The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, on Sunday, declared that no individual from the South-East would participate in protests against President Bola Tinubu and the Federal Government.
The governor stated this during the grand finale of All Progressive Congress (APC) campaign for local government election in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
He described promoters of such protests as enemies of the country who wanted to destabilise the national government.
Uzodinma said: “To the youths of South-East, because we are on the path of growth, our enemies are trying to disorganize national government.
“They will come to you, they want you to protest, ask those who want you to protest where are their children. Why must you be the one to protest and to protest against what?
“This government is our government, the government of President Bola Tinubu is our government. So nobody from Southeast will protest. We are not aggrieved, we have hope”
READ ALSO:Tribunal upholds Uzodinma’s election in Imo
“Whatever they say, this government is barely one year in office. Yes we are aware of the hardship, we are aware things are hard, but I promise you that the presidenti is working so hard to release money to the people, to deliver infrastructure to the people and to release and increase food security to the people. Follow your leaders, work with your leaders.”
Analysis:
Uzodinma’s claim may be seen as an attempt to showcase the region’s support for the current administration.
However, it also raises questions about the potential suppression of dissenting voices and the marginalization of opposing views.
The South-East has historically been a hotbed of political activism, and this statement may be perceived as an attempt to stifle that spirit.
Political Implications:
The governor’s statement may have far-reaching implications for the political landscape. It could be seen as a move to consolidate power and silence opposition, potentially leading to a crackdown on dissent. This might further exacerbate the existing political tensions in the region.
Uzodinma’s statement might spark a political firestorm, highlighting the complex dynamics at play in the region.
While it remains to be seen how this will unfold, one thing is clear – the region’s political landscape has become even more intriguing. As the situation develops, it’s essential to keep a close eye on the implications of this bold claim.
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Uzodinma rules out protest against Tinubu in South-East
China posts disappointing growth as officials hold key meeting
China posted on Monday lower-than-expected growth in the second quarter, with all eyes on how top officials gathering for a key meeting in Beijing might seek to tackle the country’s deepening economic malaise.
The world’s second-largest economy is grappling with a real estate debt crisis, weakening consumption, and an ageing population.
Trade tensions with the United States and the European Union, which have sought to limit Beijing’s access to sensitive technology as well as putting up tariffs to protect their markets from cheap, subsidised Chinese goods, are also dragging growth down.
And on Monday, official statistics showed the economy grew by only 4.7 percent in the second quarter of the year.
It represents the slowest rate of expansion since early 2023 when China was emerging from a crippling zero-Covid policy that strangled growth.
Analysts polled by Bloomberg had expected 5.1 percent.
Retail sales — a key gauge of consumption — rose just two percent in June, down from 3.7 percent growth in May.
“The external environment is intertwined and complex,” the National Bureau of Statistics said.
“Domestic effective demand remains insufficient and the foundation for sound economic recovery and growth still needs to be strengthened,” it added.
• ‘Deepening reform’ –
The figures came the same day that China’s ruling Communist Party kicked off a key meeting led by President Xi Jinping focused on the economy, known as the Third Plenum.
The Chinese leader delivered a “work report” at the opening of the meeting, state news agency Xinhua said.
He also “expounded on a draft decision of the (Communist Party) Central Committee on further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernisation”, it added.
Beijing has offered few hints about what might be on the table.
Xi has said the party is planning “major” reforms.
Analysts are hoping those pledges will result in badly needed support for the economy.
“The four-day meeting of the country’s top governing body couldn’t come soon enough,” Harry Murphy Cruise, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, said in a note.
But, he said, “while the case for reform is high, it’s unlikely to be a particularly exciting affair”.
“Instead, we expect a modest policy tweak that expands high-tech manufacturing and delivers a sprinkling of support to housing and households,” he added.
• China not ‘changing colour’ –
The People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, appeared to confirm lower expectations when it warned last week that “reform is not about changing direction and transformation is not about changing colour”.
Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura, said the meeting was “intended to generate and discuss big, long-term ideas and structural reforms instead of making short-term policy adjustments”.
The Third Plenum has previously been an occasion for the party’s top leadership to unveil major economic policy shifts.
In 1978, then-leader Deng Xiaoping used the meeting to announce market reforms that would put China on the path to dazzling economic growth by opening it to the world.
And more recently following the closed-door meeting in 2013, the leadership pledged to give the free market a “decisive” role in resource allocation, as well as other sweeping changes to economic and social policy.
• Stubbornly low –
Beijing has said it is aiming for five percent growth this year — enviable for many Western countries but a far cry from the double-digit expansion that for years drove the Chinese economy.
But the economic uncertainty is also fuelling a vicious cycle that has kept consumption stubbornly low.
Among the most urgent issues facing the economy is the beleaguered property sector, which long served as a key engine for growth but is now mired in debt, with several top firms facing liquidation.
“The slowing momentum in (the second quarter) means that they may miss the five percent annual growth target without a step-up in policy supports,” Macquarie’s Larry Hu said in a note.
“Domestic demand remains very weak. Property is the biggest drag,” he said.
Authorities have moved in recent months to ease pressure on developers and restore confidence, including by encouraging local governments to buy up unsold homes.
Analysts say much more is required for a full rebound, as the country’s economy has yet to bounce back more than 18 months after damaging Covid-19 restrictions ended.
AFP.
Some religious groups more corrupt than public officials – EFCC
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has alleged that some religious groups in Nigeria are more corrupt than public officials.
Olukoyede made the shocking allegations at a leadership conference of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) on Sunday.
He said the commission had recovered millions of naira from religious organizations recently.
Olukoyede said: “I want to plead to those of us who are religious leaders to use our podiums not only to preach but also to demonstrate good character.
READ ALSO:EFCC boss, Olukoyede, reveals Tinubu does not interfere in commission’s affairs
“Some religious organisations are more corrupt than public offices. I have evidence towards that. If you’re not accountable as a religious person and you expect a public official to be.
“They appointed you a pastor, and that is when you become a big man. We don’t even know what you are doing to earn a legitimate living.
“You live on the ministry and the church or mosque money. You can’t even explain the source of your wealth. Just this last week, I have had cause to recover how many millions from a religious organisations.
“You look at the speckle in someone else’s eyes, but meanwhile, there is a log in yours. We preach these things on the altar but under our nose, these things happen, and sometimes we try to cover up.”
Some Pastors and Imams are more corrupt than Politicians, Civil Servants.
– Ola Olukoyede, EFCC Chairman pic.twitter.com/OnFPhFe77B
— Trending Explained (@TrendingEx) July 15, 2024
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‘I’m supposed to be dead,’ Trump tells NYP after assassination attempt
Former US president Donald Trump on Sunday told the New York Post he was “supposed to be dead” after surviving an assassination attempt which he described as a “very surreal experience.”
“I’m not supposed to be here, I’m supposed to be dead,” Trump told the Post in an interview aboard his plane en route to Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention where he is set to be confirmed as the party’s presidential candidate.
It was a “very surreal experience” he recounted with a white bandage covering his right ear, the paper said.
The 78-year-old Trump was hit in the ear by a gunman at a campaign rally on Saturday.
He was left with a bloodied face while a bystander was killed and two other people were wounded.
Trump told the Post he would have been dead had he not tilted his head slightly to the right to read a chart on illegal immigrants while addressing the rally.
“By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here,” he said.
He praised the Secret Service agents for killing the shooter.
“They took him out with one shot right between the eyes,” he said.
“They did a fantastic job,” he added. “It’s surreal for all of us.”
The image of Trump raising a defiant fist as Secret Service agents bundled him away made front pages around the world and spread virally on social media.
“A lot of people say it’s the most iconic photo they’ve ever seen,” the former president told the Post, adding “They’re right and I didn’t die. Usually you have to die to have an iconic picture.”
