 Good morning and welcome to the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa. If you've just joined us, you missed quite a bit, but good you joined us now. Well, time for us to take a look at the headlines on some of the national dailies, and we are beginning with the leadership newspaper. The leadership newspaper starts with this, well, the headline here is National Assembly, Tinnable APC Leaders Meet to Decide on Zoning. And to write us to that, House Caucus presents Zoning Template, Oji, Kalu, Izuna So, Aqabiu, Barau, others besiege President-elect's residence, ex-lawmaker's caution against zoning along executive lines. All right, if you move away from that and go to the top, very top, you see Onyema, a foreign minister, and he's saying that no Nigerian has died in Sudan conflict, and beside that, you have the picture of the Lagos state governor, Babaji De Samuulu, and it has to do with Banana Island. Lagos begins removal of illegal structures. That is quite a thing. And then when you go to the side, you find states get 48 hour ultimatum to remit 20, 23-hatch fare. That story, you can read it on page 10 of that newspaper, the leadership newspaper, states get 48 hour ultimatum to remit 20, 23-hatch fare. Can't wait for what's going to come out of that. Caught dismisses for feature order on Kogi governor's assets. You find that story on page 16. Adamawapo, Binani drops suit against Finteri, Inek, others. Pick six. Binani has dropped the lawsuit. Oh, so much has come out in the wake of these elections. Nigerian elections are just amazing. But of course, it's not peculiar to Nigeria. The U.S. is also having this to deal with. Right there on top, you have this rider, gone man, killed two soldiers, 15 civilians, kidnapped 29 in Benwe, Abuja. You find the full stories on page seven of the leadership newspaper. Okay, we'll move to Punch now, where we have the major story on Punch. Sudan conflicts, students lament a slow evacuation and federal government to pay $1.2 million. The riders are saying only 15 out of 40 buses ready on Wednesday conveyed 750 students. That's what the students are saying. So 750 were conveyed out of Sudan, as I said yesterday, out of 5,500. Minister says cost, that is the 1.2 million, covers 19 hour journey, security from Sudan to Cairo, that's what the money will be spent on. 4,000 people, or trucks rather, that's down below on page 26, if you want to read. 4,000 trucks to visit Lekipot daily. Okay, another upper loading. Legacy government demolishes, okay, we've had that in the other paper. So we'll try to just move on to others that we may not have heard or have different angles. OB attacks INEC for defending Tinobu at Tikku claims victory. That's up there at the top, if you want to read it, is on page eight. Then we also have on page nine, cash scarcity, crippled Nigeria's economy, that's according to the UN. Tinobu speaker aspirants meet on zoning behind closed doors. That is on page eight as well. That's the much we can take on punch over to you. Okay, the nation newspaper is the next and expectedly it's leading with Tinobu story. Tinobu APC target consensus senate president speaker. You have pictures of the president elect right there flanked by so many people. You have the Lagos state governor, you have Oji Uzo Kahlu, you have Nuhuru Badu, you know, you're seeing some faces, you have Femi Bajabiamila, all of them, is that Alikodango Tianping? Yeah, okay. So it just gets more interesting as the president elect forms his team. So we're just watching, see how all that is playing out. You have the writer ruling party favor's Christian to lead reg chamber. Okay, so going down, you have election petition at Tikku or be attack INEC. And writer PDP LP candidates reply to Tinobu. You get a full story of that. Well, the full story will continue on page five, even though it starts a bit on the front page. 500 Nigerians evacuated to Egypt in 10 buses. 13 stranded students allowed into Ethiopia. Fighting continues despite 72 hours ceasefire. And so when you look up, you have Nigeria air will fly before May 20th. That's according to the minister. Well, that's pretty much it for the nation newspaper. Okay, we also move now to the Guardian where we have marketers in limbo over implementation, 15.1 billion dollar effects demand for fuel importation. Oh, there's also a story caught strikes out EFCC suit against Kogi governor Yahya Bello over asset for future. And I'm encumbered by scandals at Tikku replies, Tinobu's serial loser job. We also have a story saying Nigeria has the highest number of collapsed buildings in Africa, according to son DG. That story is on page seven of the Guardian. That's delay, frustration on legacy, but on endless road repair. There's a news analysis on page four on that on certainty trails, imagines of new alafi. Okay, that's a traditional institution. We're hoping there will be no problems there. Those are headlines on the Guardian newspaper this morning. And so we move on to join our guests for this morning that we'll be talking on these headlines. We're glad to have Mr. Ezekiel Nyaitok, public affairs analyst, talking to us all the way from Acquaibom. Good morning and welcome to the program, sir. Good morning, Mr. Ezekiel Nyaitok. Good morning. I was just going to tell Eniam Gouda he forgot to add former governorship aspirant. Candidate. Candidate. Yeah, I was going to say that. Thanks for that. Governorship candidate, Acquaibom state. How did it go, though, before we go into just one sentence? How was it during the elections? Did it meet your expectations? Yeah. Yeah, like I said, it's something that we really should sit down and