 You're welcome back. We did say that we're going to be talking security and women's participation in the election or in politics And we're being joined by Mr. Augustine Ega, a security expert. Welcome to the program Augustine. Augustine, can you hear me? I can hear you. Good morning. Okay. Good morning. Well, let us begin by assessing the level of preparedness of INEC as it regards security. Yeah, I think from what we can see in town now, there have been a lot of redeployment of their officers. I mean, the men of the police force, they are everywhere. And also other law enforcement bodies and also the Nigerian Army is also supporting the Nigerian police because the Nigerian police are the primary people in charge of this election supervision to maintain law and order. But other military personnel have also joined and other law enforcement bodies have also joined them. Around town, we can see that in very sensitive boots, some of the intelligence units, they are not wearing uniforms. They are all over the pulling units. You will not recognize them. Some are not on uniforms. They are gathering intelligence of every area. They are communicating with themselves and ensuring that everything works according to plan. I'll ask you the second question. Mr. Bayo Loakey has been standing by very patiently. I haven't even introduced him today, but he's been there all this while. Bayo, I'm so glad to have you join us this morning. Good morning to you. Hello, Bayo. Yes, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you right now. Okay. Mr. Augustin Ega is on now, and we're talking this security. And I know that you always have good questions for Mr. Ega. But let me just ask him this before I hand him over to you. Mr. Ega, let me come back to you. What are the points? I don't want to use flash points that the security should be looking at this election because tomorrow is just a matter of hours before the election proper begins. So where do you think concentration should be? And what do you think should be done by the security agencies? I think there are two aspects of security we must look at. On the physical side is just what I mentioned. We can see the law enforcement people in some of the places where they have their men. There was this concern from beginning that how are they going to get their men to handle this election? There were fears that this election could be postponed. And I also mentioned earlier that there's always a backup plan by the police to withdraw some of their men from sensitive bicks in order to measure up with this election. And from the physical security, I think they are everywhere. Some are in uniform. Some are in plain clothes. The DSS, they are all in the intelligence unit, both the military and all the law enforcement. Some are not really putting on uniforms. And they are everywhere trying to ensure that things are working. Based on also the normal cash crunch that we can see in the society today in Nigeria, it has also minimized the rate of movement. I mean travels around town. We can see that the streets are a little bit quiet, just like what you say. People can drive freely. That shows that with this minimal movement on the streets, it's also some form of security for us to ensure that this event or this exercise becomes a success. Now on the logical security, which is cyber security, that is where I have major concerns because everything has gone logical. What I mean logical I mean cyber or digital. I don't know the preparation from INEC because if they all the election results will be uploaded instantly to the web. I think we need to have some very, very good cyber experts that will help us protect the integrity of this results so that they don't change the results online. And these are the things, these are the side that I think comes in. But on the physical side, I am very, very sure that the Nigerian police and the law enforcement and all the military paraciters, they are well on ground to ensure that they give their best. Okay, Bayo, he's all yours now. I hand him over to you. Bayo, can you hear me? Okay, Bayo cannot hear me now or if he can hear me, I cannot hear him now. So Mr. Ega, you're still with me. We've had international observers come in. We've had external concerns, countries from around the world expressing concern over this election and talking about security, talking about the need for peaceful elections and so many other things that the eyes of the world are on Nigeria right now. Do you think all these will help to bring calmness to this election? Yes, I'm sure it will bring calmness. You see, you said a child that is monitored will definitely want to do well. And I can see that the most tense election we've ever had was the election of Joe Goodlop, Jonathan, former president, Goodlop, Jonathan and the sitting president. That was the most tense election we've ever had and will ever have in Nigeria because during that period, I was also monitoring events from Ghana. The Marine Corps, the US Marine Corps, they were all around in Ghana and trying to see how they could do backup plans. In fact, even moving their main out of Nigeria or standing by for any emergencies that will happen. And it's a good thing for us because it's a form of deterrence. If the people in Nigeria want to compromise from any authority, they should know that Nigeria is not just standing alone. Nigeria is part of the international community. And so with them coming to observe with us, it is a good thing that it will help us to really do the right thing. A few days back, they had this peace accord. Of course, that started during Jonathan and the sitting president, the Buhari, where they had the peace accord signed. I think about a few days back, a few hours back, the contest and the presidential candidates were also in Abuja to sign the peace pact. And these are all measures to ensure that we have a peaceful election. Okay, Bayo, we lost your audio at some point, so glad to have you back. Here's all yours, please. Yes, thank you, Yamgoo. And Mr. Ega, it's always a pleasure to have you on the program. Good morning. Good morning. Yes, I have been looking at the entire set up and the preparations. And I have been particularly impressed by the fact that all the political parties campaigned across the country. Maybe with the exception of Podakot if I'm right, we had an explosion before a particular rally in Podakot. But otherwise, everything has gone well. Now, there are those who suggest that this could underscore the claim of the military that they had actually neutralized the insurgency. Because we know that, for instance, 2013-2014, even most parts of the south had big issues with fears of Boko Haram. What's your response to that? You know, vis-à-vis the conduct of the elections, the security around, sorry, the conduct of the campaigns. The security around those campaigns and so on. What's your thought on that? I think we have very enlightened electorates right now. We have people who are very enlightened. The political leaders are enlightened. They have come to realize that it's not a do or die. I mean, we can see some of these leaders in those political parties that are contesting, actually having their own time and shaking hands and laughing. I think the society, I think the citizens of Nigeria have come to realize that it is a sport. To me, I see politics as a sport. And then they are realizing it because most of Nigerians are football fans. I think that is helping us to bring