 On the breakfast, a socio-economic rights and accountability project is urging the Chairman of the Impenet National Electoral Commission to seek to appoint an independent council to investigate allegations of electoral offenses by state governments during the just-concluded general election. How feasible is this? We have analysis ahead. Also on the breakfast, three weeks after the Central Bank of Nigeria directed banks to comply with the decision of the Supreme Court on the ordinary note, has the cash crunch eased? Some reports suggest so. We'll discuss this later on the programme. And, of course, I will take a pic of the headlines on the front pages of today's National Daily's In-of-the-Press. And we are back. It's the breakfast in Placidia, Africa, a beautiful Monday morning reaching you live from Africa's most populous city, Lagos, and, of course, the Neff Centre, commercial Neff Centre of Nigeria. My name is Kofi Bartels. And I am Messi Boforski. Good to have you join us this morning on the breakfast, as always, instead of our conversation with the top trending Kofi. Yes, indeed. Before then, Messi, the weekend was quite interesting. And of course, I can see some people are smiling a bit more. And I asked them, why are you smiling a bit more? They didn't tell me, but, you know, when they said, oh, I saw the smile on the face, I see myself had some naira, you know. So we'll look at that ahead on the programme. But our first top trending story for today has to do with the Ansar spirit. This goes all the way back to Ansar's, where a particular driver, he is a driver of a cab, a taxi service, one of the new taxi healing apps. He became a victim of what we call collateral damage, when of course he was abused by police officers during the anniversary of the Ansar's project, or protest, rather. Well, the man went to court. He gave, he instituted a fundamental rights enforcement suit. And he got a compensation of five million naira. Initially, we had the government of Lagos State through those of the Justice Ministry saying that they may appeal this judgment or ruling by order, rather, by the court, awarding a five million naira compensation to this individual. And some hours later, we saw that the government of Lagos State put a tweet out, you know, addressing legations and saying that he would approve, you know, the payment of this five billion naira compensation to this right-hailing app taxi driver, let's call it that, who was abused by, or tortured by police officers on the anniversary of the Ansar's protest, October 20, 2021. Okay, that's the 21st of October, 2021. His name is Adelotun Clement. And congratulations to him. According to reports, he was carrying a passenger to, you know, when he encountered a gridlock at the leaky toe gate during the protest for that Ansar's anniversary. And he was grabbed because, of course, the cutters ruled in his favor. So he was allegedly, I don't know, but he was grabbed and pepper sprayed, pepper sprayed by officers of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Agency and policemen. And of course, this was all over the internet or Twitter and all that. So congratulations to him. In Ibe Effiong is a human rights lawyer who represented him or instituted that fundamental rights enforcement case in court that lawsuit against the Niger police force and the Lagos State government on behalf of the victim. Because if you look at the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Watch officials, they are employees of the state government. So that's that five million naira damages, Lagos State government sending appeal. And now the government put out a tweet saying that he will, he will pay that money, approve the payment. This is just what he said in Twitter, permit me to quote that. It says, good evening, Lagos, as governor. I am committed to upholding the rule of law and protecting citizens' rights with empathy and authority. I recently became aware of the case involving Mr. Clement at Dead or Two and the judgment by the Federal High Court. I understand the impact this legal battle has had on him. He went on to say, after reviewing Mr. Clement's case, I'll direct the Honourable Attorney General to set up a meeting and pay him the compensation awarded by the court's exit of what the governor had to say. Well, if you look at it, the clause right there would be the rule of law. I'm sure if it was comprehension, maybe it was part of English language for an examination. You want to underline most important facts right there. The rule of law, just like the governor has stated, should be upheld and that's what it is. But over time, we seem to be in a climb where those who should understand and those who should show example and lead by example are doing differently and upholding and respecting court judgment. It hasn't been very common with us. It's not, you know, very common practice. It is expected and that's why I'm not surprised when I see a lot of commendation, including the lawyer himself, commanding the governor Babaji Desong Wulu for saying he would uphold the rule of law and he would respect that. Well, you know, he's wanting to make that statement, which can just be a statement, but it's another thing to comply and do the needful. But it would go a long way. The rule of law, it's the rule of law and it's very important for our democracy. If we say we practice, you know, a democratic system of governance, then the rule of law is one of, you know, one element that's very important. And it's just simple that the law is the same. It's just a uniformity. You know, it's not different. Everyone in society must obey it. And so over time, we've had situations where the rule of law has not been upheld, especially when you have court rulings and judgment. How many times do you have compliance, especially from the elites, the ruling class, including the president, including