reflect and think of, you know, they are the three C's I talk about. There's the chances that come your way. They are the choices that you make. And they are the consequences of that. The last election brought up a certain level of hope and, you know, people were, like, looking bright and them expecting something. And it hit a real hard brick wall. All right. We need to have a program too. Yeah, we need to sit down to think of the implication of what just happened. Yeah, time will not allow us to talk deeper on that because I'm sure you have a lot to say. But right now, because of time, let's move straight to the newspapers. And let's start with the headline on the nation newspaper, Tinubu APC target consensus, Senate President and Speaker. And the writer there is that the ruling party favours Christian to lead the red chamber. How do you respond to that? The Klamo and the desperate lobbying regarding this. Okay, there are two things. The very first thing, yes, I'll talk about is what we call emotional intelligence. If you read the mood of the nation right now, that talk about Muslim Muslim tickets was really, really a major talking point and cost such level of division in the country that is almost unprecedented. So I think that it's only emotionally, intelligently wise that the third person being the president of the Senate and the chairman of the National Assembly should take the other faith. So for me, it goes without saying that you don't even need to think about it. The Christian should be the next Senate president. Now, one would say, no, let's not compromise quality for religion and other considerations. And I would find that a very lame and almost infuriating comment, because I can point to you at the very least 10 extremely extreme fact, if you talk of the top 10 in the whole National Assembly and top five, all considered, I will tell you one two Christians that are there in the top five and even the top three. So we really do have them in abundance. So it's only wise that it should be a Christian and going by the past permutations, it should actually come to the south as a standard procedure. And when you talk of the south, you are now looking at the south, south and the southeast. And you know, if you look at it again in analysis, the southeast has had several of the of the past Senate presidents, but Joseph Wyars of the God knows you can't hear him remember when was the only person that has come from the south, south. Again, I was the national chairman of a party. And one of the things about party politics is that members of the party want to be rewarded for hard work. And when you look at the south, south, the south is without sentiments. The south, south take the real big cake because they really rewarded APC beyond their wildest imagination. So I think that it would be microzone to the south, south. And within the south, south, I think it's very clear who stands up, you know, in fact, within Nigeria, all the senators put together. I think Mr, in my opinion, Mr. Goswil Akbabyo stands out. So I think that he's in a position to really like tick all the boxes and be the next Senate president. Okay. Well, let me just take this time and digress a little bit. I do hope that the federal government will do something about the burial of Joseph Wyars. He deserves a state burial. And up till this moment, so many months ago that he died, he has still not been buried or even brought back to Nigeria for that purpose. And I don't know why that is happening. Everybody keeps pointing. Let me join you. You've made a very important point there. You know, we just let certain things fall through the cracks. Mr. Joseph Wyars, for more reasons than one deserves a state burial. And I want to join you to call on the federal government to look into that matter. I know what the family is like. I know what they are going through, but we cannot forget that he's the only Senate president, number three person that has come from the South South zone of Nigeria. He deserves much better. Okay. Well, now back to what we're talking about about the Senate presidency. Oh, just the positions that they're talking about zoning and all that. Prior to the presidential election, they were saying that one of the arguments was that religion should never determine whatever is going to happen. And then the Muslim-Muslim ticket flew as it is. When we say that the Senate president has to be a Christian, is it not that we are going back and revisiting something that we thought we may have left behind by allowing this thing to fly? I brought out two things. First, emotional intelligence. Second, competence. Those two factors are very important. I, for a person, I will not sacrifice competence for sentimental reasoning. I will not. But where you have a man of people that tick all the boxes, this man scores 90. The other person scores maybe 91. I can give it to the person that has 90 above 91, because for two reasons. Number one, the differential is insignificant, relatively. And number two, if this other person has taken all the prices, you know, or has been the one that decided to put all along, just to be able to create a level of inclusivity, I will give it to the next person. And I feel right. As of today, I say this with every sense of responsibility. The South has stars that you can, that they can measure up by any stretch of imagination. And as a result, we are not being sentimental. We are being factual. And a man like Mr. Goswil Akbabi, I keep saying this, sticks all the boxes and he deserves to be, you know, if we are to go into details, this is a news plan review, but after taking time to do an analysis of all the different people, but we can't do that here, if we had a full program, I'll tell you why all considered, forget about where you come from, forget about who you are, forget about religion, forget about any sentiment. You cannot talk of the top three of all the senators that are there. And Mr. Akbabi is not ranking first or second strictly as an individual because of what he's been in the past. You know, he's not just a lawyer by profession. He wasn't just a first class governor that people see talk about about the uncommon transformation in Akwai Boom state. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we wish Akbabi and every other one who is aspiring well, may God give us the one that we need in Nigeria at this time. Not a Robert Stamp Senate president. That's what we're looking for. But talk to the fact that the ruling party is at this time looking for where to zone the offices too. Shouldn't this have been something that they should have done a long time ago? Does this say well of a political party? You have been a member of the political party and a national chairman as well. So what does it say about the management and the internal politics of a political party? If at this time, barely about 30 days to inauguration, they are thinking of where the Senate presidency should go and other offices. You see, Mr. Tsinobu, with all due respect, if it pleases God and he's eventually sworn in, he has to be a very complete departure from what APC has had as your stock in trade. APC wakes up in the morning and they are, wow, they are like, oh, it's morning. For goodness sake, when you wake up for the things that was born once you wake up, it's morning. So why are you surprised that as you woke up it's morning? Why am I saying this? APC as a party knew that they were not opposition, they stood a chance of winning. As a result, my mother used to tell me something that I find instructive. It says, don't share money when it's on the table. Share money before it gets to the table. I found that very instructive. What that means is that these positions should have been made clear by the party long before today. Now, that will allow even if they knew that this was the case, some people wouldn't even have contested. Some other people would have loved it and contested so that they know that this is being zoned to their zone or this is not going to be their zone. Secondly, many of them will not waste money going around and conversing for votes and support when eventually you come and say, oh, it's going to be zoned to the other people. They're going to be hurt. They're going to be unhappy. And as a result, there's going to be a lot of disaffection within the party. Mr. Tinubu should know that he is now elected the president. As a result, there are certain things that should be done not last minute, but way ahead of time to inspire confidence in Nigerians that this man is a departure from the APC that we've been very unhappy with. So for me, they really should by today know the ministries they have, are they going to downsize, are they going to remain where they are, should be able to have a very clear idea of who is going to be the ministers that is going to nominate. He should be able to know what the party should know, what the zoning formula should be by now. And as you know, what he wants to do to hit the ground running from day one. And though the new constitution allows him 60 days to bring his nominees, I expected that as at today, he would already have his list out. I believe that one of the things, and I hope I'm right, that one of the things he did in being out of the country for a while, must have been to sit down without the pressures to be able to articulate his minister's list. If that isn't what he went to do, then I'm surprised or I'm afraid that we are in for another rough ride. From that, if we may, and go to Sudan's situation, the situation in Sudan and evacuation of Nigerians living there. You've seen all that's going on in the news and the interviews granted by UNBRA, BKW, we've also interviewed a Loma official, Nima official who gave us details of preparations towards evacuating them. Now we hear that they are being evacuated, buses have been hired. Matter of fact, 40 buses have been hired to that effect. Give us your thought on all that's playing out with regards to these processes. Okay, there are two things. I keep saying these people don't understand what government is and what governance is. One of the most critical things about government and governance is what you call the foresight team. The foresight team are people who, in the moment of peace, of prosperity, of comfort, look beyond the now, forecast the next 10 years, 20 years, look at issues around the globe and say, if this happens, this is what should be. If this happens, this is what should be. They are ahead of time. Now, these are the sort of people that when a conflict is in the offing, when they sit down and say, sir, if it happens to come this way, this is what they should do. Consequently, you are armed as a chief executive or the commander-in-chief to take decisions that are well thought out because you have preempted the situation before time. Come to Sudan. Don't tell me the arrangements you are making. Don't tell me the plans. Please, let me see that while America was still thinking of what to do, the Nigerian plane had landed because they had already known what the plans would be, what they are supposed to do. Let me see that proactive decision you are taking. Don't tell me how you have hired. You know, they tell us, oh, we are hiring 100 buses, 40 buses. Nobody wants to know how you are getting. Just