 Arrested, extradited and arraigned, the leader of the indigenous people of Biafra, Nandikhanu, appears in court, gets a date for beginning of trial on charges of treason. Reports coming in of the suspension of direct visa employment for Nigerians by the United Arab Emirates. The reason is rising crime by Nigerians in the country. And the report details how Boko Haram and other violent groups in northern Nigeria are recruiting bandits. We'll be talking to the reporter who worked on the investigation. And with that, we say good morning and thanks for joining us here on The Breakfast on PLOS TV Africa. It's the last day in the month of June and the last episode of The Breakfast for this month. Good morning, Anita. Yes, good morning and good morning to you. Thank you very much for joining us. And today, like you mentioned, final day in this month of June. And I was thinking to myself yesterday, isn't this year running very fast? Well, I think it's running at the same pace as every other year. There's just so much going on at the same time. And so it feels like it's running faster than usual. There's been a lot for the 2021 year. And it almost feels like from 2019 to date, we've lived in the same year because of the pandemic and because of COVID-19. But of course, that's coupled with other issues that Nigeria also has. So that's why it feels it's a lot faster than usual. But yes, looking forward to wrapping up the year. Like we said, at the end of 2020, we hope that the year ends with the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. So let's hope that this year actually ends with, well, COVID-19 ends this year completely. Most of the world would have to take the vaccines for that to happen. And we know just how much progress we've made in Nigeria is still a long, long way to go. Extremely long way to go. We'll take our steps at our own pace, I believe, to the best of our abilities as a country. Let's begin our top trending stories today with the biggest story in the country at the moment, which is about Namdi Kanu. We know all the stories regarding his arrest and how he basically jumped bail, went to the UK. And how the federal government announced that he's been arrested and extradited to Nigeria. And he will now begin or continue his trial. So the cable newspaper put together a timeline of his arrest. And it says, after almost four years of hide and seek, Namdi Kanu back in the DSS net. So we know about the radio Biafra in 2014. That seemed to be one of the earliest expressions of the Biafra agitation since the Nigerian Civil War. So after that radio Biafra was launched, it basically became the face of one of the biggest cessationist movements in Nigeria since after the war, of course. And then in October 14th, 2015, Namdi Kanu was arrested at a hotel in Lagos by operatives of the Department of State Services. And then later that year, several courts actually ordered the IPOP leader to be released. But the DSS failed to comply with that. They instead slammed a five-count child in him for treasonable felony. And in 2016, three courts ruled his remandant in the Kuja prison. They basically cited threats to national security. And then on April 25th, 2017, the Federal High Court in Abuja granted Namdi Kanu bail on health grounds. Three days later, he became a free man. And that's after he was detained for 18 months. Now, when they granted him bail, it was based on three conditions. Number one, that he wasn't going to grant him any interviews. Number two was that he was going to be forbidden from addressing crowds of more than 10 people. And that he was just going to do these things and abide by these rules for his bail conditions. But within just a few weeks of his release, he broke all these rules. He was seen with a crowd. He granted me the interviews. Even in that interview, he was asked if he was not afraid of the consequences. He said that putting all those restrictions on him was like asking him not to breathe. Because why would he not speak to the media? Why would he not address a congregation and all of that? You know, his charities were a Jewish leader. He highly respected Nigeria and his senator with a 100 million Naira bail bond. You know, the story really gets complex from there. And there was a time when, you know, members of the army went to his place to arrest him. And Namdi Kanu said that about 28 people were killed during that day or on that day. And the family members managed to take him away from his bedroom and smuggle him out of the country. And that he went to Israel where he felt safe and then later on to the UK. So after many years, you know, all the way from 2015, Namdi Kanu has finally been arrested. And we didn't know where. But the British High Commission put out a statement yesterday saying Namdi Kanu was not arrested or extradited from the UK. The federal government has not mentioned exactly where. But they said this was really a covert operation. And it really was very quiet because usually you'd find, you know, government statements about this here and there, you know, all over the place. Well, this seemed like a very quiet operation. They swooped in, arrested him, brought him back to the country. And now he's set for trial in July. Okay. Well, I think I'm just going to fast forward to the most recent, you know, I think, you know, a lot of people are already aware. You know, except the, you know, you mentioned that it