 It's one day to Democracy Day, and so many things are already planned to March 2012. The federal government will be airing a documentary and has declared Monday a public holiday. But thousands of Nigerians say they will rather hold a mass protest against bad governments. We'll talk about these and more. A soon-state government gets more security conscious with a plan to profile immigrants and especially headers. We'll talk about the plan to issue identity cards to them. And we'll also say a thing or two about the interview president, Wama Dabwari, granted a television station two days ago. Good morning to you and thank you very much for being with us all through the weekend. Of course, joining us this Friday morning here on The Breakfast, I'm Closty the Africa. I am Osaugi Awawar. Good morning, Anita. Good morning. I am Anette Felix. Thank you very much for joining us on The Breakfast. This very bright and beautiful Friday. It's the wrap to the weekend and we're really excited looking forward to that. Especially the big day tomorrow, the 12th of June 2021. Yes, officially is June 12th, World Democracy Day. Remember in 2018, it was changed from May 29th to June 12th. You know, it still came with a little bit of controversy. You know, there's the different people who had different views, basically. Those who said, oh, well, you know, it doesn't really change much. You know, if you're not really respecting and leaving, you know, a total democracy and giving people the freedom and all of that. Yes, you know, the, you know, some people from the Southwest, of course, were happy about it because of the respect and the honor that it gave to M.K.O. Abiola, who was, of course, you know, made a G.C.O.N. Well, former president, basically. So, yeah, it's also going to be interesting to see how it plays out tomorrow. There's, you know, like we said, going to be a documentary by the federal government and at the same time, there's people who have stated that they will, you know, protest, you know, the work that M.K.O. is currently, you know, seen as its democracy. So mixed feelings, mixed reactions. We'll see how it goes. Yes, can we really talk more in detail about the juncture of events, the protests that have been planned, the celebrations that have been planned as well? It's just a lot for me. When you look at the person of M.K.O. Abiola, apparently, I was even born then. I have to think about that. Was I born in 1993? I don't exactly think so. But the point is, his legacy outlives him, whether he was president or not. You know, I remember doing stories about M.K.O. Abiola many years ago. I ended up to see the way people spoke about him. People told me if it wasn't for M.K.O. Abiola, I would be an illiterate. He sent me abroad. He sent me to school or through his Abiola football club. You know, people just had great stories. He was a Muslim, but he built churches. He built mosques across the country. He built schools. You know, he was just the epitome of a leader, president or no president. You know, M.K.O. Abiola, like many have described him, he was a bridge builder. He didn't care wherever you were from, and people didn't care where he was from. People didn't look at him and say, you're a Muslim. You're a Yoruba man. He was one Nigerian that unified and united lots of people. When you look back at the day, June 12, 1993, it's June. It was raining that period. People didn't care. They came out to vote under the rain. You needed to see the queues. People were willing to stand behind M.K.O. Abiola. And he won overwhelmingly. Yeah. Became the presumed winner of the election, and the IBB annulled that. So there's just a lot really to talk about the day, the significance. And, you know, while we talk about celebrating June 12, for me, I wouldn't necessarily, you know, if I'm to be completely honest, use the word celebrate, because really what would I, as a person, celebrate an event that was declared by national and international observers to be the freest and fairest election in Nigeria's history? That day, that election was annoyed by a military head of state. So I don't think there's anything to celebrate about that. Rather, as a person, in my opinion, I would rather honor that day for all it represented. You know, and all it represents. So really looking forward to that long discussion with the analyst later on. I think the celebration is mostly about Democracy Day. You know, June 12, apparently, of course, has been named Democracy Day. So they won, you know, and the same currently. But what Nigeria is celebrating now should be celebrated. Did democracy really thrive on June 12? That's these are the questions we need to ask. You know, absolutely. You know, but the thing is, you know, if we didn't do it, if we're not doing it tomorrow, we would have done it on the 29th of May. So the celebration is about Democracy. June 12, yes, has its own conversations built around it and, you know, the events that took place, you know, on this day in 1993 and all of that. But will Nigerians really be celebrating Democracy? And that's that's where, you know, there would be some confusion. There's some people who have said, absolutely not because we