 On the breakfast, another political dispensation in Nigeria is in the off fingers. Political campaigns for the 2023 general elections begin today. What are the expectations? Let's discuss this ahead on the problem. Also on the breakfast, federal government advised by stakeholders to remove fuel subsidies and implement the Petroleum Industry Act religiously. Don't forget, as usual, we have a daily look at the national newspapers analyzing the biggest stories of the day. We're back with the breakfast in Plus TV Africa. It's a beautiful morning, a bit wet, but hey, a fantastic and cold morning right here in Lagos and we're broadcasting around the nation on Plus TV Africa. My name is Kofi Bartels. Good morning. And I am messy, but poor things for joining us. Indeed. Mercy is a fantastic day. Campaigns are beginning. I do not know whether people should look at our uniforms to tell I'm wearing blue and there's no party that has blue like that, so I check. No, but there are countries that actually have red and white and that's Canada. Anyway, we're not representing the parties here. We're in the media, so of course we're in the middle. Just to give you the information, that's all we want to do. We'll talk about that as we go, but we start with our trending segment. Well, as always, top trending is what we set off with. And usually we look at the issues that are having people, you know, having several conversations around in different spaces, like we like to say. So we call it top trending. First on the list is that the United States courts jail suspended Ogun, governor's aid Abidemi Rufai for five years before I mean, that's actually, you know, something that's been on for a very long time. Now, if you remember a background to that in 20 last year there about in May, there was actually a case that's when this all of this actually started. But fast forward to today, the United States district court has sentenced Abidemi Rufai. Like I mentioned earlier on, he is or he was an aid of governor, who was suspended shortly after all of that for five years imprisonment for fraud. Now, the district courts in Western Tacom in Washington jailed Mr. Rufai on Monday for wire fraud. I mean, I remember one time I saw a friend and then she talked about wire wire, you know, now I understand what the wire wire is, you know, it's the wire fraud. So you're talking about yahoo yahoo, right? So aggravated identity theft with stolen identities. He attempted to steal nearly $2.4 million from the United States government, including approximately $500,000 in pandemic related unemployment benefits. And he pleaded guilty to the charges in May and was said to have succeeded in defrauding 12 US agencies or 600,000 paid out into bank accounts controlled by him. Now, following, if you look at the sentencing, it was said that the motivation was greed, unrestrained greed and callousness towards those who have suffered. The statement that was quoted by the trial, George Benjamin Saddle, saying that based on his plea agreement with the prosecution, Mr. Rufai agreed to pay a full restitution of $604,260 to the defrauded agencies. However, this is what it is. I mean, it's almost endless, but the long and short of this is that, you know, the court has actually decided and this is what it is. If you look at the funds, a lot of persons have reacted, mostly because you say he is a politician or he's an appointee. But however, in 2019 he advised for a political office, House of Reps and the slogan was quite interesting for me where he said, you know, committed, he talked about ethics and trust. And how do you explain all of this? But if you follow the conversation and the pattern and the trend, you discover that the government has, you know, separated himself or themselves from this particular issue. Because I say, I mean, you can't be responsible for an adult's activity of a full grown adult and especially that's not within, you know, the office premise. And so that's what it is. You know, the law has actually taken its course. Well, it's, I think it's a straightforward thing. The money set to have entered into a plea agreement to pay a full restitution of $604,260. I do not know if he pays that restitution. Probably it means that he, the plea bargain may get him either a reduced sentence or he goes free. But the DOJ is saying that he is not fully cooperated with efforts to identify and for fee assets that could be used for restitution. So seems he'll be cooling his heels, you know, asking for about six years, six-year prison sentence for Rufi. And it's saying that the scheme damaged people who needed help. It's the real people who needed help, you know. So what the prosecuting special agents is saying that his fraud schemes damaged or begun with a filing fraudulent tax returns, all right. Filing fraudulent tax returns from stolen identities. Because in America, you have to pay your tax. If you don't pay your tax, you could actually end up in jail, you know. Like you could have the government who come at you with cases and you're taking the court. So you have to pay your tax. And people sometimes they try to look at how they can beat the system. Because in some states, the tax is higher than some states, you know. So what I remember some people do is they drive, okay, to a state that has a lower tax regime or lower tax rate. And then they pay, they file their tax returns there. That's what some people do, they drive. It's not in this part of the world where we don't pay the taxes. In America, you have to pay your taxes. So and people look for all sorts of ways. Not everyone, you know, to maybe have a lower use the system, you know, the rules and laws to the advantage. So they drive to another state to try and see how they can get lower tax. So what they're saying is that he, his fraud schemes began with filing fraudulent tax returns with stolen identities, all right. So you go and pick people's identities and then you use that to your advantage. Apart from that, he also pilfered economic aid, you know. Some of these are welfare programs that the government gives to maybe