the governors and what a view. So the question we continue, and I'm not surprised why people are commending or some persons are saying, hey, it's very commendable of the legal state governor or government to say we're going to comply with this order and we'll make the payment, the compensation for the Uber driver, five million Nair. And it will go a long way also in helping judiciary. You understand the fact that a lot of Nigerians have lost trust in judicial system because of, you know, the fact that we have over time contributed to this. When I say we, if you have a court ruling, this is a ruling, you should obey it. And for every other time we do not pay attention to whatever the court says. We just continue to discredit the judicial system of government and, you know, make the people not believe in the system entirely. So yes, it is commendable. But should we celebrate it? It's just what is expected. That if you have a ruling, it's expected that you obey the court, whether it is the highest court of the law or it's not the highest court of the law, but it is a ruling and it's also part of helping our democracy move forward. So yes, we say it is commendable. But it's also one thing, like I rightly stated, to say, hey, we have, we're going to comply with it, but we want to see compliance. Compliance will mean you're going to pay the sum of five million just as the court has stated. Well, very interesting that the legal state government, you know, came out to say, in the aftermath of this, that they were going to appeal the order of court or the judgment or the court, the high court, you know. And for me, when I saw that, because I've been in a similar situation, I was taking it back. You know, I saw a headline that I had to click on on that day and I just went there. It says, Ligos rejects order for compensation of driver assault at Ancestral Memorial. And I said to myself, well, it's just one person. You know, it's just one person. Why reject it? It's just five million there. Mercy for such, such act of brutality. You know, five million there doesn't cut it. Mercy at all. You know, I had my own situation where I had to go to court to enforce my fundamental rights. And after I was, I was brutalized by SADS officials, believe it or not, before N-SADS. You know, so whilst the N-SADS panel thing was going on, I'd already filed something in the courts. So I wasn't a part of that. Mercy, the pains of that encounter with the SADS officials, I don't want to go into what happened. I will meet you today, you know. And the judge in here, in his wisdom, let me say his cause, I think all the judges are he, you know, the judge in his wisdom. And I have no, I can't question the reason of the judge. You know, I wanted compensation of five million there. And for me, it wasn't about the money, you know. But sometimes I would look at it and say, if it's for what I suffered, I think it's not enough. You know, so this five million there for this man was pepper spray. Who knows the injuries that leave it in for the rest of his life? Okay. But I'll take years to go away. Who knows the psychological trauma that he will face, you know. Each time he has to remember this thing. Who knows what he lost as far as his business is concerned whilst he was treating himself? You know, and all those things. So when I see this amount of money, five million there isn't even cutting one-tenth of what he should get. Okay. Some people are just defamed in there. What they have, 100 million there. So when I saw five million there and I saw that Legostec comments said they were not going to obey the order and they were going to actually appeal. I was taken aback. I was like, this is just, it doesn't even cut it. The amount doesn't cut it. So it's good to see, very, very commendable that his Excellency the Governor of Legostec has come out to say, we will pay the money. You know, and he put it in a very nice way. So I think that's recommendable. Very. Well, we're just lucky you have stated we just move away from that for the want of time and look at another issue on the top trending is the fact that the general Ola Dikpo, I mean this is the case, is not very exciting usually when you have someone pass, no matter what it is, it's not an exciting one to lose a life. But, you know, a very highly placed military personnel has passed on general Ola Dikpo Dia from a chief of general staff under the late head of state, General Sanya Bachar. He's dead. Now his death was announced in a statement by his son Prince Dia on Sunday morning. And it's important to note there's a lot to say about him. I mean, there's a lot of controversy. I saw reactions from Nigerians saying you need to see how he was begging for his life at the time. But Dia was born on April the 3rd. Apparently he would have been how many years old April the 3rd, 2023. But that's not the case. He was born April the 3rd, 1944 in Ogun State, former chief of general staff who joined the Nigerian Defense Academy, Kaduna Fort during the Nigerian Civil War. Dia was appointed chief of general staff in the army in 1993. You want to ask yourself where you were and how old you were in 1993. And he was also the vice chairman of the provisional ruling council in 1994. That was also another great time. He was second in command and de facto vice president of Nigeria under Bachar of course from 1994 as a chief of general staff he also lost his wife for Lashadeh in 2020. That would have been a lot. But following the circumstances before his death a lot of people think that he's been silent at the time when he came out from prison. But just allow the floor. What is the floor on the table on the microphone to coffee? Yeah, I don't say I don't know microphone. Where's the mic? Give it to me. But I think it's... We have a throwback video of the deputy general who was deputy to Bachar General Lalipodea was