started, you know, in 2014. It didn't actually start in 2014. It started a lot. Already be after a year. But the agitation didn't start in 2014. The direction only changed in 2014, you know, with, you know, his emergence. There was always Masab and Rafa Wazuriki and a couple other people who had pushed for, you know, the same BFR agitation. But, you know, a lot, you know, more quietly than he did. You know, so his emergence basically, you know, made it louder, made it more, not necessarily violent but vocally or verbally very insultive. The controversies, you know, from yesterday really were how did it happen? How long had it been, you know, had it been under, you know, in custody of the Nigerian government? They said Sunday, Sunday 27th. Where was he arrested from? If he was extradited from the U.K., you know, how did it happen so fast? You know, so those were all the controversies from yesterday. And of course, eventually, like you mentioned, there was a statement by the U.K. High Commissioner saying he wasn't arrested in the U.K. So somehow, some way, he maybe had left the U.K. and, you know, was arrested someplace else. Because a lot of people had argued that it was not possible for you to just, you know, invite a person from the United Kingdom so fast, you know, without any appeals, you know, against the accreditation, without any court cases, without anything. And then people started bringing up Umarudiko as an example, you know, with, of course, President Muhammad Ubarri once again. So there is all of those, you know. There is mixed emotions concerning this. There is actually so many angles. There's those who are celebrating. Well, you know, he must, you know, be taken through, you know, a court process that respects his rights. It must be an open trial. It must be a fair trial and all of that. There's those who say, well, they don't feel sorry for him because of what have, the things that have happened in the South East and last long while, you know, with the violence, the killing of police officers and, of course, the attacks on INEC offices. There's also those, I'm going to share a couple of people of messages from random people that I saw on the Internet. There's those who have criticized the celebration and reminded people that, you know, Namdi Kanu is really not Nigeria's problem. There's, you know, Nigeria has bigger problems than Namdi Kanu. And for those who are celebrating, you know, they, you know, were almost silent when they heard that Shekhar was dead. You know, they didn't celebrate Shekhar's death, who, of course, has been responsible for the death of thousands of Nigerians. That wasn't celebrated as much as the arrest of Namdi Kanu. And so, you know, it seems very hypocritical if we're talking about living in a peaceful and a safe Nigeria. I'm going to share, you know, there's Shekhar Husani here saying that the fundamental rights of Namdi Kanu should be respected in compliance with the relevant articles of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. His trial should be guided by justice, fairness, and rule of law, not sentiments, prejudice, hate, ill feelings, vengeance, or bigotry. There's another person here, Oye Kuzi says in the beginning, there was Oazirike and Masab. Then Namdi Kanu came along with IPOB. In the future, somebody else will emerge because the ebopolitical elite will not change. I know them. They didn't change after Abbasin Jardiz, Grace Anambra on Nangige. There's also someone here saying, I'm glad they've arrested Namdi Kanu. Food will be cheap, kidnapping will stop terrorists in the North who cease fire. Killer, full-on headers will maintain peace. Corruption will end. 100 million Nigerians will be lifted out of poverty. Suckers, of course. This one here says Masin Namdi Kanu's arrest on Tutorban has shown that Nigeria has all it takes to arrest, well, terrorists, and Banditry and Boko Haram and Isob Minas in Nigeria. Sanibacha said, any insurgency that lasts more than 24 hours, government officials have a hand in it. And also adds that whether you are for or against Namdi Kanu's arrest do not lose sight of the issues. The price of self-determination is no crime and must never be criminalized. Adjections won't go away, but this presents a unique opportunity for Igbo leaders and the five stages to begin to jail the Igbo's. I'm going to stop there. But those are just random comments from persons. And quickly also just share my thoughts on the part where a lot of people have also said that this shows that the Nigerian government has the capacity, has the capabilities to arrest any person and has no excuse for not being able to arrest Shakao, any of the Bandit leaders in the last couple of years in Nigeria, in the last six and last 10 years. There's absolutely no excuse why any of those people couldn't have been picked up. Even Namdi Kanu could have been arrested outside Nigeria. I have no idea where he was picked up. But they had the resources, they had intelligence enough to find him wherever he was and bring him back to Nigeria. And there's absolutely no excuse why the Bandit we spoke about yesterday who was boasting about killing soldiers cannot be arrested. There's absolutely no excuse. And I remember when they used to give that excuse as a big as Belgium or bigger than Belgium and so it's very difficult to find terrorists in there. Nobody knows where Shakao is. All those for me are total