 It's my special pleasure to be here this afternoon for the inauguration of the Legal Compliance Committee of our great party and our legal advisor, the National Legal Advisor. I'm happy that he has covered the crown on the role of the campaign committee. I'll only buttress the points that he has made. I'm also happy of course that there is a breakout session, a working session, where a lot more will be done right after this formal opening ceremony. The formation of this Legal Compliance Committee is very crucial to the achievement of our party's electoral ambitions for all the elections, the national elections and the state elections. Those of you who have worked with us in the buildup to the 2015 and 2019 general elections know that the proactive approach that we have adopted through the air on the ground work of the presidential legal team has provided us with a crucial head start in tackling some of the challenges that we're confronted with. And I want to just emphasize some of what Mr. Kayamo has said about the losses of our party. You know, we've made many, many very huge losses. A lot of the reasons why they are losses is because people will hardly listen to lawyers before they take their steps. And so this is why we lose, you know. If you look at Zanfarah state, for example, I interviewed several times to try and resolve the issues, to try and make sure that things were done. But politicians are always optimistic no matter what the circumstances. They believe that nothing will ever go wrong. But we have seen how things can go so disastrously wrong in places like Zanfarah state where we won every single election and lost every single one in court. So the best we can do is to be as proactive as possible in the process. Again, the process that we're involved in today is one that is almost ready. If you see what I mean, any mistakes have been made prior to this. We just have to start thinking of how to deal with them. But between now and the elections and after the elections, we have a proactive role to play. Half the time we have to go out seeking for the information. The information is not going to come to us. You can be sure that the way these things work, you have to really go out and say, look, I need to know what you're doing. I need to know what's happening here. I need to know what's happening there. And then, you know, do the best we can to resolve. So I'm glad that we have here an assembly of very committed members of the party, who by their calling as lawyers will be able to offer tremendous support for the party through the protection of our interests at every step of this electoral process. And, you know, I've been in the choice of those who are here. It's evidence that a lot of thinking has gone into it. So we are not, you know, just elected because you might be party members. We're very concerned that we have a team that will work with us very well. For this election has been the case in every election, every polling unit. In fact, every single ballot box is important for each and every one of our candidates in over 1400 elective positions at both the federal and state levels across the country. While that aspect of the process is being safeguarded by agents, ensuring that the process through which our candidates get elected is above board, and that of the success of our candidates is our responsibility, especially from the legal angle. So I'll just read very quickly the functions of the legal, the legal compliance committee. It is first, it is the expectation of our party that you will among other things insulate the campaign of the party at all levels against the breaches of rules and regulations, guidelines and laws by ensuring strict compliance there. I'm sure we'll get this in writing, so you may not be speaking so quickly, I may not be able to write this down, but I'm sure we'll get this, the expectations from you in, you know, I will actually give you copies of it, to ensure that all internal structures of the party and external engagements of the party are conducted in accordance with established operating procedures and the law. Of course, we recognize that there's an electoral act. There also are guidelines, you know, so we need to really take a look at all of these things and be sure, you know, what needs to be done to act as liaison for all regulatory bodies and maintain relationships with relevant legal bodies and associations, to monitor and keep abreast of regulatory developments, initiatives and requirements, and then to develop compliance checklists and protocols, conduct trainings for campaign personnel, and prepare compliance reports for the party. Ours is the, and I want to just emphasize, just slightly emphasize, on this beavers thing, I'm going to talk about it briefly also, but the beavers is a new device which we need to understand very, very well, because I am absolutely certain that it will be the source of serious legal contention during the course of these elections. The voter, the other one, the card reader, the card reader presented serious legal problems in practically every one of the major cases. Card reader, how to use the card reader, whether it was used properly, whether the results of the card reader are relevant, whether, you know, it's a electoral register, all sorts of legal problems. But this is even more complex, the beavers device. It's even more complex because this is opposed to a credit. It will also report results, not just a credit. It will report results. That's a very important thing, and it's electronic. So we need to just look at all of the issues concerning, and I hope the work of the breakout session will help in some of this respect. But if you saw what happened in Oshun state, it's evident that, and we need to get a report, you know, for my neck, just so that we better understand what happened in Oshun state. For us, it favored our party, you know, when in the final result of the tribunal. One of the critical things that happened there is that, so initially there was an INEC report. The same INEC produced the beavers in court, and the beavers apparently showed a different set of facts. Now that is a very, very, you know, it's a complex thing. You know, what happens, you know, if the beavers show something completely different, you know, and in this particular, if the beavers had been the one that was tender, and it showed that we lost the election, whereas the first report they gave showed that we won the election. So we really have to study this very closely, and we must see the Oshun state elections and the results as a test case for us to be sure of what exactly we need to be looking out for in this whole beavers thing. I think it's so crucial, because I'm sure that it will be the subject of contention in all, practically all the elections. So we need to understand it. We need to have a, and I think that as much as possible, we