Trump said after the attempt on his life he was rewriting the speech he had prepared for the Republican convention.
He said he had “prepared an extremely tough speech” about Biden’s “horrible administration. But I threw it away” for one he hopes will “unite our country.”
“But I don’t know if that’s possible. People are very divided.”
AFP.
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Council explains reason for surge in Nigeria’s building collapse incidents
The Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria has blamed government negligence in law enforcement for the surge in collapse of buildings resulting in several deaths.
Chairman of the Council, Dr Samson Opaluwah made this known while reacting to the recent collapse of a building in Kubwa, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and a Jos school building.
He said there should be severe punishment for all those found wanting to prevent reoccurrence.
“This collapse, unfortunately, has continued to happen, especially in areas that we can refer to as urban centers.
“Centers where professionals and professionalism should be extolled to the highest.
“The challenge we have now is government enforcement of its laws. We need to punish those who have been found wanting in the past,” he said.
This comes as four persons were rescued from a collapsed two-residential-storey building on Saturday in Kubwa, Abuja.
Earlier, on Friday, at least 22 persons died and 132 persons were injured as the Plateau school building collapsed on pupils.
According to the Building Collapse Prevention Guild’s recent report, Nigeria has recorded at least 135 building collapse incidents and 26 deaths between 2022 and 2024.
Council explains reason for surge in Nigeria’s building collapse incidents
Republicans pray for Trump, his enemies
At a prayer vigil in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Robert Benning’s eyes water when he talks about Donald Trump surviving this weekend’s assassination attempt.
“When he got shot, I was like, ‘Oh man.’ I damn near cried — and then he got up… That proves how much of a fighter he is,” the 64-year-old said, gathered at a park in the Midwestern city with other supporters to pray for the Republican presidential candidate.
The Sunday gathering was held downtown, just steps away from the Republican National Convention that kicks off Monday and will officially seal Trump’s nomination as the party’s candidate against President Joe Biden in November.
Faithful prayed for those on both sides of the political spectrum, even if the event still carried a partisan tone and the occasional culture war rhetoric.
“I just bless the Democratic Party. I bless the opposition. I pray that you would show them where they are in error. I pray that you would show them where they are opposing their own creator,” said Patrick Casper.
Trump himself has said God “prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
He survived the shooting with injuries, while two others were injured and one person, in addition to the shooter, was killed.
The ex-president’s base includes the religious right, though he himself only went to church sporadically while in office.
• ‘Pray for all Trump’s enemies’ –
“We just pray for all Trump’s enemies. This is not America, to try to shoot a former president. God help us,” offered another man, removing his red Trump hat to pray.
Christina, also in attendance at the vigil, organized by conservative group Turning Point USA, said she didn’t understand what motivated the shooter.
Authorities have also said they have yet to pin down his ideology.
“We have First Amendment rights, you can protest and that’s OK. But we have to turn down our rhetoric,” she said, declining to give her last name.
Her words echoed those of Biden, who in a rare address to the nation on Sunday said that “the political record in this country has gotten very heated. It’s time to cool it down.”
Previous assassinations — including those of president John F. Kennedy and civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr, weighed attendees.
“I don’t know what’s driving it but all I know is that the division in politics has got to stop,” Christina said.
“Both sides have to tone down the rhetoric and have to focus on the issues.”
US foundation provides 700 police widows, orphans free health insurance
A United-States-based charity organisation, Kedrick Scribner Foundation, in partnership with the Lagos State Health Management Agency have enrolled 700 widows and orphans of the police officers into free health insurance.
This forms part of its humanitarian campaign to support widows and children of deceased policemen. The gesture was also to celebrate the 2024 International Widow’s Day.
At the ceremony on Saturday in Lagos, founder of the Foundation, Dr Kedrick Scribner, represented by his wife, Mrs. Victoria Scribner, said the gesture is to reach out to the less-privileged, particularly the wives and children of deceased police officers.
According to Scribner, the foundation has impacted thousands of people positively in the last four years.