it into play in politics. That it is not something that everyone has to die for. And this has helped us this far to see that the political parties and their leaders have conducted themselves very well. And ensuring that Nigeria being in this state of violence for some time, they are really trying their best to ensure that they come the whole situation. And I can also, I'm also satisfied to say that the military, I think I read a comment yesterday, that the Nairas Cassidy or the cash crunch that we have right now has helped them to mitigate insorgency. And of course, we know that that is very true because most of these things, there are things that really need money to buy anything off. And some of these illegal buying, it's not something they do digital. It's something they do physical. So by taking off this cash off the system, somehow has also helped to calm the security situation in Nigeria. Even the campaigns, you can see that people are really out to just support. But those sharing like we used to see, of course, even if they are sharing is not really there like before. And these are things that have also helped us at this moment that we are having a peaceful time to really talk. And I'm sure that we are going to have a very peaceful election. Okay. Now, we've always been concerned about the size of the police, you know. And unfortunately, in my view, we do not seem to be doing anything about that. From the time of President Jonathan, even under President Buhari, they don't quite some things for the police. But the issue of the size of the police is still a big one. And you just alluded to the hierarchy of our police withdrawing police officers from bits that are less sensitive. I look at the fact, if I'm correct, that we have 179,000 polling units. I'm just trying to make sure, sorry, 176,846 polling units for the presidential election. If we put one police officer, because there must be one police officer at least in each of the polling units. That would be 176,846 polling units. We cannot put the military in polling units because that's not allowed anywhere. Only the police can be in polling units. Do you think we are ready to have almost 177,000 police officers? We could be twice that. If we keep two police officers, because police, you don't put one police officer anywhere. Many countries, there's always two police officers at once. That would be 176,846, 846 times two. Are we really up to that? Well, you see, when it comes to logistics, you know, some of these intelligence, there's a way, there's a handshaking. You know, if we depend on only just the police, they have law enforcement. You know, when it comes to this state, the civil defense, civil, as you can hear the word, the name civil, they are very involved just like the police. Before they were not armed, now they are armed. And they also have DSS, which you will not know their number. How do you get in it, sir? So they have DSS, they are very much involved in this, they are involved in the election process. But you will not really know them because they are plain clothes guys, they are secret service. And so they know how they strategize in their manpower. And they have been giving us results. And now that we have this kind of a logical approach to handling this election process, I think it's something that is even, it's not even more demanding on having too much manpower. Because everything is going to be digital. And of course, they have DSS, they have the law enforcement, somehow on the background without clothes. They're just to check, to check my certain violence. But I'm sure that from the strategy that they have, I'm sure they are prepared. If they are not prepared, definitely they will inform the presidency that they are not prepared. But if it's a go for us, I'm sure the security situation is solid for us to go. Okay. Okay. So it's good to hear that. Sorry, I'm good. You can go ahead. I was going to do a follow up of which would be like a wrap up. Okay. Yeah. At this point is, is just 12 hours to that, that D day. So I'm just asking what security measures can be deployed by the citizens themselves in order to stay safe, yet still protect their votes. Right. Right now, the citizens are, first of all, they must know where they are going to vote. Because you see some certain confusion that I've had in the past. You see somebody will go through two polling units or three polling units until they get frustrated at the end they won't vote. I think this is the best hour to find out where you're supposed to vote, where your polling unit is, your polling station, where you need to vote. This is the hour to find out, not tomorrow morning. And before they leave, there are so many emergency numbers we have for the media, including the television media and the radio, they all have their lines that we can call. They have the Nigerian military have also produced, they also provided us with the emergency numbers. We also have the Nigerian police and all law enforcement. They have the emergency numbers everywhere. So before anyone leaves this house, I believe we should have all of these numbers working. The media, the law enforcement, the military should have all these numbers so that if you see anything, you say something by calling either the law enforcement or military or the media to help you take shots and ensure that you send some evidence to the media to back up whatever point you're making. And when they go to the polling units, it's advisable, doesn't be aware that the campaign is over. There's nothing like I stand for this party or not. At this moment, you need to keep quiet so that you don't raise some sort of violence at the polling unit, the polling stations. So you just go there and ensure that you keep yourself where you're voting for. We've got those areas that will also bring some kind of violence against some citizens who are not aware of it, that you need to keep quiet. This is a moment of silence from now till you cast your votes. There should be no talk about politics or political party anymore. I think this is what I see. When they go, they should be adhering to the instruction that will be given. They will definitely meet the INC officials, they will meet certain laws because people are trying to conduct them on the crowd. Just obey the crowd. Obey the people organizing the crowd so that if there is condo, there is obedience, there is some sort of compliance to the rules and regulation in the particular polling unit. I'm so ordered to follow suit. But if there's this confusion, we're going to have confusion at the polling unit. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Augustine Nega for coming on the program and giving us security tips. It's good that you are very confident that tomorrow will be a very, very peaceful election and God willing, we really are going to have that. So we are hoping that you are going to vote as well tomorrow, right? Very prepared. Very prepared to vote. Well, vote well, stay safe. Thank you for coming on the program today. Thank you, welcome. It's a pleasure. Okay, it's always a pleasure talking with Mr. Augustine, a guy, a security expert of International Repute, and he's telling us that tomorrow is going to be very peaceful and we all are hoping for that. And we're going to take a short break right now. When we return, we'll be talking about women participation in election or in politics generally, and we'll be joined by our guests. In the meantime, just stay with us.