrats say the probe is being weaponised to attack political opponents of President Donald Trump — himself a longtime Epstein associate who has not been called to testify — rather than to conduct legitimate oversight.

Trump spent months trying to block the disclosure of investigative files linked to Epstein, who moved in elite circles for years, cultivating ties with billionaires, politicians, academics and celebrities.

– Democratic divisions –

Neither Trump nor the Clintons have been accused of criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein’s activities.

In letters where they initially refused to appear in Washington, the Clintons had argued that the subpoenas were invalid because they lacked a clear legislative purpose.

Republicans say the Democratic couple’s past links to the business tycoon, including Bill Clinton’s use of his private jet in the early 2000s, justify in‑person questioning under oath.

Instead, the couple submitted sworn written statements describing their knowledge of Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.

Bill Clinton acknowledged flying on Epstein’s plane for Clinton Foundation-related humanitarian work, but said he never visited his private island.

Hillary Clinton said she had no meaningful interactions with Epstein, never flew on his plane and never visited his island.

After the Clintons agreed to testify, the Rules Committee decided Monday evening to suspend for the time being its vote on the contempt proceedings.

The vote and its targeting of the Clintons could have exposed divisions among congressional Democrats.

Some Democrats have privately acknowledged that their party has long argued no one should be beyond scrutiny in efforts to uncover the full scope of Epstein’s crimes.

But others feared that advancing the contempt resolutions would have played into a partisan strategy to shift attention away from Trump’s  past contacts with Epstein.

The Justice Department released last week what it said would be the final batch of files related to the investigation into Epstein.

AFP

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