She said: “So far, it has been phenomenal and everything has been going on as planned. This initiative is very dear to my husband, being a retired police officer himself, and knowing how difficult life can be for the wives and children after the demise of an officer.
“This is the fourth edition of the initiative ‘Widow’s mite 4.0’, with the theme ‘Hope Beyond Grief’. This is done in partnership with the Lagos State Health Management Agency.”
The Foundation holds its outreaches twice a year and plans to extend its tentacles to other states, Mrs. Scribner added.
The Foundation Manager, Mrs. Glam Flang Bulus said the initiative is to bring succour to the wives and children of fallen heroes.
“You find out that these women go through a lot of pain and hardship after the death of their husbands, and so the foundation decided to give them this gift of free health insurance.
“We will be enrolling 700 widows and orphans, but if we do below that number, we continue with the rest at the next outreach or whenever they wish to join the scheme.
“We also have the Kedrick Scribner Vocational Centre here at the United Church of Christ in Nigeria, Mountain Troops Police Barracks, Ikeja where we train willing widows and orphans free and give them start-up materials to start their businesses.
“The insurance is free and forever. The foundation will keep renewing it yearly for as long as the beneficiaries are alive.”
A beneficiary, Mrs. Theresa Adelusi, described the initiative as “a laudable idea to address the health challenges of police widows and orphans.”
Adelusi, a mother of four, said: “I am very happy because we all know how much it costs to get treatment and medications now. But the foundation decided to gift us with this and we appreciate them for it. I pray God will keep this foundation higher and their supporters and their pockets will never run dry.”
Another beneficiary, Mrs. Esther Zitta, whose husband died in 2011, appreciated the foundation for the huge gesture.
“This initiative is good and will help us to manage our health needs well, especially since I can no longer access the health insurance we used when my husband was in service,” she said.
A friend of the foundation, Patrick Okorie, thanked the foundation for its gesture to humanity.
He said the intervention would help the downtrodden heave a sigh of relief.
He also enjoined other well-meaning Nigerians to emulate the gesture by giving back to humanity.
Rwanda votes as Kagame set to extend 24 years rule
Polling stations opened across Rwanda for presidential and parliamentary elections on Monday with the African nation’s leader Paul Kagame set to cruise to victory and extend his iron-fisted rule for another five years.
Rwanda’s de facto leader since the end of the 1994 genocide and president since 2000, Kagame faces only two challengers after several prominent critics were barred from standing.
The lineup is a carbon copy of the last election in 2017, when Kagame obliterated his rivals with almost 99 percent of the vote, and there is little doubt about the outcome this year.
Frank Habineza, leader of the Democratic Green Party, and independent Philippe Mpayimana were the only two candidates approved to run against Kagame out of eight applicants.
With 65 percent of the country’s population aged under 30, Kagame — who is running for a fourth term — is the only leader most Rwandans have ever known.
The 66-year-old is credited with rebuilding a traumatised nation after the genocide unleashed by Hutu extremists that killed around 800,000 people, mainly Tutsi but also Hutu moderates.
But his regime is widely criticised by rights groups as autocratic, stifling the media and political opposition with arbitrary detentions, killings, and enforced disappearances.
Abroad, it faces accusations of stoking instability in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, where a UN report says Rwandan troops are fighting alongside M23 rebels in the troubled east.
More than nine million Rwandans are registered to cast their ballot across 2,433 polling stations on Monday, with the presidential race being held at the same time as legislative elections for the first time.
Polls opened around 7:00 am (0500 GMT) and counting will begin as soon as they close at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT), with partial results expected to be released as tallying progresses.
– ‘Severe restrictions’ on opposition –
Kagame won with more than 93 percent of the vote in 2003, 2010, and 2017 — scoring 98.79 percent in the most recent election, compared with just 0.48 percent for Habineza and 0.73 percent for Mpayimana.
He has overseen controversial constitutional amendments that shortened presidential terms from seven to five years and reset the clock for the Rwandan leader, allowing him to potentially rule until 2034.