arrested by the then head of state General Sania Bachar and the allegation was of course for the coup or attempted coup in 1997 he was convicted of course for treason and sentenced to death in April 1998 Let's just take a flashback this is courtesy of the Nigeria Television Authority Visions of section 1 of the treason and treasonable offences decree number 29 of 1993 a special military tribunal for the trial of persons involved in the December 1997 coup plot has sentenced to death persons found guilty of treason and any treasonable offence Announcing the verdict today at the end of its seasons Chairman of the tribunal Major General Victor Malou that 15 persons out of a total of 30 tried were found guilty as charged 14 were found not guilty while one was convicted for a lesser offence than the original charge Lieutenant General Lalipodea is amongst the 13 persons charged for treason and conspiracy to commit treason he was found guilty on both counts Lieutenant General Diodea charged one treason finding guilty charge two conspiracy to commit treason finding guilty Major General Ety Olair Wazi charged one treason finding guilty charge two conspiracy to commit treason finding guilty Major General A. K. A. DiSort charge one treason guilty charge two conspiracy to commit treason finding guilty Oh, I came here today. Charge one, treason, finding, not guilty. Charge two, conspiracy to commit treason, finding guilty. Alright, these are the days that some people are asking us to go back to. These are the days of military error. You know what they call those kangaroo courts. Yeah, kangaroo court. So right there you can see that the general was stood there like an ordinary, you know, civilian, someone you can just meet or pick up from the streets, just dressed ordinarily. And that's what the military can do to you. If you do anyhow, you see anyhow. I mean, I think he was in the civilian area where he asked what he probably would be dressed, you know, and, you know, go with a lot of, you know, elegance. But you mentioned the fact that General Oladipodea, you know, was a bit of a quiet life of sorts. And I would say so, you know, in recent, in latter years of his life, but he wasn't too quiet because he gave several interviews. You know, I remember even in my days in university up until, you know, some years ago, regularly reading about him and his, he was a constant fixture in the newspapers really. But what I can say was that General Dia, who's a former chief of General Staff, who himself also was a lawyer, I think he led the life of an elder statesman, you know, someone who said, after getting another chance at life, you know, another chance of life, because, you know, treason has its own penalty. He led a quiet life. Okay. He gave me a regular media interviews, but never really seriously from that point actively interfered with things, you know. So I think he's an example, all right, an example to be emulated, an example to follow. I think the other person who's also just led a statesman like life is Yakubo Goan, from ahead of state as well, you know, who's led a statesman's life. You have the likes of Ticoboqa, who was not a military man, but he was in the customs, and in that frame, you have the likes of General Buhari, Orleshe Gwabasa Angel, who've still been in the frame, you know, as military men, retired military men. So I think he deserves a lot of commendation. I think that he's worth emulating. He's worth emulating. He was a consulate general. Somebody who wasn't just a soldier, but also had, you know, his tints in administration. Someone who was a qualified lawyer, and then all that, played a lot of roles, including being the GOC of 82 Division, Enugu, member of the Armed Forces ruling council, the defunct AFRC. They debacle over the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, forced for Bangalore to step aside then, and hand over to the Interim National Government of the National Council at the time, and of course, who later, in quote, resigned from office and handed over to General Sania Bachar, with dear, then becoming the chief of General Staff and de facto second in command to the new leader. So he called his teeth in governance and public administration as the military governor of his state of origin. Indeed, the incumbent governor of his state, Ogun State, has, you know, he's been among those who have been eulogizing the later general, Oladipo, dear. So may so rest in peace. He's left his mark on the stance of time, and he has been a consummate, an elder statesman, if you want to call it that. General Oladipo, dear, you came, you saw, and you conquered. Rest in peace. Definitely. She should rest in peace. And more or less, it would be that every mortal would definitely go. What's important is how you, I mean, what mark you would leave when you're gone, what would people say about you, just like we're speaking about the general noun Oladipo, dear. Okay, so think about it. It's what you do while you're on Earth because every mortal would definitely go. Yes, indeed, every mortal will definitely go where we'll just take a moment in silence for the gentleman. I'd like to once again we say may so rest in peace. Amen. Okay, mercy. What was the last time you had about the Niger Airways, or you saw the Niger Airways aircraft? If you asked me the last time I had about the Niger Airways, I probably would say that we have had that in the news. I'm probably sure we'll probably have taken that because the government has said there will be in operation before May 29, or May 29. That is for 2023. So that's the last time. But seeing it, I haven't seen it. I tell you I've been looking forward to this Niger Air, because I was a fan of the Niger Airways back in the day, and some of the items, the branded items we had growing up. So I mean it was very welcome news, a surprise to many when the Ministry of