 But we have quite interesting headlines on the front pages of today's national dailies and I'm glad to say at this point our guest analyst this morning is already the chartered mediator and consiliator Chris Kehinde Wando, very good morning to you, it's a brand new week, great to have you back. Thank you very much Kofi, it's nice to see you again, good morning. All right, all right, fantastic. We also have Mercy Eberpo standing by as well as we go through the headlines on the front pages of the dailies, Mercy. Some very interesting headlines wouldn't you say and making for quite interesting conversation this morning. Well, let's see what Kehinde Wando makes of the headlines this morning. All right, all right, Chris Kehinde Wando, let's keep you on eyes for a few minutes while we go through these headlines starting with the leadership newspaper, a very interesting position or expose by the paper ahead of the APC presidential primaries, I mean they've not even screened the, the aspirants yet, we're waiting for that. But it says APC presidential flag bearer Obonaya Ono may be Buhari's dark horse, with a rider president to use Ono's choice to pacify the Southeast, will present him to other aspirants in a matter of days, rooting for Ono will be a master stroke for country's unity at this time, the paper says. Wow. Two Calabar hotel workers die in their sleep, Hayatudin, I'm not in politics for personal gain. I'm not in politics for personal gain, his bosses have been flooding the streets of major cities in the country. Local government funds, the state's lose as court okays, FG's, NFI use guidelines, the state's lose as court okays, FG, NFI use guidelines, and PDP primaries is Shaku, Dan Cuambo, Turaki, Boloji Abdelahi, and NetWalko Pick Senate tickets. This is talking about the senatorial primaries of the People's Democratic Party. Court jails dismissed policemen for life for defiling a nine-year-old. Security challenges will soon be over, PMB, and strike Nassu Holds emergency meeting today. These are the headlines on the front page of the leadership newspaper. Let's shift our attention from the leadership and look at the punch newspaper this morning. APC presidential primary, Lagos Bernoullou's Jumbo delegates again, Party Chief Senator Paul. It's boldly written on the punch, Kanu, Katena, Oshu, Oyo, Aqaibon, five others command numerical strength, and Bohari Midsasperant Wednesday reps, postponed resumption over primaries. Underneath the bold caption on the punch, that's what you find moving away from the bold headline. States grown over delayed revenue sharing, FAAC Mids today, 36 states lose financial autonomy suits against the federal government, and you also find former President Ulusha Goon, Opassum Jor, Mids, WK, others, Six Justice, and Fennets. Cashless transaction heats 117.33 trillion Naira in four months, according to the N-I-B-S-S, and you also have the N-S-I-A gross net asset by 19% to 920 billion Naira. Just before we move away from the punch this morning, more interesting headlines. Lagos explosion, gas plant owners dies, lawyer insists on 800 million Naira compensation, and 23.3 billion Naira fraud, the Suki case begins afresh after seven years. I mean, all things are possible. Telecom protests, 90 billion Naira new phone tax to bill subscribers. Oh, oh, you just need to, I mean, I don't even know what to say. But let's see how all of this pans out. Again, CITAD Home Order paralyzes EMO and a number of bank schools short. What is really going on? And you also have dismiss police man bags, live imprisonment for defiling people. That's nine. Quite unfortunate. You have a lot of pedophiles moving around. But these are some of the headlines we can take this morning on the punch. All right, let's go straight to the nation newspaper with these interesting headlines on its front page. APC primary, Buhari aspirants, governors for high level talks. What are they going to talk about? And some would say, well, are they going to just allow the delegates to decide APC primary, Buhari aspirants, governors for high level talks. Or Shiba Jyotinibua, Meiji, others for today's parlay. National Assembly leadership, NWC members to meet president. All right, the die is cast. More from the paper. Suspended accountant general, a suspended accountant general became political appointee in 2021. GDP is 3.11% Q1 growth driven by trade telecoms. And merely withdraw suit against INEC, AGF. This is his suit against the independent national electoral commission. And he's seeking to be allowed. He was seeking to be allowed to contest the 2023 elections without resigning. NSIA's net assets grew to 919.7 billion Naira in 2021. APC's planned screening of Jonathan and Mayfield others raises curiosity. The party is saying that even though these persons may not have submitted the forms that were bought for them to it, the APC, they will still screen them. One wonders how they intend to get these persons to the screening venue. All right, at the bottom of the front page, government OK's contract to buy more kits for Air Force. Ligas develops off-grid strategy. These are the headlines on the front page of the nation. Away from the nation, we take a look at the Nigerian Tribune. PDP NAS's primaries, Otam Banki W, Angkor Abdulahi's son, Tegbe Netwuki, Lai Wain, that's what you find there. Sons of Faioshi Kashumo also imagine underneath the rider. The big story this morning, that's what you find. The six governors lose suit against financial autonomy for local government. 