bullocks. There's absolutely no excuse and no reason why any of these people who have been committing atrocities against the Nigerian state in the last three, four, five, six, ten years could not have been arrested. There's absolutely no excuse why the Nigerian government could not have the intelligence to pick up Abu Bakar Shakao or any of the Bandit leaders, the Boko Haram leaders which we'll be talking about today, they're currently recruiting. It's part of the things that we were discussing in our program this morning. There's absolutely no excuse on the face of this earth why the Nigerian government has failed to be able to pick up every single person who has committed crimes against Nigerian state led to the loss of lives and families and properties worth billions. You can't even quantify what those lives cost. But there's no excuse whatsoever why they haven't been able to get all of those and we simply are today, or well, not we, some people are celebrating the arrest of Namdokan. I understand the perspectives of people who talk about the Boko Haram insurgency, talk about all the killings and all those other challenges in the country but I would like to examine Namdokan's case on his own merits and not say, oh, how about this, how about that, how about that. Based on Namdokan's situation, right? Can we all agree that the charges placed on him maybe have some basis? The fact that he's basically stared up agitations in Nigeria asking for, you know, secession, a break out of the country, instigating violence, that's what we should focus on and not say, how about this other person, how about the other person. And Namdokan, is he guilty? Agitation for secession is not a crime. Okay, if you say so. But what he has been charged for, Trees Nibble Felony, let me read out this charges for, he's been charged for managing an unlawful society, publication of different matrimatter, illegal possession of firearms, these are all things and that's why the law courts exist for, you know, people who know better than us legally, to determine whether or not he's innocent or guilty. So let's wait for July the 26th and examine these issues on their own merits because you won't say, how about this other person. No, I'm simply mentioning, nobody has said Namdokan is innocent. Nobody has said that he may not be guilty of these crimes or some of the things that he's done. Let us assess the situation on its own merits. We can't leave that out of the conversation because if we simply ask, Nigeria has suffered... Why do you go to the law court? When you go to the law court... You can't leave it out of conversation, I'm sorry. No, when you go to the law court, you won't say, oh, how about Bukwara, how about Felony? You wouldn't say that. The judges and the lawyers would argue based on what's been told. I am not going to be in court with them and I'm simply saying, no, I'm not going to be in court with them and I'm simply saying that regardless of how you want to make this, he might be entirely guilty and if he's guilty, he should pay for his crimes. But in this conversation, you cannot leave out the fact that Nigeria till today still suffers from failure of government to arrest people who have led to the loss of dozens, hundreds, thousands of lives. So what if we focus on the one they have already arrested now? Let's move on now. Our second top trending story, Something Lighter, right? And we're talking about Nigerian students who are innovative and putting all their creativity to work. And we know that in a federal university of technology, students of that school are not new to this kind of innovation. Back in 2017, 500 level students of the Federal University of Technology, had produced a solar powered car. I mean, this made headlines across the country. And just yesterday, we saw videos of students of that same school. That video should be up in a minute. Basically, with this car locally built, it looks sophisticated in some way, painted in black, really beautiful design. Even though I didn't catch parts of the video where the car moved, but the car looks great. And I think that's the kind of innovation that we should support in the country. Okay. Well, kudos to them. I'm not necessarily, I personally am not necessarily excited about things like that. Yes, I know that the government should be able to support and invest better with skills like that and talent like that, absolutely. But in that space, there is a lot more that, I personally feel that we should have been in a way better place. And when we see videos like that, every now and then we see a young boy in Anambrao, in Bainway, with a small cut on some tires and the remote control and everybody is clapping for it. But there's kids in Singapore, kids in China, kids in Australia who are doing things a hundred years beyond that. And some of all those things, religious show me personally that we're still in 1970 or we're still in 1950. And I wouldn't necessarily clap for all of that. Kudos to them. And I hope that they're able to develop more of those skills and they get the support that they need from their state government, from their federal government to be able to do a whole lot more also. Alright, we'll take a short break. While we come back, of course, we're going to look through the papers this morning and see what major stories are making headlines across the country. This morning with Adimullah Akinbola. Stay with us.