 Somweeke asks Nigerians to back to Nibu says politics time is over as he and Shayi Mckenday visit the president-elect and presidents Muhammad Buhari approves postponement of 2023 census. This is Plus Politics and I am Mary Anna Khan. Governor Yesomweeke of the River State and his counterpart in all your state Shayi Mckenday paid a cuts to the visit to the president-elect. I see what you follow I met Tinibu at the Defense House on Friday evening. The development is coming two months after the former Lagos State governor was declared winner of a contentious 2023 presidential election. Tinibu had polled 8,794,726 votes to defeat the People's Democratic Party candidate Artikwa Buboka and the Labour Party flag bearer who got 6,984,520 votes and of course 600 million or 6 million I beg your pardon 101,533 votes respectively. Now the two governors had a light-hearted chat with Tinibu who was excited to see them and shortly after the arrival the duo had a closed-door meeting with the president-elect along with the chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum and the governor of Kepi State Artikwa Bubaguru, his Jigawa State counterpart Abubaka Baduru and the former governor of the Kiti State Kairi Fiami. The details of the discussion is yet to be announced to the media but joining us to break this down is Chaus or two he is a public affairs analyst and Ezekiel Nyai took former governorship candidate of the ADC in our Kwaibom State. Thank you so much gentlemen for joining us and good evening. I'm going to start with you Mr. Nyai Tok. Let's look at all of the things that belt up to the presidential elections and of course the one that threw up the president-elect. Many things especially the G5 within the PDP. I mean you and I have had conversations about the inner workings of the PDP, the travails of the chairman of the PDP at the time who still is obviously and what led to Governor Wike pitting his tent with the APC presidential candidate surprisingly. Many people are saying that with this visit it is a class slap on the face of the People's Democratic Party even as he is still a member of the party. What are your thoughts? The very first thing I would like to say is a happy workers day to all the workers in Nigeria as you can see today I was fully treated decorated as a senior comrade and I think this one of the very few times in my life that I like I'm putting on a cap because I have a natural cap. So if you permit me please permit me to remove this cap and wear it on my mouth. All right to the issue you know we've talked about this several and I think politics is getting redefined in a way that I don't know whether it's positive or negative because there's something called anti-party you know activity and when we've had a an election as controversial as the last one and then your candidate the party the candidate of your party is in the tribunal and you go to felicitate as it were with the opponent because he's not yet you know the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria you can call him the president elect but there's still a process that will lead to his formal installation or invest teacher as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria while this is still going on and you are still a member of the party and you are still a governor of the party I think that we are starting to redefine what anti-party is all about and what is ethical within this context I believe that when you become a president and then your governors all you setting loyalty certain allegiance but when you are president elect and your party is in the tribunal I'm not sure it's so much ethical I don't think it's really the Bible says all things are lawful but not all things are expedient I don't think that I can really honestly hail the activities of the two but you see well the Bible is not necessarily the playbook of politicians in this part of the world especially when we look at Nigeria where we say our democracy is nascent and we're still learning and growing even though a lot of people point to the American democracy and say it's 200 years old and and and you know that we should be copying from them but then we have a different way of playing politics now going back to what you said and redefining what anti-party is let's delve into how we play politics in this part of the world but before we do that let's listen to what Governor Wike had to say and then you could help me answer that question the president I've been inaugurated and then from there he kicked the ground rolling to make sure that I don't get what they expect I'm I'm confident by how much it takes to turn Nigeria around I have that confidence so back to you missing I took I was asking the way we play politics in Nigeria what does it say about our democratic process and like I said we call it a nascent democracy but what does he say about how we're developing our democracy in this part of the world you see yesterday you must have seen in the news that the Labour Party and a coalition of civil society some of us elders met together to look and review by right what you should have is a fair contest where there must be winners and there will be losers where the winners should be allowed is like you know aqua united is playing with the probably Nassarayu Nassarawa united okay when aqua united flogs Nassarawa United at the end shake hands and then Nassarawa will say don't worry you'll come on research return they go and like put themselves together they can afford to shake hands because it was a free fair credible contest so they're like okay you won't but when you have a presidential election that is put with so much irregularities the whole world says oh this wasn't good enough at the end of the day you're gonna have a lot of aggrieved people so while this was grieving they take the legal option of going to the court and exhausting all the processes which could lead to a cancellation of them of the election which could also lead to a reversal of whether is the winner or the loser until we get to the last bus stop which we are advocating that that bus stop should come before the swearing in of the person the moment we will get to the last bus stop and the person is sworn in the right thing to do is for every boy to know that well you know there's another time but we come into governance but for him to advise that we should all rally around when the process is legally still ongoing is ill-informed is unnecessary it could actually be provocative and absolutely unwarranted so you're saying that this because you I was paying attention close attention you're saying just as many naysay is that this process was not as legal as clean and fair as it should be and that's why you feel that governor wiki is on in the wrong with the statement that he made I just want to be clear absolutely so because like I said before and I repeat it in an election you must have the mindset that they must be winners and there are some people that will not win you must