Aviation had the secret heart of the time hinted that Niger Air will come on board. And then we saw the logos and we saw the launching of this airline. However, we've had one or two twists and turns we had about, if you have about Airways being involved in all that, being interested in starting the airline and running it. So Nigerians have wondered what is going on. Is this one of those other guffs by the government where they say they're going to do something and they don't end up doing it. Well, Niger Air Salvation Minister Hadisuka has hinted that the controversial Niger Air, which would be the national carrier of the country, which we will have said is just on paper and is one of the field promises of the administration of President Muhammad Wari. And he has said that this airline will commence operation before the swearing in of the new administration on the 29th of May. And of course the Minister disclosed this, the ongoing National Aviation Stakeholders Forum 2023 in Abuja on Thursday. And this is what he said and I quote, operation of local and international flights will commence soon before the end of this administration, before May 29, we will fly. So the Ethiopian airline interest has developed and gone beyond the point of interest or expression of interest. They've actually been working, they've been working behind the scenes to ensure that this becomes a reality. And the work they've been doing includes negotiations. What the Minister said at that forum was that negotiation meetings with the Ethiopian Airlines Group and the Federal Government are still ongoing. And the next step they're saying is that the Federal Executive Council, which is the Cabinet of Nigeria will approve the full business case. Alright, so that's that. And it's, I think, so welcome to involvement for people who have been hoping to see something like this. So we'll be waiting for the Federal Executive Council to do the needful, approve the full business case and then we see everything moving quickly to have Nigeria here in the sky. Well, you know, some consent that should come to Nigerians and a lot of people should be worried about because it's not every other time you hear the Government say we'll do XYZ and then they leave up to expectation. Don't forget there's also been, you know, caught, I mean, litigations and then the Government is saying they're trying to see how they can overcome these hurdles to ensure that, you know, this happens. So we want to, for once in a lifetime, you know, take the Nigerian Government by her words and say that on May 29, this will commence because we've met it, you know, it's here. Go back to play this tape and look at it. Agreement is agreement. What you say is what you have said. I know if you go into that, you're going to be singing. But how can these things become? And also, if you look at the highlights of this, you also remember that the Ethiopian Airlines also, they're asking for a lot, more return them. They're also asking for just several things that they're asking for. 15 years of, you know, no tax payment and more of you, too many other issues. The tax issues will also know the issues where you have pilots who are not employed. This might also be some sort of, you know, an opportunity to employ. But let's see how all of this pans out. May 29, here is the date. Absolutely. You know, many Nigerians criticized the Buhari administration for trying to start a new national carrier, you know, after Nigeria was, of course, you know what happened, corruption and all that. We have less than two months in office for the Buhari administration. I don't know what they can do in those two months. But they have a window of opportunity to impress Nigerians and to really leave a legacy, you know. The new national carrier, we're told, will be owned partly by the government of Nigeria and also managed rather by a private partner. Some local airlines went to court. You know, they sued the federal government, of course, asking the court to stop the new national carrier as it will get on fair advantages over other airlines in the country. Of course, you know what government can do. So in November last year, if you remember, the Federal High Court in Lagos issued an interim injunction, or an order of interim injunction restraining the Nigerian government from proceeding with the establishment of this new national carrier. Mr. Sika was asked this in February. The papers carried it that he said he was not aware of any cut injunction, you know, to that effect. So I think that is the case, you know, maybe he's still saying he's not aware. Probably they've had discussions behind the scenes to try and, you know, work on this guy so that they don't interfere with what's going on. So let's see what happens. There's a lot to talk about this story. Now, last thing I would say is the pension for May 29. We've seen the government of Lagos state saying that they'll complete the red rail or red line before May 29. Now, we hear the Minister of Aviation say they'll complete this Nigeria Air Business for May 29. We're asking them, we are begging them, please. There's nothing about May 29 that you must meet, okay? If you can't do by May 29, don't rush because you don't want to see government projects being rushed just to meet up with May 29 and then they're not being done properly. This is an airline people are going to fly. It must be safe. The red line that the government is talking about, people also use it. It must be safe. So if you don't think you can do it by May 29, don't rush. We need to move on. That's what I'm saying. Yes, we need to go away. The conversation can never end. I'm sure that if we want to continue, there will be, you know, too many issues to talk about. But we take a break now. When we return, it will be time for us to go through the papers. We'll call it off the press. Stay with us. Good morning.