 Okay, well, when we talk about logistics, we cannot separate that from security as well because we're talking preparedness of INEC. We're talking about the things that they need to do before and during elections and even after elections and security is a very integral part of it. We have joining us Mr. Augustin Ega from Ibadan. He's joining us. Augustin Ega, are you there? Can you hear us? Good morning and welcome to the program. Good morning everyone. Yeah. Okay, I know that you are eaching to go to your polling unit to vote and all that. So let's just quickly do this. How would you assess the level of preparedness security-wise for this election beginning from where you are in Ibadan? I think from what I can see, security-wise, they are very prepared. The civil defense are on top of it with the Nigerian police and we also have the military giving back up to the Nigerian police because they are the primary supervisors of the elections. And as I said, you cannot really count the numbers of police because some of them are undercover. And period to this day, they have been working undercover together intelligence about every polling unit. Of course, you know how security they work in their own wise, they won't tell you what they're doing. But I can assure you that right now, they are the first people I've been able to cite in some of the very close polling booths around me here. I know that some of them have been around there and I'm sure that the level of preparedness from the police or from the security agencies is top notch and we'll receive the best I respect from them. When we talk about security agencies is what they have done to keep us safe. What should the people know at this time because they are going out to vote, they are going out to perform their civic duties and they want also to protect their votes and everything. But how can they do this and stay safe? Well, today, like we said earlier, it's not the day for anybody to go there and campaign. There are strict rules that guide us to be and so as a citizen, as you go there, there's no time to wear this. Today is not the day to wear branded t-shirts of any political party. That's the first thing. That's the first red flag for any citizens that would try to do that and the citizen need to be aware of vote buying because I know some of them have really prepared with some backs of money to buy conscience and people to sell their conscience for money. I think those who are going there should be very, very careful. If I see the streets are a bit empty, the streets are empty. I can see security vehicles on the street moving. That shows another level of rehearsal. The citizens that are going to vote, they should know that violence can erupt at any polling booth. I advise that where they have some gatherings that you don't understand, you should not be a part of that gathering because they will have intra and interparty clashes today. The party, my party, my party, they know themselves, even if they are not putting on their branded t-shirts, they all know themselves and they know the mission that they are there for. Of course, there will be some elements of machineries that have been hired just to create violence in those areas. They are not really there to vote, but their own is to commit criminal activity. So let everyone be aware that there are some people who will be moving with dangerous weapons. Some lightweight weapons that you probably understand, and then that's why you don't need to get involved in any open confrontation with anybody. And there should be very, very a lot that some agencies, especially the media, the civil defense, the Nigerian police and even the military, have made provision for all emergency numbers. They should not leave their homes without having this emergency number, including their family emergency numbers. And so that if there is something that relates to a media, the media need to know quickly, get the shot, get the evidence, and then forward to any of the media organizations as a backup to defend any claims that you have in any polling booth. And monitoring, if you still want to, if they still want to remain and then monitor their votes, I think they should still look for a safe place and stand and then monitor the process. It's not something that should involve argument and fighting, because if that erupts, of course, the INEC, they know what to do in such kind of polling booths and the police will be actually be there to arrest anybody that will create violence in that area. Those are the few things that I have for anyone going out today. OK. I mean, just as we allow you to go cast your votes this morning, let's, you know, look at the capacity now. We are just pretty excited about the deployment of security personnel, 400,000, according to Usman Baba, for these elections. And then you look at it, we're anticipating that 87 million PVC collectors, I mean, those who have their PVCs will go to cast their votes, not also forgetting the fact that over 200 and, you know, 211, 206 million persons as a population. Do you think that this number can do justice to ensuring peace and order in the entire federating unit, especially where votes will be casted? Of course, the 400,000 to 87 million persons apparently who will go out to cast their votes. 