don't seem to be fully experiencing a democracy. You know, but we'll talk about it. We have a guest coming up sometime later on the show to share thoughts on that one. There's something big that happened in the last couple of hours. And that was an interview by President Mohammed Buhari that, of course, has also created loads of conversations across Nigeria. First of all, from critics saying, oh, you know, it wasn't a live interview, you know, to those who listened and watched the interview, rather, and had their own thoughts concerning that interview. The first point that I would make with regards it is, you know, a lot of times, so, you know, many times, first of all, I've always said that, you know, it's not normal that we have a government that doesn't see the need in the wake of all the things that are problems and problematic and disturbing Nigerians from the economy to security, to education, infrastructure, all of that, kidnappings and some of all of that. It's not normal that we don't have a government that feels the need to always speak to the Nigerian people, to reassure them that they understand and they are, you know, fully in control of the situation. It is not normal that we have a government, you know, in part today that doesn't think it's necessary to, you know, address the press, you know, every week, every month, every now and then. Donald Trump, as much as it was criticized because of the things that he said, and, you know, people said it was all still in lies, they understood the need for the president to speak with the American people. He was never far from the people. Yeah, so it's not normal, you know, that we can hear in the news that 50 people, you know, were killed or 88 people or, you know, 60 or 30. And we get silence. And, you know, there's a couple of streets from presidential aid. Exactly, and the president himself doesn't feel the need, the presidency, you know, don't feel the need, you know, for the president to speak with Nigerian people, the person who was elected, who people, you know, stood under the sun and elected and put into power twice. Doesn't feel the need to speak with the Nigerian people and tell them and reassure them that, you know, we have, you know, the country and, you know, control. So there is that part, you know, we've gone, you know, almost six years without, you know, any of these press conferences, maybe once, you know, prior to the elections and all of that. So it finally did happen yesterday because, of course, it was in Lagos to launch some projects. But, of course, it still came with its own levels of criticism with regards to the things that he said. The general idea behind, you know, presidential media chat or speaking with the press or with the public is two things, you know, which I think are very important is, first of all, to reassure the people, the electorate, that the person who holds the seat of, you know, Commander-in-Chief or President of the nation has 100%, but at least 90% understanding of the challenges that the country is facing understands in every single detail, can be asked any question in any direction and has an idea, has heard about it, you know, knows what is currently, you know, being done about it, anything whatsoever. I remember. At least has been briefed. Yeah, at least has been briefed. I remember Obasanjo's time, you know, it does things used to be regular and you could ask him any question, you know, in any direction and he would obviously have some always to say, could be criticized later, but at least he understood it. So that's the first, you know, reason. The second is, aside showing the people that you understand, it's also to reassure that aside understanding, these are the things that you are doing to ensure that you lift them out of the suffering or lift them out of their challenges and you just basically reassure the Nigerian people that you are in charge. So that's where, you know, a lot of people found, you know, the interview lacking, yes, you know, yesterday. After it was aired, a lot of people were, you know, didn't get that feeling from that interview that, oh, you know, the president understands 100% of what's going on in Nigeria today, in every single space, security and, you know, infrastructure and, you know, headers, you know, crisis and the kidnappings and the causes of succession and all of that. Full understanding and full, you know, ideas on what must be done to ensure that we move in a better direction. That's, you know, some of the things that we're lacking yesterday. The question concerning the Niger Republic and, you know, projects of the Niger Republic came with an answer that, of course, was said, you know, he said, oh, we have cousins, you know, in Niger and some of all of that. And it might sound, you know, on a lighter note, people might, you know, laugh and say, oh, well, you know, and these people can also argue that, okay, yes, true. You know, we have brothers in Ghana also, we have brothers in Kodewan, some of all of that, which is fine. But in the interim, at the time that we are, that's, from what I'm seeing, the comments that I've seen on social media, that's not the response that a lot of people