19.4 million Nigerians to face food crisis by August. According to a course, you also have despite off-market and SIA. Net asset grew to one nine hundred and nineteen point seven billion narrow in twenty twenty one. Despite off-market and SIA's net asset grew to nine hundred and nineteen point seven billion narrow in twenty twenty one. COVID-19 not over, WHO wants. Niger's GDP grew by three point one one percent in the first quarter of twenty twenty two. Coalition of seven political parties in alliance and CF front. That's what you find the SDP, the ADC and the AMP disaster see itself from the major. Two months after attack, flights resumes at Kaduna Airport and courts grants DSS permission to detain terror suspect for sixty days. Presidential ambition and monthly withdraws suit against INEC and the attorney general of the Federation. Too late now to sign electoral act. Amendment poll observers tell President Muhammad Abu-Hari and you have the APC revised timetable for governors and House of Assembly, NAS primaries, the headlines. This morning on the Nigerian Tribune. All right, time to bring in Chris, Candy, Wando, a chartered mediator and consulate at this point. Chris, good morning to you once again. Let's start with a look at this, this, this one on the front page of the nation. It's interest, it interests me and the audacity of the whole situation. The central bank governor, Gordon Mirfield, he withdrawing his suit against INEC and the AGF. He was seeking in the suit to restrain these two bodies or authorities from stopping him from contesting the 2023 elections. And as a sitting central bank governor, what are your thoughts on this? Well, don't forget that there was a student which instituted against INEC and the AGF trying to determine his ability or qualification or ability to contest the election as a public servant. That, that Agstron was instituted by his lawyer. And then also, there was a suit, also somewhere in the task that I think us about or whatever, where a judge gave him the permission to go ahead with that. But after some time, after a week or two, the judge withdrew that, that permission as well. So as it were, he had no option than to withdraw this case. But for me, it's not that he's not there. The fact remains that from the directives by the president, every public servant appointee of the government that want to contest under the AGC had up to Monday last week to be able to withdraw or leave the service. And then you could see that some ministers, maybe did that. And either the result from the cabinet or those that initially indicated to participate. And I would wait a head to say that they were withdrawing or those that didn't withdraw continue their job. So, but we'll be waiting to see what the president is going to do because some of the ministers we had, despite the fact that they withdrawn from the race, their case is still hanging. And the presidents have not come out categorically to state what will happen. They stay with the CBN. It is too worrisome that a man who is judge of the Central Bank of Nigeria is so partisan and is proving to be partisan. That does not. This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that this is happening. More so when you have that note that even I make in this is finding difficult and feeling so embarrassed. Because all the sensitive material that we use for the election is being kept under the watch of the CBN. So if you are going to keep the sensitive materials for a election under the care of somebody that has come out to be partisan, who is a member of the political party, where you can imagine what is going to happen. If at the end of it all, a election is held and the opposing parties lose, that is enough reason for them to go to God. And you might be surprised that you might get some kind of justification for their actions. So the president has to come out point clear to say whether MEPILE has to leave or not. And they may have to come out. But let's wait. The screening of the candidates for presidential aspirants will start today. Let us see whether MEPILE will be one of those that will be screened or not. Then we can take it off of there. All right. Before we move on, just a related headline on the front page of the nation. The APCs is saying that they will still go ahead to screen Jonathan, to screen MEPILE and others. These yet individuals never submitted the forms to the party. Well, it's still on the basis of rumors. We don't know the fact. APC didn't come out with a categorical statement on that. I've never saw any press statement from APC. I wouldn't know if there was one. But if there was one, I would have seen it. There was no categorical statement by APC. Either by the National Policy Secretary, the National Secretary of the Chairman of the Party. The only press statement that was may have been good to Rosas Pressmen was that it was postponed, I think, as of Sunday. Then yesterday, they came out with another statement that that screening will start between today and tomorrow at Trascorp. So let us wait and see. Good luck, Jonathan, on those. We didn't know whether those that submitted the form on this we have submitted or not. MEPILE, we don't know whether he submitted or not. But as I said, between today and tomorrow, we know those that have been screened, then we can start assuming. But for now, it's just an assumption. Nobody's know who and who. For MEPILE and good luck, Jonathan. Nobody can say for sure. It was some of those that already we do. People like Chris Ngige and one or two other persons. We are also hearing that their name is still there that they'll be screened. So let's wait and see what happens between today and tomorrow. When the screening of the aspirants will be completed. All right, let's take a look at the punch now. On the punch, you have a headline that talks about the seat at home order and the fact that it's paralyzed in most state and an amber state. We're looking at the economy of this state now. Mostly you want to see the economy in the South Eastern part of Nigeria, banks, shorts and school short down. I mean, how do we even progress? How do we even get out of the situation when there are reports saying that Nigeria is the capital of the most poorest people? Personally, I'm tired of talking about this. Every Monday I sit at home. It's