indigenous Americans. He pilfered economic aid designed to help disadvantaged workers. And families suffering through the COVID-19 pandemic. So these are things people do, you know. Maybe there's welfare, you sign off for welfare, but you're not qualified or you look at ways to get more than your fair share by cheating the system. All these amounts of fraud and everything amounted to more than $600,000. So there it is. I mean, I do not know the man. Apart from what has been presented before us, I don't have all the details. We don't want to judge him beyond what I know. But maybe we can just say that, you know, those who find themselves in the corridors of power, most times in this country, live a lot to be desired. Live a lot to be desired. And that's that. That's that. The questionable characters, you know, all of our government. The questionable characters, all of our, I'm not, I'm not just talking about Rufai because I don't know him in this particular case. But I'm just saying with experience over time, you know, you have questionable characters of government. But anyway, that's that. Maybe you want to add something to this. Yes, why not? Because if you look at it yesterday, we also talked about an issue. We're talking about John Lyon right there or John Ewa, however you put it. And one thing that they have in common is looking at the display of affluence. I mean, there are videos that surfaced on the internet. You would see where he attended ceremony and he was, you know, throwing out money right there. This was not really, you know, the Naira currency. And it brings us back to the same, you know, issue of when we get to a society where we can actually probe whether or not you are government official and appointee. We begin to probe the source of people's wealth and how people, you know, spend money. Quite unfortunate. At the end of the day, you see a lot of luxurious lifestyle. And you ask yourself, as a political appointee, can you afford, you know, to leave and portray such lifestyle? That's another question. But we need to move away from that for the want of time. All right, let's see the second trending, you know, story. Yesterday I saw the story. It was in the papers and people have been commenting on it all over social media. I actually put a screenshot on my Facebook page in the morning and so many people commenting on this. You know, the Klamo by the Wike group in the People's Democratic Party. I don't want to call it Wike faction, but a Wike group in the People's Democratic Party. To have the chairman of the party removed, of course yesterday we saw it in this day, newspaper, that there was a headline saying, or Tom Briggs with Wike says he's not supporting our use removal. And a lot of tongues went wagging, you know. I just want to go to some comment. It's simply saying that the man who's been moving with Yes and Wike all this while is saying that he was, he's dismissing insinuations of the paper. This day put out a story saying that or Tom was dismissing insinuations or dismissed insinuations that he was in support of the removal of the PDP Chairman Ayu, your chair, your senator. He says it's impossible for him to advocate the removal of someone he helped to appoint. You know, of course, Ayu is a Ben Ray man, just like Governor Samuel O'Tom. It's what he said. And you know, the story went out online and quite a number of people were commenting on this. I mean, if I look at some of the comments out there online, I can take Facebook, for instance. Rivers people, you know, because those are my people, were all over the story. Someone says it's better we wait for someday if there will be a denial. It's what a gentleman called Thompson Sunday said. Let's wait for some days to see if there will be a denial. We are aware of how they do it here. Someone said O'Tom is just protecting his ambition, but it will shock him soon. Someone says politicians are deadly. Looking at how close O'Tom has been to weekend, what he's saying now. Another person says they will all pull out from Mr. Flyover to his greatest surprise and ultimate frustration. You know who Mr. Flyover is referring to is. Another person says his senatorial ambition is at stake. It's either he supports weekend to remove IU and forget about going to the Senate or be on the side of IU to go to the Senate because it's still a PDP member. But I think we'll just highlight the what one gentleman called Thompson Sunday said on Facebook. He said it's better we wait for some days if there will be a denial. We are aware of how the politicians do it here. And indeed, the gentleman was not right in his permutation. Oh yes, because O'Tom has denied. So this day, now some papers put out, this is how they put it. Vanguard said PDP crisis will continue to start on weekend, O'Tom. But this day, who I think will first broke the story if I'm not mistaken, said PDP crisis. O'Tom in double speak as he says, he won't abandon weekend. They are saying double speak. In other words, speaking from both sides of his mouth. You see, both men were so close to the extent that the cap that O'Tom is wearing, you can see on that picture, we growled again. That O'Tom cap, it's a signature cap. Just like Bola Mettinubu aka Miloko, he has his own cap. This O'Tom cap, he gifted weekend cap. And weekend wore that cap as Governor of USAID for, I don't know, maybe almost a year, almost every occasion he went to public forum with he was wearing that cap. He was so proud of that cap. He was so in love with that cap. And he kept wearing that cap. He kept wearing that cap. I do not know what happened. But anyway, less than 24 hours after O'Tom is said, to dismiss insinuations that he was in support of the removal of Iochai U National Chairman of the PDP, he denied that statement he issued on the matter. He was said to have issued on the matter and he vowed not to abandon the River State governor, his fellow governor, yes, on weekend. But he was curiously silent on IU. He didn't say anything. This is how the paper put it. This is how the paper put it. He had to speak to journalists yesterday, shortly after