 Professional chess player and coach Babatunde Onokoya says chess saved him, now he's using the game to educate children in slum communities, who joined us to share in the smartness from slum story. For the first time, Nigeria crossed 1,000 new daily COVID-19 infection that without fatality, and we inch in closer to a fourth wave. And like always, we will be reviewing the top stories in the dailies with an analyst. Many thanks for joining us on the breakfast and plus TV Africa. I am Justin Akadunye. Merci, good morning to you. Yeah, good morning Justin. It's good to be with you. Yes, it's a great weekend, and I'm sure a lot of people are actually bracing up for the fun ahead and of course the relaxation for, you know, the weekend. I will be starting with some top trending and one of the stories in the news right now is no promotion for airing judges. You know, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanco Mohammed, has actually announced that judges who have been given conflicting judgment and rulings on most cases that we have had over time, you know, will not actually be getting any promotion. That's because, you know, the judiciary, as they always say, it's the hope of the common man. And the problem that we have, like we constantly talk about is not the fact that we don't have laws. We do have laws in our country, right? But the implementation of these laws and obeying the laws is what's actually, you know, a major challenge for us. Now, and if you remember vividly, it was within a week that you had different court orders, you know, from the one from Kebi and then River State and also Cross River State. Now, do you want to talk about the national judiciary of, what's it called, the NJC now? The Judicial Council. Okay, apart from the fact that, apart from the fact that, you know, the council has a responsibility of advising the president and governors, they also have a responsibility of disciplinary function. And that's what it is. So it is quite commendable the fact that this should serve as a deterrent. It should serve as a deterrent to other judges and to everyone in the practitioners. Because we can't constantly just wake up. That's, it threw the country into a serious commotion and confusion. And a lot of persons were totally, you know, concerned about the fact that how can this come from, you know, the judiciary. Now, the function of a judiciary in a democratic dispensation can never be disputed. I mean, you talk about the fact that they interpret the law, interpretation of the law. You know, they also ensure, tells us and protects groups and people, you know, from the government. So you can't be the one, you know, giving different orders when you understand what the law says and, you know, acting contrary. So yes, I think it's a step in the right direction, the fact that this punishment has been put out. And I hope that it serves as a deterrent to every other person, you know, in the judiciary. Yes, it is a welcome development. I couldn't agree more because as some of these judges, they end up causing more than chaos to the judicial system in Nigeria, not just the judges themselves. Sometimes even the lawyers, you know, they tend to make the matter, you know, or the matter is worse when they know that there has been maybe a particular judgment and that they go to another court on even of the same jurisdiction to, you know, file applications, you know, feed of it and of course, export to motions there and there, knowing that it should just cause some sort of a delay in the dispensation of justice. But I agree with Tancom Mohamed. No promotion for Aaron George's. This couldn't have come at a better time. All right, another story trending right now is the Chinese government is actually sending investigation experts to help Nigeria in its fight against insurgency and security generally. Merci. This was a fallout of an agreement. You know, the Chinese government had Nigeria sometime October 1 this year. There was some sort of a Nigeria, Nigeria, Chinese, you know, friendship or something like that. And in all of this, they say that the fight against terrorism can may not be entirely handled by just the country and its people. Sometimes there is the need for international aid and help. And the Chinese government is actually stepping up, you know, to send some of your experts to Nigeria. A lot of people have greeted that particular, you know, development with mixed reactions. Some say that it is a welcome development. Others are saying that, you know, there may be some close to it if the Chinese government is bringing their experts. What's the need for them, really? Exactly the question, because we also need to understand the politics that happens outside, you know, when nations come together. You always need to understand that everyone would want to represent their interests. And so China would not just wake up and be interested, you know, in Nigeria's security. Did we invite them or did us head back and thought that we need to extend help? As much as we say no one should live in isolation, you can't get it all by yourself. And that's why there's a message for globalization and, you know, global peace and prosperity. At the end of the day, if you look at the reality, you'll find that everyone is looking out for their interests with their policies at the end of the day to protect their own country. So first of all, as much as one would say, OK, yes, do we need some collaboration? Do we need help? Is it OK to ask for assistance