practically every time we've been talking about this, it's just like pitting ourselves. They'll practically say everything that needs to say that I don't see anything. I don't have any other things to say to this because over time, we have talked about the colossal economic losses in the South East, occasioned by this Monday's seat at home. I'm not only Monday's seat at home. Also, when any day that in Amdicano, the leader of I-POP is going to go there, there's always going to be a seat at home order. I-POP have come out to say that it will not give any directives to that effect. That South Eastern has to go about the animal businesses. So where I'm asking now, who is the person enforcing that? Who is asking that if the man that you say you are trying to protest against, and so he's saying that he's not behind this. There, who is behind this? Then it also means that the leadership within the South East has totally failed these people totally because if, why do we reason why people sit at home? It's not because they really want to sit at home, but because they know that their lives and property cannot be protected by those in government. The secretaries cannot be able to protect them. If they go out and they get killed or murdered or whatever, then they are on their own. If there's enough protection for everybody within this region, then they have to be disabled. So it is much easier for anybody to come and say, oh, who are you talking about? The former governor, Obiyano, did it before he left. He didn't work at the point. I remember one of these period, he's saying he's walking around the street and waiting for one market to go out, but people still show them. When Soludo came in, he gave a flat order that the secret servants must be at work, market must be open. What has happened? Nothing happened. So it is quite unfortunate because I have always said the time and time that you don't continue, if you are fighting for your people and you're also trying to improve with them. The same people you are trying to fight for and the people you are improving with you, the people you are stopping from going about their normal business that people are killing their own. It has even gone beyond that. What have we seen now? We have seen a lot of killing within the South East and just a few days ago, a lawmaker was beheading. But this is what we hear of ISIS in those days, something that was very strange to us. We never thought of, or at times we look at a book or around some of the, when they release some of their videos and rest. But it is happening in the South East, that shows you the level of insecurity in the South East. So you're not just staying as a stay at home on Monday. It has gone beyond that. A lot of people are so afraid to go about their businesses in the South East and that to me is a failure of government. The primary responsibility of every government is the security of life and property and any government at whatever level, federal, state or local government, economic view can be seen to be a total failure. But Chris, you're blaming government for this. I don't know whether you're blaming the federal government or state government, local government, so all of them. But some would say that this trend was tolerated and even encouraged by some governors in the name of agitations and that some, you know, indigents of the Southeast, residents of the Southeast also encouraged the trend when it started as a little fire and now it's become a beemoth that cannot be controlled. Yes, I agree with you. Yes, you know, when it comes to issues like this, and as a stay in my place that is not just giving a monkey a cup of water to take. You can give, you click, climb up, give a monkey a cup of water to take. But the problem is, how do you retrieve that cup from the monkey? Because it may take that cup from you and take the water. Is that jumping from one tree to another? Are you going to be jumping with the monkey and the rest of it? So that is the problem we are having. This has become an endemic and some people are taking full advantage of the situation, of course. Yes, it was an agitation. I personally said this time with a number that as somebody from the Southeast, you cannot just do the baby with the bat water away. I do not, I'm not a member of IPOR, but I resonate with some of the issues raised by someone like Indian and Bikanu, the issue of marginalization and the marginalization of the Southeast, the Igbo's and the rest of them. I want a more pragmatic approach to the issue. But some people want to resort to violence and that is what, because he who's right on the tiger, most of them ends up in the stone man. It is easier for you to start something, but being able to copy, it's just like a normal student or your student, when we're in the university, you know, when we do an anuta, you know we talk about anuta, several times you and I being an anuta guy, you sell. We start an anuta in the university, we have to protect, but before you do it, wood lumps take over the control of that and it gets out of our control. So while we can be able to control our students, our fellow anuta, we will be able to, we will not be able to control our gurus and the rest of them, they'll take advantage of it. There's a big one, a starting motorist doing that, burning down vehicles and the rest of them. The same thing with what is going on. It has totally, those that started this must be able to find a way of, because the Southeast is becoming a noble area for so many people. And that in itself is killing the economy, killing the political and social life of the Southeast. Which I might just end up doing what I did not is as it was in the past. All right. Let's stay with the Southeast and the agitations of that part of the country to produce the next president of Nigeria. The leadership in Nisupa gave some attention to this with its lead story, saying that former minister of