do it. Nike says, just do it. Be giving us results. Don't be telling us your plans. We are not interested in your planning. We didn't give you that to come and tell us what you are planning, unless you want to give your foresight. But when a situation happens, give us a situation report, what you have done and not what you intend to do. You have a window of three days, and now you are telling me how we have burning buses. We have about 2,000 people, and the window is about to close. You say, oh, we brought out 700 already. That's not good enough. A Nigerian, Mr. Deon, of APS, offered to you know, afraid the people, and there was dead silence. Let me shock you. That offer of Mr. Allen might have infuriated some people, because for them, this is opportunity to make money, opportunity for contract. And now you want to offer free. You want to take the now that some deal has come to our side of the divide. You now want to come and put sand in our Gary. That is how people view government means of making money and not ways of offering service. Okay. Well, some would say in favor of the federal government that this is a war situation, and there must be caution in implementing evacuations or carrying out evacuations. Britain, for instance, the UK, their citizens are arriving. I think they arrived this morning or yesterday. So some would say the federal government of Nigeria is receiving too much knocks when people should have been more patient with them. No, no, we can be. Let me tell you something. And I want us to take this, if nothing else. Nigerians are among the most intelligent in the whole world. And I say with every sense of responsibility, back with data and statistics, go to America, they will tell you that we are the most enlightened immigrants in the whole of United States of America. Go to any of the intelligence bureaus or units in the whole world. You will find Nigerians at the highest level. Why am I saying that? Why should Britain be a reference point to me, which is what I talked about. You have people who sit down, who for sight, they notice a war situation. Why can't Britain... Not as a reference point, but in comparison with what's happening with other nations, we regard it by waiting their people from that. Listen, this is very instructive. Why can't other nations say, look at what is happening in Nigeria? They get it at a bowler time. Other nations came to study what is happening in Nigeria. We can be ahead. It's about planning, strategic thinking and planning. And we have the most strategic, the best strategic thinkers from Nigeria. So why can't America say, look at what Nigeria has done. This is the new Nigeria we want to get into. We have them. So why don't you say America have done it? Come to this, Britain have done it. Britain should be saying, what has Nigeria done? Because they know that Nigeria has a pool of strategic thinkers who know that this is a war situation. They have already set up alternatives plan A, plan B, plan C. And we are on top of the game. We can be on top of the game when we know that we are not inferior in any way. Okay. Let's move away from that to another thing. Nigeria, the minister of aviation is insisting that Nigeria Air will fly before May 29. May 29 is about 30 days away. There are already litigations regarding that. Some people are saying they shouldn't be given the certification that they are asking for. It seems nothing is ready. But they are insisting that Nigeria will fly before May 29. Possibly just to give this administration a part on the back and say, well, you have done well. Do you think that is feasible? I think that we react, we don't. It's the same thing I said. Now you want Nigeria, they've been talking Nigeria Air, talking Nigeria Air, as are today. There's a saying in our language that when saliva stays too long in the mouth, it turns to water. Nigerians are sick and tired. Please don't tell me the day you are ready to fly. If you can fly, leave us where we are. Don't come and talk to us about Nigeria Air. We don't want to know. All I want to hear is, gentlemen, go to the airport. You'll see the stand of Nigeria Air. No, just buy your ticket. Because it's Nigeria Air, this is the strategic advantage you have. Maybe students, you have your rebates that has come back. Maybe elderly, you have a rebate that we are bringing up because this government is about social service and responsibility. So Nigeria Air is created particularly not to unnecessarily compete with others, but is created as a social infrastructure with certain arms that are going to be commercially viable. Our business class is going to be top notch, is not for social, is going to be one that is on time. We are a businessman coming. We're going to be very expensive on the business class, very expensive, but you'll get the highest level of quality of service. The reason is that we want to do cut and field, make the business class to be able to pay or subsidize for part of the economy where we are going to have a lot of social service. The business class don't be a little bigger. The economy might be a little smaller than conventional because this is our thinking. We want to make sure that government serves its purpose, which is taking care of the most vulnerable. Chapter two, section 14, subsection two B says that the security and the welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. So for these people, students who must go from one place to the other and the roads even if they are safe, but sometimes are too long. So all the students you have 25% rebate. So go to Nigeria Air. All the old people go to Nigeria Air. All the businessmen, the top class