 Welcome back. It's the breakfast. Another time to look through the pages of our national dailies We'll call it off the press and Ezekiel and I took joins us via zoom this morning. Ezekiel is good to have you join us Thanks for having me. It's such a pleasure to be there. Thanks for having me. All right Then let's take a quick look at the daily trust newspaper this morning. How 23 remaining abducted canoe I beg your pardon. Caduna train passengers were released. How 23 remaining abducted caduna train passengers were released Families excited how negotiators sealed the deal and now see to unveil plan to train service resumption That's boldly written right there. Another one say Senate approves 3.6 trillion narrow petrol subsidy 8.4 trillion narrow Boeing plan for 2023 that's a lot and Two years after federal government yet to implement teachers new salary package Yesterday was World Teachers Day. That's the much we can take this morning on the daily trust All right, let's move over to the next paper and this time we go to the punch in use of a question interesting headlines I'm a governorship list litigation kicks 14 APC PDP LP candidates out Interesting when the writers do that Parties face court cases in a boy in a quibble in a good six others commissioned. Okay, so we'll do Beodum Makin day 834 others Senate confirms 19 Rex at Tico coa in Bouchie receive defectors We look at a few more from that paper Senate approves 2023 expenditure, okay 73 dollar per barrel oil price Adamu governance meet to adjust table's campaign list teachers day and UT six better deal Knox governor some headlines on the front page of the punch Now let's turn attention to the leadership newspaper quickly Kaduna train attack after six months in captivity Remaining 23 victims regain freedom Dominating the papers this morning and federal government says it was a convert operation No ransom was paid But we also hear that there was some negotiation and deals and who actually sealed and struck the deal President Muhammad a Buhari Hills military who are yet to see our loved ones and families That's what families quoted to say a butcher Kaduna trained service to resume soon and our C is on that bitch glow on and just before we move away APC governors blame campaign cancel for a Uprising duties of party leadership Senate rejects 1.7 trillion narrow subsidy proposal That's the much we can take this morning on the leadership newspaper All right, then we'll take the final paper this morning and before bring our guests in and we're talking about the nation newspaper APC National Working Committee Governors PCC members unite for tenable legacy river and communities quit Overflooding quit overflooding 23 meaning a Buja Kaduna trained up to ease freed some good news right there and Buhari promises to restore teacher's pride Some headlines on front page of the nation and I just want to bring in a guest is it can I took her who joins us live from We all I believe a quiet boom state. It's been some time Is it going I took nice to have you join us today? Let's quickly look at the situation in the all-progressives Congress, I mean a lot of people still speculating as regards to whereabouts of Bola Mitenable the presidential candidate of that party I'm sure you also remember that Abdullah the mother national chairman of the party had written a letter which got leaked to the press Expressing in very very interesting words. I mean his displeasure the The the formulation of the presidential campaign council that let us in has been denied by the party and Leadership in a campaign team. They said that nothing like that was written But we both know that a letter was written So and what we hear from the nation from the punch rather I started at the moon and the governor's are meeting to adjust in the boost campaign list But we don't hear anything about the mountain boom self and then over to the nation We hear that the APC national working committee and the governor's as well as the PCC members are uniting for tinwoo But the question a lot of people are asking is where it's too So please speak to what the party is doing right now with this PCC and also the questions about the whereabouts of the candidate All right. We seem to have lost a guest Connection issue right there Okay, is it going to can you hear me, please? Yes, I can hear you. All right. So if you got a question, please go on Okay You know, the very first thing is that you know, there was a video of Of the presidential candidate of APC doing his bike and who knows is Exercise bike if you know that you know, see maybe hasn't yet finished him his routine So he's got to take his full Routine so that when he comes back, he'll be as fit as a fiddle On the other hand, there's been there's quite a lot of You know fall outs, you know from the decisions they had taken and then a lot of pretty influential people who happens to Pay a lot of premium on their fate Getting very uncomfortable with that Muslim Muslim ticket So there's a lot of conversations going on people have written into opt-outs. It's like, okay May I be excused at this point because? Churches are starting to call the apple and say you have respect for our fate if you do then I don't see you Playing this role that you have been given to play and then for too long We've been taking for a ride in the constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria No mention is made of Christianity or a Lord Jesus Christ or things like that Are we really really citizens of this country what's going on and are you telling me that as it were or as it is? That you're winning election is more important than you're being free and fair and considerate to all divides particularly the faith which is like the greatest Dividing line which is like a 50-50 thing between the Muslims and the Christians. Are we really running? What state is it a Secular state or is our religion really important if it's not then scrap all the pilgrims these pilgrims that and all that scrap it Let's know that I mean We have