need to be briefed about it. Whatever we need to do, whether at this meeting or subsequent meeting, I'm sure our National Legal Advisor will be on top of this. We need to be briefed properly. We need to understand it. We can bring in technical people who can show us how this works, because as lawyers, just to be able to prepare minds for, you know, the, with their disputes, we need to just very understand this very well. In all the electoral, the tribunal cases that I have personally handled, I find that, you know, the understanding of lawyers about the electoral process is critical, is what decides how the whole process goes, the understanding of lawyers of what transpired. So the question you're asking for is examination and all of this, you must understand, you know, the rudiments clearly. And in this case, there's a new electoral device that will define the fate of elections. So I think I take, we really need to show a great deal of interest in understanding it. As is the only question, you know, people keep asking, you know, why the APC? You know, people talk about, look, the APC is no different from the PDP, it's no different from any other party. People are crossing from here to there. So what's the, hey, what's the problem? What's the issue with this APC? Why people live in APC? At least people ask me that. You know, I look at what's the point, you know, this is not a progressive party, as we thought it should be. But I want to make the point that, you know, as is the only party, and this party was founded on social democracy, social protection. That's how it was founded. The whole point of our party is social mobility for the poor, justice for the wrong, are manifesto in 2014, in 2019 and 2023. 2014, of course, is where it was written, 2015 is when it was put in place. Detailed the most comprehensive social investment policy. In 2015, we became the first government to make budgetary provisions of 500 billion Naira for a comprehensive social investment program. We went out to do what we said we'd do. 9.5 million children in our homegrown school feeding program, being fed every day, providing jobs for 500,000 at first, unemployed graduates through our MPR program. And then eventually now we have 1 million, you know, many deployed to primary schools and the hinterland teachers, others trained on the N-Tech, M-Build, or the Jeep, you know, N-Tech and M-Build. So, you know, we tried to do what was required to ensure that we had a serious social investment policy and program. A Jeep program provided informal traders with small loans, the trader money, market money, farmer money program. We also built the conditional cash transfer program, where we're giving five in all, you know, in a home you give about 20,000 Naira, you know, for the cash transfer, along with the World Bank and local communities. We compiled the register of the poorest Nigerians and we began a program of giving them the monthly stipends and also livelihood training for every household that would give them money. Now we have a comprehensive social register working with the World Bank, working with UNICEF and other organizations of over 30 million of the poorest Nigerians, you know, properly done, properly documented. Our opponents criticized us for providing money for the poor to do their business and that's what they've always done. In fact, the PDP wanted to scrap the program as soon as they won the elections, they didn't win. And we sold to them that we are the only party committed to lifting the poor out of poverty and that we are also accountable for what we do. The trader money and other Jeep programs were managed by the Bank of Industry from day one. They created the platform for it and that platform is now called the growth platform. Won several awards, including two African bankers awards, recognition by the World Trade Organization. They've also won awards from the World Bank. The same thing that we're talking about. Of course, people say, ah, trader money, they just went out giving, no, we never went, nobody distributed money. It was the Bank of Industry and people got the money on their phones. They got their notes on their phones. All loans are trackable. The entire process is completely auditable. So if you want to audit, we went to the the country, the command center, we're able to call people who are taking loans, they're able to reply, we have their photographs, we have everything. The most audited. That's why the World Bank has accepted it and World Bank has more or less endorsed it. Even for their other programs, it is a growth platform that they use, even for their other micro credit program. It's the largest micro credit program in sub-Saharan Africa. And we must, you know, be able to say to anyone who tells, we are dodged in our progressive left of center ideology. We are the true representatives of the poor. Unfortunately, many times, you know, we ourselves do not express our ideological position so that the only thing we ever hear from politicians has crossed over. Another one is dodging FCC is now in our camp and all those kinds of things. That's what makes the news. But I think that as a party, and the reason why I'm making this point is because as lawyers, we must be able to demonstrate why our party is superior to any other party. And it is up to us to be able to say this thing. Of course, you know, it's an issue which should concern our party and we should make, we should talk about it a lot more. I've had calls over the years to articulate just how much our administration, the APC administration has made to achieve the pursuit of this vision. And the contributions despite the enormous challenges that the world has faced over the course of our tenure, the COVID, all sorts of two recessions and all that. But these are achievements known to our detractors, though they admit so only behind their closed doors. Knowing where we were in 2014 and the challenges we're able to overcome and knowing the very likely danger of reversal of all that has been achieved by administration and our governors in the States and our legislators at the national and state levels, we cannot afford to be nonchallant, rather we have to be proactive. I congratulate you all for this recognition. I urge you to remain committed to the critical assignment that is placed before you. Watch out for surprises, last-minute court proceedings and orders. Document in a systematic way all the acts observed that could serve as evidence for our candidates. Please familiarize yourself with the functions and functioning of this beavers. And we're going to do the best we can to supply whatever information we have so that we are technically competent as the operators of the equipment itself. So it's now my very special pleasure to inaugurate the Legal Compliance Committee of the Presidential Campaign Council of the APC. Thank you and God bless you.