 Welcome back. You're still watching the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa and following the signing into law of the amended Electoral Act by President Muhammad Buhari, Nigeria's Electoral Empire, the Independent National Electoral Commission. This week released the timetable and shadow of activities for Nigeria's 2023 general election and also published the notice of election as required by law. However, there are indications that individuals and groups hoping to float new political parties may have to sit the elections out. As the Independent National Electoral Commission has closed the window for fresh registrations. As it stands, only the currently registered 18 political parties will be participating in the 2023 polls. The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Faisal Koye, said the commission won't accept or process any new application for registration of political parties for the 2023 election. Or does this mean a spanner in the works of proponents of a third force to challenge Nigeria's two biggest political parties, the ruling of Progressive Congress and the opposition People's Democratic Party? To help us answer this, another question I'd like to welcome. On the breakfast, Ezekiel Ingeituk, who is a public affairs analyst. Mr. Ingeituk, thank you very much for your time. Ezekiel Ingeituk, please check your audio. We cannot hear you, so you probably may have to unmute. Apologies for that. It happens with Zubuk. Thank you very much. I always feel privileged to be on Plus TV. I'm always very happy when I'm on Plus TV. I don't know why, but I just feel good. Can we call you Obong Ezekiel Ingeituk? Is that art? No, I am Utwe Konk. Utwe Konk is actually about the highest title. It's like Haru Onaka Kanfo, like the general. Fantastic. All right, all right. Interesting. So when one comes to Iran, they should be careful because you might have to deal with you. So your thoughts on this information coming as far as the 22 and three elections are concerned. Is this the end of any possible third force, at least for 2023? No. As a matter of fact, it is definitely not. I am one of the, one of the forefront of the third force. And I've been a national chairman of a party before, so I understand very well. It seems I am, I hope I'm being heard. Yes, sure. Okay, good. So I want to tell people from the beginning, we knew that INEC will not register any new political party. So we don't need a new political party. What you need is one, two, three existing parties agreeing to come and work together. And within that context, any party can say, I want to change my name. I want to change my logo. I want to change my manifesto. The person is already in the house and INEC can affect those changes any time, any day, within a certain time limit where before the ballot are printed. So it does not in any way foreclose the alignment that will form the third force, which is actually what is happening. I can tell Nigeria for free that we are going to have on the third force basket, one, two, three strong candidates that are going to be driving their parties. And when you go towards maybe September or thereabout, they are going to come together and form that third force. Now the vehicle that they are going to use is still left the way we are going to decide in front. But what I can tell Nigerians for free is that they are going to have a credible option that will be referred to as the third force on the ballot. So how can this thing be? I mean, this is the question. No, let me not say it's not a question. It's the easiest thing to do. What that means is that when the one, two, three strong parties decide that this is the person they want to build, they have a choice to adopt one platform, say ADC, for instance. Or they can say, okay, ADC, we take you, but we want to change the logo or we want to change the slogan or we want to even change the name completely. Now all they need to do is give the information, which is a resolution of the Congress of the party, that we will change our logo, we will change our name, we will change whatever status we want to change and we want to henceforth be known by this. INEC will withdraw the former certificate and give them a new certificate. For instance, when I was a national chairman of a young democratic party, we had a tractor as our logo. We wrote INEC that we didn't want to have a tractor, wanted to have a light bulb because this was like a new generation kind of thing and light, you know, bulb signifies ideas and creativity and INEC obliged. So that is not registering a new party, that is simply a change of the logo or the name. So it's an internal affair with INEC that has nothing to do with registering a new party. That is allowed anytime, any day, maybe within a period before the ballot are printed because the moment INEC goes to print the ballot, I mean for very reasonable reasons, you cannot do such changes. But for now, there's ample room up to maybe when names are submitted, probably up to October, up maybe November, maybe December, but from January, INEC is thinking in terms of the final names on the ballot, so that's not the best time for them to start thinking in terms of changing anything for a party. So it's an administrative procedure of INEC which does not present any challenges whatsoever. All right, interesting Otwe Kong. It sounds easy from what you're saying, straightforward that, you know, political party can be volunteered as a, that a political party can be, can offer itself as a third-force party for people to just come and take over. We know the legacy members of the Up Progressives Congress. Only God knows where all of them are right now. I don't know if a party, an already existing party, will want itself to be taken over simply because of the idea of a third-force. And these parties have their rules, they have their their manifesto, they have their ideology, if they, if it exists, they also have their logo. For instance, Labour Party had offered itself, but said it to never change its logo, never merge with any other party. They've been one of the stronger parties along with ABGA in Nigeria and then maybe the SWL CPC. So you think