Social media won’t win Obi the election, says Dino Melaye
Senator Dino Melaye, the spokesman of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, has said that the frenzy on social media won’t win Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, the presidency in next year’s election.
The senator made his view known during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Friday.
He discredited any momentum on social media about the increased chances of Obi becoming the next president as just mere wishful thinking, full of euphoric beliefs.
He said, “To start with, there is no wave. What you have is euphoria; a created euphoria,”
He praised Obi for being a fantastic guy and having the intellectual capacity to resolve the numerous problems the country is dealing with, but admitted that it wasn’t his time yet to become the next president.
“I have tremendous respect for him and I have said it before, but this is not his time,” he said.
“He does not have what it takes now to unify the country,” he continued, believing that it will take a miracle to get to Aso Villa as Nigeria’s number one citizen.
Taking a comprehensive look at the performance of the Labour Party in Osun State, Senator Dino said that social media couldn’t help translate their support for the Labour Party candidate despite Obi’s support.
Read also:Wasn’t Okowa lending Peter Obi a hand?
Protests aimed to overthrow the government – Maada Bio
The protest in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, that rocked the foundation of the country has been linked to moves aimed at removing a democratically elected president, says President Julius Maada Bio.
The president made this statement on Friday following reports he received about the number of people killed during the one-day protest that is a painful reminder of the dark days of civil war in the West African country.
The president reported that six police officers and at least 21 civilians died during the Black Wednesday protest.
According to Reuters, the majority of the people spoken to said that the protest was a way to vent their frustration over the rising cost of food and fuel. Also, they linked the protest to the perceived failure of President Maada Bio to address the issue, which is making it extremely difficult for more than 8 million of its citizens who live below the poverty line to cope.
Ethiopia completes third phase of filling giant Nile dam
The Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, said on Friday that the country’s newest dam, which will help accomplish the country’s ambition to become Africa’s biggest power exporter, has completed the third phase of its filling.
Ahmed said that the dam, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which cost $4 billion, is crucial to powering the country’s economic development.
Despite objections from neighbouring Egypt and Sudan that the dam will threaten their water supplies, the prime minister believes that the dam will benefit all countries near it.
The dam, located on the Nile river, is projected to generate more than 6,000 megawatts.
Europe faces worst environmental challenge in decades
Heatwaves and droughts in France and England caused by record temperatures have been termed one of the worst environmental disasters in Europe for more than ten decades.
According to Reuters, England had its driest July since 1935, with only 35% of the average monthly rainfall, and parts of England and Wales were now under a four-day extreme heat alert.
Steve Double, the Water Minister, has assured residents in the country of an uninterrupted supply of safe drinking water. An assurance that came after the water companies promised him that they were going to do all they could to ensure an uninterrupted supply of water.
The minister said that a drought plan that will prevent the waste of water in areas worst hit by this crisis will be implemented soonest as the country prepares to avoid this crisis escalating beyond this level.
However, firefighters from across Europe have joined their counterparts in France to help put a stop to the raging fire that has been burning for more than a month. This fire has been linked to rising temperatures by many, renewing the call to revisit the climate change agreement.
The rising temperatures have reduced the water levels of the Rhine River in Germany and Britain’s River Thames.
US stocks ends trading on a high
The US stocks closed on a high on Friday, making it the fourth consecutive week of positive closure.
Accordingly, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 1.7 percent and 2.1 percent respectively, while the Dow Jones ended 424 basis points higher which amounts to 1.27 percent.
Investors’ reaction to the news that inflation has peaked and that the Fed Reserve may not need another interest rate tightening may be responsible for this positive closure.
According to Trading Economics, several Fed policymakers, including San Francisco Fed Bank President Mary Daly, noted that a fall in prices is unlikely and that the Fed Reserve needs further evidence that inflation peaked to change its tightening plans.
