US Releases Details of Nigerians, Others Involved in Election Fraud
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the arrests following a joint investigation with the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and federal prosecutors
- The two Nigerian nationals were identified as Helen Mayen Adams and Joshua Nmelichukwu Akpom, each facing separate election-related charges
- The arrests are part of a broader Texas crackdown on alleged non-citizen voting, with 117 potential cases already referred for investigation
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Two Nigerian nationals are among seven foreign nationals arrested in Texas over alleged offences linked to the November 2024 US general election, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Tuesday.
The arrests followed a joint investigation by Paxton's office, the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas, the FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations. The cases are being handled in Tarrant County and remain pending in federal court. None of the allegations have been established as convictions.
Source: Twitter
The two Nigerians named in the arrests are Helen Mayen Adams and Joshua Nmelichukwu Akpom. Adams faces charges of voting by an alien and making false statements of citizenship to register to vote. Akpom faces a separate charge of making false statements in connection with a naturalisation application. Prosecutors also allege that Akpom voted in the 2018 general election, though no charge was filed over that incident because the relevant statute of limitations had expired.
Other defendants named in texas arrests
According to the US department of Justice, the remaining five defendants include Indian national Khalwinder Singh Bhengura, Mexican nationals Carlos Salas Barrios, Moises Anwar Arellano-Alba, and Rocio Thrasher, and Democratic Republic of Congo national Celestin Kuasa Katubadi.
Adams, Bhengura, Arellano-Alba, Thrasher, and Katubadi each face charges of voting by an alien and making false statements of citizenship to register to vote. Barrios faces a charge of voting by an alien. Prosecutors allege that some of the defendants cast ballots in the 2024 election despite not holding US citizenship and, in certain cases, falsely declared citizenship when signing up to vote.
Texas voter roll review behind the arrests
The arrests form part of a wider effort by Texas authorities to investigate possible non-citizen voting. The Texas Secretary of State's Office said it had separately referred 117 potential cases of non-citizen voting to the Attorney General's Office for investigation.
The state had earlier flagged 2,724 registered voters as potential non-citizens after reviewing its voter rolls. Subsequent checks confirmed that 578 of those individuals were in fact US citizens, including 506 whose citizenship was verified through passport data added to a federal system after the initial review.
Paxton said the investigations were focused on ensuring that only eligible voters participate in elections.
Source: Twitter
US admits misleading Nigeria, other African countries
Legit.ng earlier reported that the US State Department admitted a map shown at the AIDS 2026 conference in Rio de Janeiro misidentified every African country it highlighted.
The map, which carried an AI watermark linked to OpenAI tools, placed Nigeria, Mozambique and Cote d'Ivoire in entirely wrong locations on the continent.
A former State Department official linked the error to mass staff cuts under President Donald Trump's administration.
Source: Legit.ng