people go to Nigeria Air. You'll find a business class like no other airline. The way we are going to do bed is going to be more expensive. So if you want the best, you got to pay for it. All right, let's go to Adamawa State where according to leadership, Binani has dropped suit against Venturi and INEC. Respond to that. Yeah. The very first thing is that we have to go to Binani's case. I think it will be an anti-climax. We've talked a lot about it. I think that she's wise because it's like you want to fire somebody and the guy hears about it and says, well, sir, I wish to resign. I think she is wise and well advised because if she had made the mistake of wanting to proceed with that suit, I mean, if I were to judge the words that I will use on her, I think she would not like to have it. So I want to hail her. I was very upset with what she did, but better late than never. She has saved our taxpayers' money bringing judges and wasting our time and giving the judiciary time to face more important issues because she has a no issue. But the fact that she is wise enough to say, I lay it down, maybe we should just, but whatever is worth, give her kudos because she had no case whatsoever. All right. Thank you so much. Before we go, just because this same topic is still on leadership, that's Tunibu APC leaders meet to decide on zoning. Let's just touch it briefly again and perhaps this time look at Tunibu's transition committee. A section of INDIBO have criticized it saying that they are not part of it. There's no Igbo name on that list of 14 members, I believe. What's your take on that? The first thing is that there is an Igbo name that has dropped heavily today. I don't know where, I don't know how, I don't know why. And I'm on my way to Lagos to go and celebrate that Igbo name. She is called Madame Obi Ezekwesili and today is our 68th birthday. That's same. They also wish her so much good and wealth. That's same. That is an event planning committee. Why they should advertise an event planning committee? Beat me. I don't understand. If you must advertise an event planning committee, wisdom demands that you should know that people are going to do strategic analysis. And there's been this talk about South East, South East. It's a function of emotional intelligence. You should have, for whatever is worth, in fact it was a very good way to even mask-setting things. Boom, boom, boom. Put three South East names and people think that, whoa, that's not a transition committee. Unless it's another one, but the one I know is that that is an event planning committee. Are you telling me that we don't have people in protocols from the South East? You don't have people in media from the South East. You don't have people in the different aspects of that in the South East. They are there. Well, as it has happened like this, as it has happened like this, what does that signal to you? Thank you. There's a Greek saying that it is a Greek saying you won't understand. Now that's what it says. It says that you start from sleep to learn about death. I think it's a very wrong signal, but I'm happy that that wrong signal is done on a relatively inconsequential thing. Mr Tinubu, if God wills and he's sworn in, should please, please make sure that he lets the South Easterners, if I had my way as he returned to the country, he probably would have just taken a flight to the South East to say, well, I just came to see how people are doing, how's everything, blah, blah, and gone back. It would have cost him nothing. Maybe he would say, whoa, he's going to the South East. Wow, maybe this is letting him start to have conversations that make people feel that, oh, you have come back in an Igbo attire. Do you understand me? Coming back, can you imagine him alighting from the aircraft glad in that Igbo regalia with the red cap? I mean, let's start to have people who think in government. You are the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So today there's a lot of division. So you want to be able to show that, no, no, no, I'm coming in to be the father of all. And there are just little things you could do. And then the narrative will start to change. Nigerians are so easy to impress. Little things will make them to go wild for you. Ezekiel Inya Itok, public affairs analyst and former governorship candidate at Coimbra State. Thank you so much for your insight. We are still in the Tribune House. Don't be in a hurry to close the chapter yet. But it's okay, it's okay. My Tribunal is different. I want to get people jailed for stealing my votes. We are doing the most elaborate analysis and coming to look, just follow it. Let your station follow it. They'll be amazed at what they will see. We definitely will follow it. Thank you so much for your time and insight. Yes, you're watching the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. That was quite incisive, isn't it? Yes, it was. It was very interesting. And I was silent about the fact that almost every report is carrying a different number of people that have been evacuated from Sudan. Some carried 750, some carried 500, and the other one carried 300. And I don't know which the official figures are. They may not actually have the accurate figure because they can't even say how many people are in a bus as it stands right now. I don't know that they do know. It shouldn't be, but I'm not sure that they do know. Well, you're still watching the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. We'll take a short break, but we'll return. We'll be taking our first hot topic today and we'll be looking at the debt that Nigeria has incurred over the years. Stay with us.