have that mindset no matter you see but the president elected the Claude winner by INEC they return him as the winner clearly no no no it's a process that is not yet concluded you need to know election process starts with indication of interest and ends at the supreme court judgment not at the swearing in no the electional because there are people look at think of them the emo state governor he was sworn in he was in office and then at the end of the day the supreme court says no you were not the rightfully elected person this other person was and what happened he had to leave the office he can say oh I've been sworn in and that is it no the election process does not end at swearing in it ends at the final judgment of the supreme court that's where it ends so it is a ill informed like I said and you know a lack of what I always refer to as emotional intelligence at a time like this for you to I mean you've done your worst during the election say just leave it and let the legal processes get to a logical conclusion and some of us are of the opinion that nobody should take the laws into their hands let's get to the legal you know arena and whatever is the final judgment let us accept it and then make the process better and get a better result in next time but for now I think what PDP and Labour Party are doing in particular I think others are also there is right is legal it is their right and let us allow that process to be exhausted before even when somebody has been sworn in it's not final Nigerians need to know that okay let me come to you Charles looking at that video and of course this the statements that was credited to Governor Wieke saying that it politics time is over it's time for us to rally around the man who's the president elect for him to he also said that he has trust in in his capabilities to deliver the dividends of democracy for Nigerians and that's me paraphrasing and do you think that Governor Wieke spoke a bit too early being that he is not necessarily a member of the ruling party neither is he a member of the APC should he have waited till after the swearing-in what is your take going to bed is mine too early first of all putting into account the role some of them played some of those rules a glorious as it were in the last presidential election I think what they are doing is that they are trying to come up from the cocoons of pretensions they have been in a couple pretending that I mean well they really play any social heavy role but they are saying that it is time to share the meat and the more they show up the mother won't be forgotten and they actually thinking they can rally around support from the various parties that the PDP for the APC president elect the APC presidential candidate and now president elect Bolatino why you may think he doesn't know what he's doing what the vote of them both what they call strategic position they are positioning themselves for what may be the official outcome if that's of appointment of course if you take into account the fact that we cannot contest for the Senate he didn't he doesn't have any addresses going back to unless he plays the politics of the center so he is trying to keep into the politics of the center for all for their own selfish interests and reasons so for us for the common Nigeria's I agree with what I talked said that the process is not concluded but as for his decision to meet with Tinnubu he has the right to do that because the PDP has not been fair in disciplining these different governors the PDP have also not been fair in not only taking them in trying to curtail them to bring them to a level where these governors will understand that it is it is actually against the spirit and letters of the constitution of the party so for a party that has allowed these different governors particularly yes a weekend to gross the level of I mean you could expect what we get because we get is not trying to say I am really both suspicious of course you read about the attempt to suspend him and even these allies and how they went to court to get an injunction to the Senate and even PDP tried to reverse themselves on the people they are suspended so the party has not been fair in disciplining these members so what do you expect from people who are putting their best for a ruling party against their own party there is no position so for me they are moving around trying to strategically position themselves so they won't think they did not stand with Tinnubu before he gets inaugurated and of course you know once he is inaugurated a lot of interest and a lot of tests we need to panic so it is not for Nigerians to take away the message and discard the message they are spreading that Nigerians should rally around if they present the left for us the process is not yet completed all right let me ask you Charles because you you're saying that I mean because a governor Shai Makinde has gotten you know his certificate of return he's returning as you know a second-term governor in your state so he obviously is not pivoting to get an appointment but let's let's focus on Governor Wikey now you said that he's strategically positioning himself for something in the government let's look at the politics of it there are people who have been there by Balatino Rufo as long as possible and as he has said over time that he's been a kingmaker and it was his turn to be the king himself now how do you feel that these people who have been working was the president-elect over time while Wikey was in the opposition if he were to be you know strategizing for a position how do you think how easy do you think that will be for him knowing that there have always been other people who stood by a Balatino well like I tried to say it is morally reprehensible all this can be helpful for him but he cannot be subjected to that but that's not the way politicians take so for him what yes on Wikey feels is that he can get a cut of a deal he doesn't care about the moral aspect of his time he had been caught in several videos which had gone around the session with them very barely before the election speaking of bearing his mind saying that he can never never ever support a party like APC and those videos are there Mariana I'm sure you must have watched some of these videos too where some of us see these videos we just love because it actually shows the representability of the lack of moral or the lack of ethics in politics because if they were not speaking as for example acting and taking an entrance for what they take them to be what a way some Wikey should have done he says he feels that the PDP leadership is crumbling and the party needs to be rebuilt it should have been built to this party for the AG5 governors to take even as former governors to take charge of them and that they can begin to do real positions of them but the trust is that if he gets a deal as a minister of health minister of work for instance if you see has something in the car for him for the next five years so that is