nothing to do with religion but where the constitution seems to either by practice or by convention Recognize that there are two dominant religions and almost a 50-50, you know balance Then why are we being treated as if we we are in consequential just win the election Be like why you winning the election isn't it for the generality of the people? Okay? If we are not, you know Relevant to win the election then let us move to those that think that we are relevant to run the government So there's quite a lot of very deep rooted conversations going on I think that you know the political calculations that she would you made by bringing a Muslim Muslim ticket politically It was a very sound really, you know Decision to take but in governance, you don't always take the most You know logical decision. That's the reason why we have a refinery Where the petroleum product is in the south, but the refinery is in the north because of political Experiencing that's why the Bible says all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient at this point He was at liberty to choose a Muslim Muslim was his prerogative But I don't think it was quite expedient and this beginning to have a major fundamental fallout and I think that part of the obedient movement is Is a response to to the fact that the PDP faithfuls within the southern flank of this country are not particularly Happy, but by the way, they are being treated. It's like give me your vote But your vote I in consequential if I vote I in consequential it means that when you get into government I'm not sure that I will be consequential so that on that APC matter and I don't see it resolving too soon because there are Major people who are starting to say it's not okay. And you know the interesting thing is that there are a lot of Fame-minded Muslims who are saying it's not okay. They are Muslims, but they are saying it's not okay Let's run a country where everybody is treated as as being being important every faith since it's been recognized in the Constitution they let they all be recognized as well, you know So I think that the APC problem is more deep-rooted and it's good. Let's have these conversations before we Suffer in silence All right, let's take a look at you know the release of the 23 victims or those who have actually regained freedom You have one hand saying the federal government actually didn't pay no ransom. No ransom was paid on the other hand There's also a conversation about the negotiators and how the deal was actually sealed So whose report do we believe? Do you think that you know ransom was actually paid? It's a good thing that they have regained their freedom, but we're seeing how Where these people released? Let me start by saying thank God In the loudest possible way What a relief to the families of these people what a relief to these people What a day it is for them. Let's thank God and just be grateful. Let it be a kind of Something that that reminds us that one day I Will be able to see my sister and my daughter Leah Sharibou, you know I did I did a story on Leah Sharibou that that got hundreds of thousands of Comments it was something else, you know, I it was just a Dream so to speak but most people thought it was was real, but it was actually fictional. I wrote that you know Let's let's let's believe that one world the other one day I'll be able to see her for real and of course all the others that are still in a Incaptivity the dapchi and the rest of them that are one her number two Please tell me the day that government told you that they paid ransom the first is like a broken record no ransom was paid and Let me tell you they may be right, you know, it's like half truth It may be really true that not a naira was paid But they did not say no negotiations were made So they have not lied to you. They've just given you one side of the coin, you know, and And sometimes you may have to choose between which is the lesser evil paying them some money And then they use it to buy more ammunitions and get more emboldened or releasing some people That are just lethal. They are just them. They're just evil minds. They are the devil's no no workshop They are people whose thoughts life everything is devilish is evil, you know And when you release such people you you know amount of money equates the damage that they will go back to do and of course also the Effect it has the positive effect it has on their people in terms of their being emboldened So it's true. It may be true that no ransom was paid But let them take it a notch higher and tell us that no negotiations were made It's interesting the way the the punch put it bandits release Hossages they didn't say the government frees them The big one on the front page, of course last night or yesterday rather the the independent National Electro Commission released a list of Governorship candidates across 36 states or across the states where elections are holding nor the 36 states out federation and The punch is reporting that after that list was released the governorship list Litigations have begun Have actually kicked 14 APC PDP and Liber Party candidates out that is a that is a serious one Which means that in some of the states you don't have an APC governor You would have a PDP governor. You have a labor party governor. So what do you what's your take on this? They heading to court Some of them are still in court already in a Boeing state. We can look at a quiet bomb state your own state as well Any good state and six others. So what are your thoughts on this whole this whole situation regarding the governorship elections? In a quiet state probably APC thought there was no need to waste their resources when yeah, I took is there So they just mistake that's on the lighter side Okay Anyway, but you see let me speak as a Commentator and then one who is informed Having been part of several electoral processes even managing a party as as the as a national chairman Even in my party the African Democratic Congress there were valid Substitutions that