and help in combating, you know, the security challenge? We also need to begin to look at what kind of challenge we're combating here. I mean, security concerns. We have internal issues. And let's not forget that we're a sovereign nation. And when you say you're a sovereign nation, it means that you have, you know, you have gotten to the level where you can solve your problems without any, you know, interference. Right. So being a sovereign nation, being the fact that we have security concerns, these are internal issues. It doesn't, I don't know if we understand that we know, we know exactly what the problems are. We understand the dynamics. They're just not, it's not just, you know, it's not just limited to a particular, I mean, if you want to begin to categorize them, you will talk about the issue of kidnapping and banditry and what have you, you know, to the northeast in part of the country and you want to come to, you know, the south, south region of the southeast. You talk about the issue of marginalization that is causing, you know, the agitation. Which is also causing, yeah, which is also causing all of that challenge and pockets of issues around. So the issues are, you know, internal issues. And whether or not we have, you know, all of these experts come from wherever we're going to bring the best brains and bring all of them. When it comes to implementation, it comes to doing, so we have them train the officers until we do what we ought to do. It wouldn't change anything. So it's okay to say, yes, we're coming to have this expert exchange knowledge. Yeah, that's good. That's applaudable. Who would be implementing them? The Nigerian police, the Nigerian army, or what have you, the security agencies, as long as, because it's the same thing as saying you could read something, you could have information and you do contrary to what you have. So the problem is not about, you know, the information. I think that we have what it takes to take care of our security concerns. Yes, I know that some people would not want to agree with that and say, okay, in terms of, you know, in terms of weapons, we depend so much on the Western world for weapons and weaponry. And this has always been the case, you know, for us as a country to some extent. We have always been very dependent. I remember a time where Nigeria was, you know, faced with the particular war where we lost out on that one. And that's because the sanction that was placed on Nigeria, I think it was, you know, in Kensahari, it was an execution when we had all of that, you know, military, I mean, the sanction on Nigeria. We threw all of the might. So all of the countries that gave military support and weaponry and all that, we drew it. And that's what happens when your dependency is so much on this country for almost everything. But it boils down to the fact that whether or not we bring, you know, the, I don't even know what to call it. I don't know who they bring up. Intelligence. As much as we are the ones implementing it. Because we'll see, these things are not going to be implemented, the arrests. I mean, we've talked about the fact that we have identified the persons who have sponsored. It's not like we don't know. So we say we know those who are sponsoring terrorism and the bandits in our country, we know. We're not supposed to, the federal government has said, we know the sponsors. I say supposedly because they're not doing what they're supposed to do. The federal government is also saying, oh, we are aware that people are collecting taxes. This group of persons are collecting taxes. We know ex-wives. So why haven't we arrested? Why haven't we had people, you know, going through facing the law as it were? Mother is mother. And so we're beginning to say, let's begin to create other laws. These people are killing people. And the constitution makes provision for the issue of mother. So I really do not understand. So whether or not we're going to, because we don't, we have a police force. We do have a police force. Don't we have, you know, security, we have different. There have been several bodies that have been created, states, joint effort and what have you. So why aren't we arresting? So if we have China now come with their, you know, intelligence and their experts and their professionals. What do they do differently? When they're gone. Does it mean that we will now start affecting arrest? Well, I think in my opinion, I think in my opinion, you know, the best they could do, they could decide to offer their support, you know, whatever it is. But Nigerians actually, Nigeria should have the final say in what direction it wants to drive its own security or, you know, tactics and all of that. If it means buying weapons from or getting tanker ships or whatever it is to combat. That's not necessarily the problem. So basically when they talk about China coming to support us, it's as though we're actually just leaving ourselves to the mercy of the Asian world. Whatever, you know, they bring to us, we just accept and hopefully we might get the solutions that we need. But I don't think that's the way to go about it. We'll leave that for a bit now. We'll talk about the final. Talk training. It actually makes me laugh. I am laughing right now, but some group of people or some residents from some Asian countries would not be able to laugh for the next 11 days. Not drink alcohol, you know, because they have to do that in respect of their leader. I'm not laughing. I'm just wondering how you could just