President Muhammdu Buhari, has arrived at the Eagle Square, Abuja, the nation’s capital for the inauguration ceremony of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
Similarly, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kayode Ariwoola, has also arrived the venue of the inauguration and set to administer the oath of office on the President-elect and the Vice-president-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima.
Tinubu is to be sworn-in today as the substantive 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Ariwoola would be swearing-in Tinubu and Shettima as the President and the Vice President of Nigeria, respectively today.
Meanwhile, former Head of State, General Yakub Gowon and the Former President Goodluck Jonathan, his wife Dame Patience Jonathan, among other past Nigerian leaders, have arrived at the Eagle Square, venue for the swearing-in.
Also present at the venue are the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and the Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Other guests at the venue were businessmen, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Femi Otedola and Aliko Dangote. Vanguard
The invitation to pledge allegiance to King Charles III was one of the “few conspicuously misjudged” moments from the Coronation, according to a royal historian.
The plot has come under fierce criticism since it was announced the Archbishop of Canterbury would “invite” those who wish to express support for the monarch to do so during the ceremony.
The act itself was not met with a “roar”, according to royal historian Dr David Starkey, who says the muted reaction exposes a sign of poor judgment from the monarchy.
Speaking on GB News, Starkey told royal correspondent Cameron Walker that King Charles did not receive the adulation he would have wanted during the act.
He said: “There was hardly a roar. This was one of the few conspicuously misjudged things [from the Coronation].
“In England, ordinary people don’t do pledges of allegiance. The old aristocracy would have been totally happy, because that is what they did.
“It is the problem when you decide to put tradition in a waste paper basket.”
The wording of the oath of allegiance was altered after campaign groups criticised the notion of “calling” for people to swear allegiance to the monarch.
Instead, the Archbishop of Canterbury “invited” those who wish to express for the King, in a move that represented the first time the public were given a role in the Coronation.
Lambeth Palace confirmed it had been mutually agreed with Buckingham Palace that the introductory words would be changed.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was to say: "I call upon all persons of goodwill in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of the other realms and the territories to make their homage, in heart and voice, to their undoubted King, defender of all."
All those who wished the pledge their allegiance were invited to reply: “I swear that I will pay true allegiance to your majesty, and to your heirs and successors according to law. So help me god.”
Instead, he said: "I now invite those who wish to offer their support to do so, with a moment of private reflection, by joining in saying God save King Charles at the end or, for those with the words before them, to recite them in full."
Starkey went on to praise the ceremony, describing it as an “absolutely traditional” occasion, and the late Queen Elizabeth II’s fingerprints were all over it.
“We had extraordinary references to the late Queen”, he said. “Her words framed everything. The notion of service and what she said about the function of the Church of England.
“She even framed the Coronation oath and its Protestantism.”
The service was followed by a scaled-down flypast, which the King and Queen watched from the Buckingham Palace balcony.
The RAF’s Red Arrows trailed red, white and blue sample as their jets flew over the masses gathered on The Mall.
As a result of “unsuitable weather conditions”, plans for more than 60 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force had to be scrapped. By Ben Chapman, GB News
Ike Ekweremadu, 60 (right), his wife Beatrice, 56, and Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, have been jailed. Picture: Met PoliceA wealthy Nigerian politician and his wife have been jailed for plotting to traffic a young man to the UK to harvest his organ for their sick daughter in a legal first.
Following a landmark modern slavery case, multi-millionaire Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and medical "middleman" Dr Obinna Obeta, 51, were found guilty at the Old Bailey in March.
Their victim, a poor street trader in Lagos, was brought to the UK to provide a kidney for the Ekweremadus' 25-year-old daughter Sonia.
He fled in fear of his life and walked into a police station exactly a year ago to report what had happened after the Royal Free Hospital called a halt on the private £80,000 procedure.
In a televised sentencing on Friday, Mr Justice Johnson recognised Ike Ekweremadu's "substantial fall from grace" as he jailed him for nine years and eight months.
Beatrice Ekweremadu was jailed for four years and six months and Obeta for 10 years.
The senior judge said: "People-trafficking across international borders for the harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery.
"It treats human beings and their body parts as commodities to be bought and sold.
"It is a trade that preys on poverty, misery and desperation."
He told the defendants: "You each played a part in that despicable trade."
On the question of harm to the victim if the intended transplant went ahead, he said: "He would have faced spending the rest of his life with only one kidney and without the requisite funding for the required aftercare."
He added the risks had not been properly explained and there had been no consent "in any meaningful sense".
During the hearing, the victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said he only found out what was planned when he was taken to the north London hospital for an initial consultation.
In a statement read to court: "I would never (have) agreed to any of this.
"My body is not for sale."
He spoke of his fears for his own safety and that of his family in Nigeria who had been visited and told to "drop" the case.
He said: "I cannot think about going home to Nigeria.
"These people are extremely powerful and I worry for my family.
"Even though I live here in the UK at the moment I know I need to be careful too.
"I have no-one here, no family, no friends." By By Asher McShane, LBC
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