Rwandan courts rejected appeals from prominent opposition figures Bernard Ntaganda and Victoire Ingabire to remove previous convictions that effectively disqualified them from Monday’s vote.
The election commission also barred high-profile Kagame critic Diane Rwigara, citing issues with her paperwork — the second time she was excluded from running.
Ahead of the election, Amnesty International said Rwanda’s opposition faces “severe restrictions… as well as threats, arbitrary detention, prosecution, trumped-up charges, killings and enforced disappearances”.
– ‘Too strong’ –
The imbalance between Kagame and his rivals was evident during the three-week campaign, as the well-oiled PR machine of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front swung into high gear.
Pennants on cars, flags, posters, and banners displayed along roads, the red, white, and blue colours of the ruling party and its slogans “Tora Kagame Paul” (“Vote Paul Kagame”) and “PK24” (“Paul Kagame 2024”) are everywhere.
Despite his many critics, Kagame enjoys great support in Rwanda.
While the World Bank says almost half the population lives on less than $2.15 a day, Kagame has overseen economic growth rates of an average of 7.2 percent between 2012 and 2022 and the development of infrastructure including hospitals and roads.
“He has made great achievements, he has helped our children to go to school, increased the numbers of teachers, he also gave us health insurance,” Venantia Nyirangendo, 51, said during the final RPF rally on Saturday.
“Without him in power, this country would collapse. It’s good that he is our leader, we all love him.”
In contrast to the vast crowds attending Kagame’s rallies, his rivals have struggled to make their voices heard, with barely 100 people showing up to some events.
“It’s good to see that people are no longer afraid to listen to other candidates,” Mpayimana said, but added: “We are facing a candidate who is too strong.”
In the parallel parliamentary election, more than 500 candidates are chasing 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
Of those, 53 are elected by universal suffrage. The RPF currently holds 40 seats and its allies 11, while Habineza’s Green Party has two MPs.
Another 24 spots are reserved for women, two for youths, and one for people with disabilities. All candidates for these seats must be independent, and indirect elections will be held on Tuesday.
AFP
Messi, Argentina win back-to-back Copa America titles
Lionel Messi has helped his country Argentina to retain the Copa America title after they defeated Colombia 1-0 in the final on Monday morning.
The Inter Miami star was substituted after he injured himself while chasing the ball during the second half.
But defending champions Argentina held on and eventually grabbed the winning goal in the 112th minute through Lautaro Martínez.
More to follow…
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LG autonomy will reshape politics, governance – Senator Buba
Senator representing Bauchi South Senatorial District, Shehu Umar Buba, has commended the Supreme Court’s judgment granting financial autonomy to Local Governments in Nigeria.
He said the decision would reshape politics and governance across the country.
TVN recalls that the Apex Court decision had prevented the state governments from accessing the monthly allocations of the third tier of government.
Reacting to the judgement, the Senator, in a statement made available to journalists in Bauchi on Sunday, described it as a welcome development for many reasons.
According to him, “the judgement will be very pleasing to all supporters of democracy and proponents of effective leadership and purposeful governance at the council level.”
Buba, a former local government chairman in Toro council, added that “As the Senator representing Bauchi South and a known advocate for financial autonomy for local government councils, I believe the Supreme Court’s decision came at the right time.
“This judicial intervention allows local governments to directly receive their allocations, enabling smooth, proper, and impactful leadership to address the myriad of challenges facing our people.”
Speaking on the impact of the judgment, he stated that “I can imagine how this judgment will reshape politics and governance in our senatorial district, Bauchi State, and the entire country.
“As with any meaningful change, there is much more to be done. Political actors and other stakeholders must face this challenge head-on to ensure that the judgment brings significant improvements to the political leadership of our local councils and the lives of the electorate.”
Senator Buba also commended President Bola Tinubu, the Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, and others who took the steps leading to the historic judgment.
LG autonomy will reshape politics, governance – Senator Buba