30 to 35 percent vote has turned out in the last five circuits of elections. So it's very, it's very possible because it's not the Nigerian police only that is doing this. In fact, before the elections, they have had series of they call it training. Some of this training is that joint training. They call it joint operations. When it gets to this moment, there's what they call joint operations. And they set up a project called intelligence like policing. In this case, they will gather strength from other law enforcement, including DSS. DSS will never tell you how many numbers of personnel they have. And so if you are counting and looking at only the Nigerian police, I think we'll miss it. I will begin to think that they are not ready. But from that is why you see the Nigerian. We know that the Nigerian police, the primary contact in this issue, but they have all that law enforcement working hand in hand with them. So I'm sure that from what we've had in the past, we are definitely going to get results from them today. OK, I think we can let him go. I would like to reconnect with you if it is possible later on when you're voting and you're seeing what is happening security wise. As a security expert, whatever we're asking you will always be asking how the security situation is and what can be done to doubt the tension if need be so that we can also relate that to the people who are watching us right now. So thank you for the time being for being there, Mr. Augustinega. All right. Thank you, Nhamgul. I'm actually in the heart of Oyosti, which is a pardon. And I'm sure that our monitor and I'll get in touch. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for being a part of it. OK, right now. Almost 430 multidisciplinary between the police. You must remember that the total number of operatives in the Niger police is not even up to 400,000. So they are shaking with civil defense. They are shaking with some members of the armed forces. You could see the footage you show earlier that literally the military police were doing a kind of deterrence parade. When we were young, they used to do that as man over, you know, but it was a form of deterrence parade on a natural road in a city. Boys, these are the police operatives if you want to. So I should think and given the fact that the totality of the 80 something million PVC all that will not turn out. We must liberate democracies, even in countries where it is a mandate way. You seldom have 100 percent on now. Now, I mean, it's it's it's it's normal. I probably learned that way back when if you have to research academic research and then you probably have questionnaires. So let's say you have 100 and you're going to sample them. You're not going to get back, you know, everything you said. So you're not going to get back. So that's given. But the point is this entire force, we need to look at the facts, the way they are. We need to look at it the way it is. If we have seen, I mean, because you and I can agree that there's been a lot of tension. I mean, there were also speculation that this election will be postponed. I mean, people believe this is one of the this is one of very few liberal democracies on the face of the earth when you have everything locked down on the day of election. You should factor that in because I am here because I've been invited by media house. And I want to say invited by media house. If I was found on the street, a young boy would take me shabbily. No, most people are sitting there behind in their houses as we speak. They aren't just going out to cast their votes. No, but but but I also hope that you get where I'm coming from. I mean, it's one election that a lot of people that's been so much fear, worry as to whether this is going to do that. Whether this election was going to hold, I mean, speculation has to having and we always have to do that. And that is one of the pockets of violence that has erupted. We're not even talking about the violence prior to 2023. We're talking about the recent violence as regards the non availability of the Naira, whether the old or the new Naira. That has been an issue. Even where you are sitting was under threat some days back and but not for the swift intervention of the military. Men who came through, I'm sure there would have been a disaster. So I'm just trying to say that part of it to what some of us know as the political issue of Nigeria. This is a joke. I'm telling you, my sister, look, if you know, if you know where some of us are coming from and as students of Nigeria's political history and the national history, this is a comedy. I'm telling you comedy. And you see, but because we now live in an age where social media because we live in an age where social media as times things as sound responsible media like the organizations before people like you say something, you have layers of you have layers of of editing. Is it true? Somebody will go and do the fact check. Is it coming from a right source? Somebody will go and do the fact check on social media. People instinctively post now. And more so added to that is the is the organic danger of the echo chamber that the social media provides. That is why some of us are very circumspect when when we were talking earlier on about about somebody's about access routes to somebody's village, I said reportedly reported because for all we care, I have not sent a reporter there. I have not. I have not. So at this juncture, I just want us to be a bit positive, not so much careful, careful and circumspect in how we portray because look in Lagos, they said some people campaigned and when they left the campaign ground, one or two persons were molested in the Lagos that I grew up in. And during the Second Republic, that somebody was very cool, molested, bad enough, nobody should encourage violence. But relative to what the political history of Lagos are doing, I'm going to call it in here. OK, we just got an update from the tabloids that an SCDC vehicle carrying election materials to Lagos has crashed in Abuja in Nigerian security and civil defense core vehicle conveying election materials from Abuja to Lagos crashed yesterday on the election eve. The accident reportedly occurred at the Ghiri roundabout bridge in Abuja. The vehicle was also carrying