presiding over the Benway Northwest Central District caucus meeting. So he met with his caucus. That central thing is quite dicey for him. You know, after meeting, he said, oh, Wickey is his friend and fellow governor. He's not going to abandon him. He said Wickey was not treated fairly by the party. But I mean, if you go online, I came across a picture yesterday shared by a page of his Instagram page, it's popular in Podhakot, where it shows Governor Wickey with Yaya Toure. Yaya Toure, all right? Somewhere in London, Wickey just recently jetted out to UK after his recent display and speeches and all that, especially that National Intellivised interview he gave, you know, where he opened a can of worms on the situation in the PDP now. This picture has Yaya Toure. He also has Samuel O'Tom in that picture. You know, he has Samuel O'Tom. I think he's the only governor I can see in that picture. I can see also, okay, I think Governor Gwaii is there if I'm not mistaken. But he has Samuel O'Tom in that picture, just recently in London. So the insinuations of the men are no more together, may not be correct, may not be correct. So for whatever it's actually playing out, I mean, no one should be surprised with all of it because in the end, or at the end of it, you say that's what politics is about. Everyone for his interests and every man for himself at the end of the day, and that's what has constantly crippled our democracy because, you know, on the long run, no one really thinks about national interests. And when every, you know, you have political players come together, you have these actors come together at the scene, everyone might be protecting their interests. Now if you look at the issue of contention here between, you know, Wike, following the fact that he lost out in the primaries, and we understood the dynamics that actually played out. Some people think that he betrayed, you know, the region, the southern parts of the country from grabbing, you know, the ticket at the end of the day, and he didn't work out for him. Some people think that you see the likes of Akpabi and the rest turning against him, and that's why he lost out almost in the primaries because, I mean, a lot happened during that period. And so who would you take it out on? Some people feel like this might just be a bias. But the issue that he's raised has constantly been a question. I mean, you ask yourself, is it really a valid concern if you have a party? I mean, you're talking about political parties, and this is where it starts from. When you have a party at the end of the day, the sole aim of all of this political party is that the, you know, the whole power, you know, the win and election, of course they try to control sits across different parts of the country. But in most cases, you find out that the party politics, I mean, talking about democracy, where people are allowed to express themselves, this free, fair process for everyone, you know, to vie for whatever, I mean, the snow control whatsoever, is the issue, right here. So I think that if you look at it now, the issue that he's asking for, if you have the North controlling the chairmanship and then the presidential candidate, what happens to the South? If the party at that party level said, hey, we'll have an agreement and this is what it sees, this is what it should be, then what really happened to all of that? So, but could it be that, you know, Wikia is actually navigating this towards the interest of the party, or for his own interest? I mean, it's another question to answer. And what do you expect at the end of the day? Do you expect the governor of, you know, Benway State, is he really acting for the interest of the party or is he acting for his own interest? These are the questions. But long and short of all of this is that, you find out that when these players come together at the largest scene, what always, you know, plays out as personal interest? It might just masquerade itself in, you know, us. Yeah, but the question of the party, it might be the interest of the people. Yeah, the question of, I mean, is, you know, Autumn issued a statement through his media aid. I mean, the story is all over. You can, you can read the issue of the statement through his media aid. So, I mean, what happened? Was it, was it a, were the reports lined? The aid issued a statement without his augers, it permitted his award auger, his auger's approval. Nathaniel E. Q. is his chief press secretary. He's not, he's not maybe one of these, you know, politicians who is not in power as, you know, aid, just moving around, just trying to say something. Some people, he called him data boys. He's not a data boy. You know, some of these politicians have aid to move around just. This is the aid of the governor, the press secretary of the governor of Ben Weston who issued a statement which clearly stated Autumn's position, saying that he is not in support of, part of those who are calling for the removal of Iochai, who is the chairman of the party. I'm sure that some people, from the party who is in central district asking, what's going on? Are you with our party or against them? We know who we vote for in the next election. Maybe that's what's playing out. So, it's just like, you know, very funny one. I use the fellow panel man. Probably he's trying to be politically, you know, in between. Look at the case of Syahima Kendi, who also has to look at his future in the PDP and his political future in your state to try and see how we can balance the act, you know, to not be seen as being against the Southwestern presidential candidate, but also to be a party man. And also, you know, he has to balance it. So, we have to move on. Well, I think that, just like I have mentioned, you know, it's at the end of the day, whether or not the statement came from him or not him, you just understand that everyone will be playing towards protecting their interests. And that's what politics is about. What we take a break down when we return will be time for us to go through the pages of National Daily. So, call it after press. Please stay with us.