wanted. That's not the response a lot of people expected to hear. To defend our relationship with Niger and to defend the finances that we're putting into, you know, Niger Republic for any reason. Same thing with the Twitter conversation. The president simply said, well, you know, he doesn't have a response to that, or, you know, he would keep that to himself. Same thing with his conversation concerning, you know, security. There wasn't a lot, you know, that showed, from his response, that showed that there was full understanding of what was, you know, being done or what the situation was. And the one that, of course, was really, really shocking for a lot of people was the question on foreign direct investment, where, of course, he, you know, started referring to the Ansar's protesters and saying that they are trying to, you know, remove him from power and some of all of that, which was shocking, you know, shocking because of what, you know, a lot of people know really about the Ansar's protest and how that suddenly has turned into a, trying to take me out of power. And at the same time, why or how that has become the reason we don't have foreign direct investment and all of that. And said, it's also probably mentioned that I'm trying to, you know, behave better. You need to be better behaved. And they will get jobs. See, I listened to that video. It was an interview of over 30 minutes and for a conversation that should have been by the president to the media or media asking questions to the president. I didn't get lots of takeaways that I will hold dear to my heart and say my president said this to me. My president assured me about this. My president made me feel that, despite whatever is happening, there's still some level of control that he has over the country. You know, just listening to question, first of all, there was lots of laughter exchanged in the room. And when you look at the light of, you know, the security situation in the country, you would have expected a more sober mood to say, okay, this is what's happening and this is what we feel about it. But lots of laughter, you wonder, was that a comedy session going on there? Because I didn't really see any urgency regarding his response to questions that were asked of him. Most of them were dodgy. Most of them were not direct. They were not straight answers I got. You didn't really get any substance out of his response to the Twitter ban or the Twitter suspension. When he was asked about certain questions and I think one of the answers he gave was, do you want me to contradict my attorney general? Questions or answers like that. So you asked him about the ban on open grays and he asked him about the farmer's head as clash and he says, oh, the Southern governor's sugar and sort it out among themselves. He said, autumn is just being biassed and unfair to him. It just, it didn't sound right to me. Maybe we might have been missing something. I don't know. Maybe we need to listen to that conversation again and again and again to get the meat of that conversation. But I didn't really get anything out of it. No key takeaway from me. Well, like I said, it lacked those two very important things and that is on the understanding and the ability to reassure Nigerians that the government was in charge of the situation and was going to do everything possible. And to convey empathy to Nigerians. Empathy and that's what we've also lacked for a very, very long time. Like you said, it didn't seem like a sober conversation considering the things that are currently going on in Nigeria. It didn't seem like the government really is bothered about those 50 lives and their families. It didn't seem like they were reassured that there would be justice. He also spoke concerning the IPOB and said that he had had a conversation with governors and they were going to be locked in or I can't remember what it was. And it kind of seemed like the president felt like every, you know, Southeastern is IPOB and, you know, it just wasn't presidential, first of all. It just didn't seem to convey empathy and understanding of what Nigeria currently is dealing with. How are we still talking about grazing routes when we should have moved to a place where we then have agreed across the country that open grazing should be put to rest for a day. So they can't contradict his attorney general. Exactly. One more can we expect. So these are some of the things that were just completely, you know, off key or off point. I hope, you know, that maybe on Monday or, you know, further, while we talk about, you know, June 12th, you know, on the public holiday, we may also be able to explain some of, you know, his responses to, you know, to the questions that were asked yesterday. Well, for many Nigerians who have been asking the president to speak, he spoke. Yeah, and every time that he does, he's always so shocked. Can you say they're satisfied? Yeah, I don't think so. I don't think so. Anyway, we'll take a short break. When we come back, let's go to the papers this morning. It's a Friday morning. So of course, Gilead Johnson will be joining us to share thoughts on some of the big stories making headlines across Nigeria today.