science and technology, Obonayano, may be president Puhari's dark horse. Now, is this something that you, you think it's possible then probably did you see this coming? That this man will be a major player as far as the elections or the APC candidates is concerned? Politics is a dynamic thing. You cannot be able to determine what will happen in the next moment. A day is as long as a year in the life of politics. Anything can change and dynamic can change at any point in time. So what I'm just saying is just a conscious job by certain people. Don't forget that every candidate had the way of selling himself and that it's really through the media and giving us also reason. The president came out to say that he has a candidate. He never came out to say the candidate was. And you know what I'm saying? We just have barely few days to the primaries for the presidential candidate of the, and we have close to about 25 or 27 candidates. So I don't know. I'm not a member of APC. I only want to put all these conscious jobs back. If I might own enough, thinking from what I've seen so far, there are still several front runners within the APC. And I wouldn't know whether Mbunayon is one of them. I've not been seeing him moving around. I don't see how he's able to pick up delegates. I've seen the front runners for me remain Ashwajit Bola Mehtunubu, Yemio Shubadjo, probably the senior president, Amanda Lawan, former transportation minister, and Mehti, and one of the two others, Ubunayon, I don't know what to do. But don't forget that in the past, Ubunayon was also a presidential candidate of one of the political parties and we were made to step down for president Muaman Iwari then. I think it was during the days of AMP, CPC and the rest of them. But if the president, in his reason, finding a problem that he is the one that he wants to use, all well and good, but he's just the president, it is the delegates that are going to win. And to make it even worse, from what we read from the papers, you can see that the two delegates will not be part of, they not be part of this primary. I've said the president signed the amended electoral act as quickly as possible. If he doesn't, the delegates within the APC will reduce from 7,800 or there about 2,400 or so. That is a large chunk of the day. I don't know how the members of the National Assembly made that mistake in the course of passing that bill. They are there to make laws. They have their aides who are supposed to help them in putting this thing together. But the 360 members of the House of Representatives and 109 senators overlook issues like the statutory delegates, of which they are also part of. They will not be able to most of this and get this within the electoral act, only for them to come and say, I'm looking at them, the president is literally done, he has been made up his mind. If the president doesn't sign it, that means a large chunk of the delegates will only be the elected delegates that will be part of the primaries. And that in itself is that they should be there on the footage. All right, let's also take a look at the punch newspaper talks about states groaning over delayed revenue sharing and the fact that you have the FAA Smiths today. Now also with this, it's also been reported and the complaints coming, especially from the Commission of Finance and Ben West, they're talking about salaries not being paid as affected salaries being paid for states and also capital expenditure being carried out. Now, how long will states continue in this pattern? And what can really be done? I mean, how do we grow an economy? How do we even, you know, catch up, try to catch up with developed climes if we constantly have states having to be very dependent on federal allocation? Well, let's say there's nothing new what they're doing, it has become a daily occurrence. Every month, they'll fight over at fact the sharing formula or what is to be shared. The dorsions and you see all the commissioners disagreeing with the federal government only. And for me, it's not that, you know, there's so much there's dwindling within the fortunes of Nigeria in what we earn. We are not making much progress on a monthly basis. Our foreign earnings continue to wear and personally, in my personal opinion, I don't seem to bother myself with the state because the fact remains that after we find a new way of doing things we'll continue to come to this terrible situation every month. With situation where the state government have to depend on the federal government close to 90% for their survival. This is not how to grow a country. That is not how to grow an economy. That is not how to grow politically, economically, socially and otherwise. Because, come to think of it, each of these that have become so moral about that they don't even have, they're not even creative at all. They are it ideal, the internal generated revenue is created by the, they're not even doing much, maybe to do the, to grow the, so that in itself, where they just sit back every month and just go to Abuja to get collected for the federal government, come back and share it within themselves, is not going to help any matter. The governors are not doing what they are supposed to do. Yes, we can say that there's so much problem that economy is not looking up and rest of them. But you can also be very, very creative in your way of generating. Let's, let me take you back to what happened in the first four years of, yes, first four, eight years. When we had General Lusiegou and Vasanjia as the President of Nigeria, and Lagos State was denied, is a monthly allocation because of the problem between the federal government or Vasanjia and Bola Mehtunubu. That means the Lagos State government to go back and be able to restrategize and be able to come out with something robust and the way of internal IGR. At the end of it, Lagos State, yes, you can say that Lagos State, yes, has the potentials