go about mercy. Can you imagine going one full day without laughing or smiling? Well, it's possible. It's possible not to laugh. I know you so well. It's possible not to laugh. For 11 days, mercy. It's possible not to laugh. I mean, if you live in that country, so let me put it back to you. If you were in South Korea now, North Korea, if you were in North Korea, tell me that you would not obey that law. Some knows, I don't know, would be hard to build. Would you just be in perpetual sadness? The truth with North Korea is the fact that they have stringent laws. I mean, it's a totalitarian nation. It's crazy. And so you have the leadership. There are laws that have been classified as unusual. We're talking about those laws as unusual because we live in a democratic dispensation. And that's why I would always say, and I would follow the people who argue that the worst form of democracy is still better than the best form of any military government. Now, there are several rules. Do you also know that it is also a crime to make calls? There are too many unusual laws, international call, in North Korea. In 2007, if I'm not mistaken, a man was actually executed for that. Women are not even allowed to drive. I don't know if that has actually changed. There are too many issues. There are several laws. You're not allowed to listen to foreign music. You're not allowed to wear jeans. You're not allowed to... There was a time where... They're just existed. They're not even living as it is. And that's why at some point, so you need to take a breather and begin to appreciate democracy. Some people have argued that democracy is not the best form of government. And I will always say that as the worst form of democracy that you would have ever, it is way better than... Would you just have your freedoms? It's way better than living in a system. You're not even allowed access to the internet. You know that? They don't have access to the internet. And those people who have access to the internet adjust to select few. And that is highly monitored. So they don't have access to internet, no mobile phone connection. And even if they do have all of that. So I'm entirely not surprised that there's been a ban. The death of the leader of North Korea is also a huge issue also. So there are too many laws that, like you have described, draconian and they're not very, very surprised. There's also a time where, you know, leather jackets were being banned. Did you see that report? Yeah, because people were actually emulating, copying that. The supreme leader. So you're not even allowed to sleep. It's also a crime for you to sleep while he's making a speech. So you're in a meeting and you're dozing off. You know how many persons would have gone, would have been dead in Niger? Sometimes we watch them on TV, even in the National Assembly, they're dozing off. You know, when they're having serious conversations and deliberating and making lots. Too many people would have been dead. But you see, it's time for us to sit back and appreciate the fact that we're in a democratic dispensation. As horrible as we think it is. But you know, it's better than any, any world. So we're feeling is weird right now. We're feeling is strange. It is weird. Yeah. The fact that I can laugh. The reason you're feeling that it's strange and weird is because you leave. Yes, you don't leave there. We practice a different kind of, you know, democracy. And that's why I mean, we practice democracy is not a different kind. So that's a system where, you know, the draconian laws is a totalitarian, military, authoritarian kind of government. And that's what is expected. So you see, for those who would always advocate that kind of law, you don't even want to say it. I mean, my parents and my grandparents who lived, you know, during that era. They lived in North Korea. No, not in North Korea. I probably would have been in North Korea by now. I'm just saying. You're not even laughing right now. No. I would still laugh. Unless you would not laugh. You can still hide under the people. You're not laughing. You will not even try. No, you know, maybe you probably can't laugh in the public. Nobody would be there to see you when you're laughing. You could probably still laugh in your house, except nobody have to snitch on you. Maybe somebody goes out and say you were laughing or take a picture. Okay, they don't have access to the phone. So how do I take a picture? It is really strange. I can't imagine it. No, I'm not surprised. I want to laugh. I can't laugh. For those who actually take alcoholic and beverages, they can't. There are some people actually who believe in alcohol. No, but it's very also close in Nigeria. I mean, if you go to something, nothing part of Nigeria, also find out that, you know, alcohol beverage is not particularly nice. I know that. But the part of not laughing. So how do you explain the fact that there are other laws? I should laugh when I want to. You can't listen to foreign music. You can't do anything. No comedy show. I mean, there are several laws. I'm not surprised. Christmas, you want to go for comedy shows. You can't do that right now. It's a different country entirely. Different laws. I want to laugh. And I thank God that I actually have the privilege and the freedom and the right to laugh. I'm right now happy that I am from Nigeria. But that's as much as we can take on our top trending in a moment. We'll be back with the press and GB Johnson will be joining us in a minute. Don't go away.