we made I mean there are two aspects you must realize The first has to do with Paxional concerns like in in a quiet bomb state. They were factions. They were parallel congresses They were you know, there were a lot of discrepancies and the law is the law I don't want to talk more than that. So some some come out of you know Frictions and problems and non-compliance with them You know the extant laws and some people thinking they can take the law into their hands and things like that Those are setting cases where they are litigations. There are people who are contending and saying no you cannot be I am We didn't follow the process. I did you were from I know Supervised we were from National Working Committee that have the the the prerogative They missed that link between the old electoral act and the new electoral act in the old Electoral Act everything just rested on the National Working Committee setting up, you know The primaries and committees who come to conduct and that was all and I net was just a you know a passive You know observer but in the new electoral act I net is specifically mandated obligated to monitor and report and Have control by way of supervisory role over the primaries So if you fail to acknowledge that you do that to your peril wherever caught you want to go to your West in your time because at the end of the day like in that of a quiet room set I'm sorry to say I net is very vehement and not just I net a man like mr. Igini Igini is respected He's not seen as one who is flippant or one who is he seen as a straightforward person And he said this is my stand and some days back He was on one of the national networks saying though He's no longer in the Commission But he's still a citizen that has a moral right and a constitutional obligation To defend the course of justice in the land Occupying the office of the citizen which is the highest office in the land and he's put his foot down that in a Quiet room state. There's no candidate. So whichever way they were they just let the lawyers You know have some fun and they make their money. So that's it and them like I said I wouldn't want to talk much much more than that on that matter. All right now There's a second part the second part like it affects my party. That's second part is the part where You you don't have any contention, but there was just a mix up in that the them the candidates that had withdrawn We're not properly substituted So such candidates and I'm going to cut and said I had voluntarily withdrawn and this Person had been sent in and they his name was not uploaded. I don't know why I've already said I am not Contesting so please can you remove my name and let the person that the party had sent forward take the seat That's what's happened to some seat in my own state a quiet bomb state in the house of assembly So that one is a straightforward matter. It is the person who withdrew that saying I'm not doing and there wasn't any other Contending force so it is like a consensus. So within that the court will simply say this man says he doesn't want to contest He said he had even written a withdrawal and he says this person was supposed to be so I need can you please Honor his request. So those are two different approaches We're about to you know wrap it up right here and Straight up from the Daily Trust newspaper I like to share your thoughts about you know the non-implementation of the newly proposed teachers salary Two years after I mean it was put out there 2020 and yesterday was you know world teachers day as it was celebrated It's sad. It's unfortunate. It's unacceptable. It's a misplacement of priorities We really don't see teachers as the people that we should all be looking up to for the good future of our country And it is it is I pray that everybody's seeking to occupy Particularly two offices won the office of the president of the federal Republic of Nigeria and the office of the governor of any state Let these people make definitive Statements binding on the welfare of teachers teachers Education is the future of any country and you cannot talk of education without the teachers and the lecturers Every single person that wants to be a president or wants to be a governor must make a definitive statement on Education and without the foundation being the teachers without before you talk of the infrastructure These two things must be addressed and I want the Nigerian Union of teachers and of course Nigerian Labour Congress not to just move into this massive endorsement Bring every single candidate to the table and say what is your take and what is your antecedence? Is this something you have done in the past that can give us a confidence that you appreciate education? You know something like myself several years back. I told Nigeria over 1215 years back that the greatest gift that this nation gave to me was sending me to federal government college Worry where I had the best education that anybody could have in the whole world And I am who I am today from a village boy to someone that is celebrated at the national and global levels Because of one thing the education that my country gave me so for me It's it's something that pains me it aches my heart that you allow teachers to be treated as Not as important as bankers or oil industry workers I pray God makes me the next governor of a private state and people will come to leave your state to want me to teach us Is it coming you need to go You know We'll talk more about I don't know what my message is laughing at It's going to be here to thank you for your time. It's really great. Thank you so much. We would like to have you sometime soon And of course, I wish you all the best in your political endeavors Thank you. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you. We appreciate it All right, we'll take a break and when we come back we have a first major conversation right here on the breakfast Look at Nigeria's economy and the effect of inflation as the World Bank has released a recent report to stay with us