like River State and one or two other states to be able to go back. They was going to re-event themselves and at the end of it, they didn't even need anything from the federal government. But if they have consistently remained just, if not for that issue they had, Lagos State had with federal government, maybe Lagos State today, we still wouldn't have been like every other state, but you can see Lagos State at any given point in time, whether they're getting anything from federal or not, Lagos State can solely depend on the state. The same thing I expect these states to do. That is what they need to do. There are a lot they can be able to generate. They can go into agriculture for goodness sake. If they go into agriculture, so much they can make so much money from agriculture. Let us even look at other areas where you can see that the federal government is having a strong goal, area of minerals and rest of it. There are still other avenues of making money, but we are so lazy and all they do is just with every month they go to Abuja to share what Abuja have to give and go back to their state and wait to the next month until we're able to do the right thing. They'll continue to go with this kind of problem every month, month in, month out. That will let's be the issue. So for them to be able to do the right thing, they just do the right thing and get creative and find ways of surviving out of without dependence on the federal government and what's come from back. All right, let's go back a bit to this issue of the progressive Congress and the super delegates are some called emissatory delegates because you raised an important point, but there's also an angle to this Chris Kennedy Wando of Lager state who should ordinarily have had a 60 delegates, sorry, 304 delegates. Now if the president doesn't sign the many electoral bill well act will now have 60 delegates and it seems that states from the analysis, states that have more APC officials that are APC led in terms of the governance of that state but have fewer local government areas who have fewer delegates while states that do not have an APC's government but have more local government areas who have more delegates. So for instance a state like Lagos that has only 20 local government areas but has a lot of APC appointed officials or elected officials who have only 60 delegates, state like a river state that has more local government areas than Lagos state but doesn't have an APC state government and has fewer APC appointees who have more delegates than Lagos state. How do you think this advantage for Lagos state if the status quo remains will pan out especially with the chances of Bola Mektimbo in the presidential primary? This will definitely change the dynamics and the calculation in the outcome of the primaries if it remains, the status quo remains as you know I said it earlier on. From all indications without the statutory delegates the delegates to the primaries of the APC and I'm sure from that of BDB is the same it's going to be the same thing, it's totally reduced. I say it's going to be from about 7,800 to about 2,400 but not more than 2,300 something. So you can see that a large chunk of the delegates are not going to participate and that itself will also affect the fortune of most of the aspirants who are depending on most of this state for some kind of circle. Yes, Lagos state is there from what we've seen Lagos is maybe about 20, maybe about 30 Lagos supposed to have close to about 130 but it's 304. For example, it's 20, it's about some other states who had a large number of local governments they won't be fully affected. State like Casinas, like Kanu, we still have their numbers. Bono state will be depleted from what we've seen. Bono is moving from I think about second or third to about fifth within the delegates everything. Whereas some states in the southeast and the south east and the south south may have more delegates than a state like Lagos state state that have more local government than Lagos state show. That is the situation. I personally think that it is for the governors to be able to, especially the governors of the APC because they are the one running the government to be able to preside on the president to be able to do the needful. I don't, the president has not given any reason why he has not signed that list because that in itself may also exclude him from the actual voting, a government official. Yes, but Chris, can I want to, do you believe? You showed me that, well, the president has not signed it is to, the advantage that I don't know what he meant by it is to their own advantage. I don't know what he meant by that. Maybe they're one of those that are not expecting so much from most of the state. So the little that is coming, they might be able to grab but unless the president signed that electoral, amended electoral ads as quickly as possible. But Chris, before you go, Chris, can you hear me, sir? Don't forget, most of them paid as much as 100 million to get that, to pick up those from the PDP to as 40 million. And if they're depending on these delegates and they're not going to get them, I wonder where they're going to get the numbers from. All right, Chris, I was asking for your thoughts on the chances or the effect this will have on Tinnable's aspiration but I think you tactfully dodged that. So who will leave that for another day? And but we have to go. We want to thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much for having me. You have been nice to have you. Well, that's the size of our conversation this morning. Thank you so much, Chris, Kay and DeWandu, for being part of the breakfast. After the press, we look forward to having you next week. We'll step on the brakes when we return. It will be time for us to head straight to our major conversation first right here but just before then, let's tell you what happened today in history. Stay with us.