it's going to be easy for any of these parties, even ADC, that seems to be making some noise and attracting some good names, do you think that any of them will sell, will give ourselves up? I mean, will it be that easy and that straightforward? I'll tell you two things. Number one is that I have been, at the stage, I was actually the chairman of the major committee. So at another stage, a later stage, because it's been evolving at different levels, okay? At a bigger stage, the chairman of ADP was the chairman. Somewhere along the line, probably one of the last phases, the chairman of ADC was the chairman. So these chairmen are already talking. And when a party says we will never, please don't take that party serious, politics is a game of interest that has no fixed neighbors. Even the Democratic Party in the U.S., something might happen. A crop of young people might come up and say, well, for 200 years, you've done it this way. It is our time. We want to add this. And they probably bring a new dynamic that has to do with maybe the IT and they add something to it. So parties are not cast in stone. It is the ideologies of the parties that drive which way it goes. Then secondly, I want to say that when you talk in terms of which is the big party, you know, we can say a lot of things, but I want to give you a fact. The fact is that in 2019, which is the latest polls that we had, APC came first, PDP came second, and please do your check against the party that came third. That's the party that came third. I don't know if that's surprising to you, but you know, I will not come and say something that- No, of course, the facts are there, so. Yes, secondly, of all the aspirants that are coming out, quality aspirants, they are either in PDP with a largely speculative, or they are in APC, or they are in ADC. That's also a fact that you can attest to as are today. They're either in APC, PDP, or ADC. Why is that so? Thirdly, not long ago, the youth of Nigeria decided to look for the youth-friendly party they want to get into. These are also facts you can verify. And guess what? ADC won with a humongous margin, a wide margin. The youth say, for instance, ADC tells the youth, we give 35% appointments as a party policy to the youth. We give 35% appointments as a party policy to the women, and then we cut the fees, or you want to buy forms, by 50% for all the youth. So they've shown themselves, and they even created the fourth- Nigeria has six geopolitical zones. ADC has seven, which is- Okay, so- It has- Let's begin to look at this first, of course, we know that INEK, with the electoral bill, INEK is acting in accordance, because you're not expected to register political parties ahead of the 2023 elections. But like you have rightly mentioned, some of this party that constantly dominate the political scene, we know of two dominant parties you have mentioned a few, and this might probably have one or two structures in different states in the country. Don't you think that we should be moving towards having a two-party system, rather than have 18 political parties on the ballot sheet? He saves us all of the energies, and money costs, and all of that. Some people have argued that this is a time where we should be moving towards having a two-party system, rather than waste our resources and multi-party system, because if you look at it, some of these political parties do not even have the structure, as it were, across the entire states of the Federation. You know, let me blow your mind a little bit. Over the weekend, there was, you know, in the by-elections. In one of the states, a guy who was popular with the people went for a PC ticket. He was denied, flatly denied, and they gave it to who they wanted to give it to. The guy, damn it, moved over to PRP. And guess what? He won the election. He moved over to PRP, and he won the election. You know, the things that we look at as structures and systems, we get it wrong. Structures and systems are the people. For instance, if Gola Atme Tinubu moves over to an unknown party overnight, that party becomes a relevant party in the Southwest overnight. If a man like Kwankwa Soh moves into any party that you've never entered, overnight, that party has structures all over. So the concept of structure has to be seen not within the context of the, you know, already existing two main parties. How do you explain that cross-reverted that was PDP? Just by one man crossing over to a PC win elections? Just by one man? How do you explain the fact that a man like him in a state, you know, who was a piece, he moves over to PDP, and he wins the election. So the concept of structure has to be reassessed, reappraised, and re-understood within the context of the people. But, Ezeka, you can also take out the fact that... Let me just land on this. This pet force, you said, they don't have structure. All we need is one, two, three good people. Because in PDP, they are good people. In PDP, they are good people. Is this people to say enough is enough? Let's realign RPDP, RAPC, they come together overnight. That party becomes a strong party with structures right down to the walls. Interesting, Ezeka. Just a quick one from you. A quick one. Are you saying that there are certain political parties that are meeting to merge? Just a quick one, yes or no? Oh, yes, yes. I can say that with every sense of responsibility. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. But let me just add the last thing. We're out of time, sir. Apologies. Apologies. Apologize, please, please. Thank you very much, Ezeka. We'll have you again. He is a public affairs analyst at O2.com. Messi can give you the explanation of that. I can, but I would for now. It's been a through having you on the breakfast today right here on Plus TV Africa. Well, amazing one. That's so much that we can take with definitely every 10 tomorrow. The time is 7 to 9 o'clock. If you missed out on any part of the conversation, that's all right to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And do subscribe to YouTube channel. Is it Plus TV Africa, Lifestyle and Plus TV Africa. I am Messi Boko. Have a fantastic Tuesday. And I'm Kofi Patel. See you tomorrow.