operatives of the NSCDC to Lagos. In a video on a newspaper punch particularly, people are seen rendering help to pick up papers suspected to be electoral materials littered on the ground. Also in Ayatollah Rakh Center, the Akoka in Shumolu Local Government Area looks like voters are ready. Those are the reports that we are getting right now. But that means that there is more problem for Lagos if the material was supposed to come. I wonder the veracity of that, this thing is a bit iffy for me. And you know why? The reason is that the chairman of INEC said about four days ago that elections materials were sitting pretty in the central banks branches across the country. Indeed. It come from Abuja yesterday. Through a vehicular this thing that NSCDC operatives were supposedly with. You see, when some of us get reports like this, I didn't ask Bola about. But you know what the chairman of INEC said. Important and sensitive and non-sensitive materials were sitting in the vaults of central banks branches across the country. And that from three days ago, major news organizations like yours and others like yours were reporting. Rex, resident electoral commissions of state, going to collect those materials. And in the backdrop of those reports, how would I then reconcile NSCDC vehicle ferrying election materials for Lagos, leaving Abuja yesterday evening with operatives of NSCDC. My brother at this juncture, my journalistic persona is telling me, Bola keep an open mind. You know, there was an accident. We see pictures, but the details of the responsibilities and roles of the persons in that vehicle and any material seen on the ground don't quickly buy the. OK, well, we'll still be looking out for updates for from the tabloid that supplied that. That's what seemed to be. It's a tabloid. You said tabloid is not. It's not. And I like the idea. You said tabloid. The word tabloid where I go into my journalistic teeth, you know, where I caught my journalistic teeth. The word tabloid speaks to the fact that they don't do substantive journalistic investigation before the published. The published more to get very sensational. But when if you say, if you say, no. OK, well, we're we're getting a lot of reports from very many places. And at this time, we can only, like you said, you like the word reportedly, this happened here, this happened here. We've had that one from the point now. There are so many other newspapers that will be carrying a lot of things. When we bring it to you, it is still subject to investigation. And like you said, let's take it with a pinch of salt a little bit and all that. But what we're talking about here today is is the election day and everybody wants to go out and vote. How confident are we that when we go there, we are going to meet the materials. We are going to vote. Everything is going to go seamlessly and all that in spite of the fact that we are looking at the shortfalls as well. We are trying to also encourage people that today is the day, no matter what, let's try to do a civic responsibility. Today's election, we are hoping will will be better than the option A4, which to me was so was so great. But we keep referring in Nigeria to the good old days. And that shouldn't be. We should be moving forward and all that. We have beavers, for instance, now. Do you have that much confidence in the beavers that is going to make us surpass the successes we had in 1993? As all of the voices that are dedicated for the intensive use of technology in our electoral system, I am one who is who is confident, very confident that this round of elections should turn out far better than what we used to have. You see, the good thing about technology is that it gives you, it gives you even look, I usually use the example of the pronouncement of the elections, petitions, tribuna in Oshun as my best example. You know what? Even when there was failure, because it's easy to track the digital footprint with technology, it was easy to see the inconsistency between the document that was initially issued by INEC to the complainant and the so-called synchronized package that INEC wanted to use to justify the victory of the winner. Because technology gives you a terrain where every nano footprint can be measured. And when you measure something against what should be a standard, you will either see consistency or inconsistency. So it's easy to judge. We know that in technology, you know, is giggle, garbage in, garbage out. But the good thing about garbage in, garbage out is that once the result is not meeting with the desired result, you will then track what cost the garbage, what cost the garbage output. So I'm sitting here now wanting to believe that this round of elections will be far better, far better than we've ever had. Even with the use of card readers in those days, because this is the first elections, since we've been having elections in Nigeria since 1924, that would say, put your hand on that holy grail. And that holy grail has a biometric recording of either your fingerprint or your iris. So if Bolaaba did not go to the polling booth, if anybody, the first election I partook in Nigeria, the first election Bolaaba partook in Nigeria in 1983, when I got to my polling booth, Malole, Malole, I want to know, what that means is go back home, go back home. We have used your vote. They've cast my vote for the ruling party in Lagos then, and I think they're going to this re-election. They told me that was the first time I was elected to vote. You know, they say, Malole, Malole, we have used your vote. But today, that will not hold. You know why that will not hold? Because there would have to be an acknowledgement by technology that I applied by my biometric identification to activate my right to cast that ballot. It should be better.