why they are thinking about the questionability of the credibility of the team who election the president election they are thinking about what is in it for them as Christmas decoders in the presidential election that has put the estate they have put the estate on the line they have put in efforts to either manipulate or convince the people to vote for the presidential candidate the APC whom they all support so I think they are only coming out from their cocoons now because they feel this is the right time for them to make those statements to say yes we call the Nigerians to support you so it's not for Nigerians to take the message for what it is that is for the teachers acting and they are simply playing the dangerous surface scripts okay that is what Mr. Toak let me come back to you just just to you know piggyback on what he said if the PDP as he said has not been very strict as to dealing with the likes of Governor Wiki I mean we've seen other people who were dismissed or suspended on the grounds of anti-party activities etc etc but in the case of the G5 Governors we've not seen that same stern position what does this signal to other members of the party who have been seeing what's been playing out and does this signal an open door policy for the level of truancy that's being displayed by the you know G5 Governors and who's to say that that's not going to be the order of the day in the next election cycle you see sometimes I find it difficult thing to know where to start on these matters some days back I was on one of the national television stations and then they asked me where the Senate President should go generally who think it should be between the South South and the South East and I told them as a former national chairman of a party you want to give members of the party chance to quote die for the party knowing that when you work for the party you will be rewarded by the party but if you walk for the party and then another person gets a reward who did not work for the party at the end of the day in the next election cycle you ask yourself why am I killing myself when they will give it to whoever they wish so on account of that that's what I said they should give it to the South South we have Mr. Senator Pabio kind of is a leader as it were within our zone because of the exigencies because of emotional intelligence because of what makes sense in the larger interest of the party now put that aside and come to where we are today there is a party called APC in River State they have a candidate called Mr. Tonya Cole this candidate incidentally himself and myself who were together at Madame Obie Ezecosili's 60th birthday and we had a lot to talk his work so hard he's done so much for the party if at the end of the day he does not get the mandate to be the governor of that state and then somebody who caught a deal with Mr. Ashuaju if he's sworn in eventually as a president and he's remained as a president that man is made a minister against all the people that have stuck with the party over the years now Mr. Bola Ametirubu will have to ask himself am I coming in as a standard politician to begin another round of political dealings and you know in Nigeria or am I coming in as a leader that will have to rule the country by good conscience by best corporate practices by the larger interest of the Nigerian nation by being able to bring certain things to teach people what leadership considerations should be he has a very big decision to take and if he comes in as his master schema king maker all fantastic politician who cuts deals to the feather his nest and and let whatever is in his better interest rule against right judgment then I am afraid that we are in for another rough ride I want to end on a little thing in the Bible there was a guy called King David and he was going to meet his brother that was coming to meet him there was some kind of miss on that or on on on on interesting situation and they asked him to go faster you know what he said he said in my camp are children and pregnant women if I overdrive them by some distance I may lose some so you guys go let me take these people at their pace what does that show leadership consideration of the larger interest of the society over personal interest and I think that this is where we Nigerians need to stop a lot of these analyses and everything and accepting what is wrong and stand up and say leader office of the citizen holds you responsible what you are doing is morally irreprehensible it is ethically unacceptable and we expect to hold it to a higher standard of morality and leadership than you are showing let me come back to you Charles looking at you know what missing I took has said in terms of you know selling out positioning strategizing let's talk about betrayal because you see whether we like it or not the PDP and its presidential candidate does feel betrayed by the G5 governors and whether they delivered or they did not delivered and to whom they delivered again back to the issue of governor wiki how trust worthy how easy will it be to trust a governor wiki in a camp full of APC people who have always worked with the president elect and knowing what he had done cutting corners cutting deals in the words of missing I took horse to say that he's not gonna turn on the you know APC or the president elect when the waters begin to rage thank you very much first is that I would take a brief reflection on reverse politics because when I listen to talk talk and I just my mind just cast back immediately to 2007 when people they was used by the PDP reverse as I actually always been the cash cow returning presidential candidates in 2015 transition she was used by Buhari and the APC then to launch themselves to power it wasn't even a little surprising when I tell you who decided to approach me can we care for it at the end what we K should be asking itself is where has this my brothers ended at some point it was as though typical machine was even the beautiful bride in the presentation quest for the best ticket I think he's talking about but I think even people like a machine were there and they have been there for the party they have given these are enemies that enemies that the party had moderately created in the state before people like looking came to take the credit that they glory now for him we get to know he's going into a night of long nights which is going to bed is going to bed return some people who who we do him for who he is that is the fact that even though he says yes I think he betrayed me return the betrayal at the end you're talking about the moral aspect of politics that makes one to look at you and give you considerations and assignments based on his understanding of your dissidents so this is a very tempting moment even for we can end up becoming the minister of works if that is it reverse he can end up replacing a messy or taking over as a messy but what is there or a lesson for rivers to take is that my people the people of Africa will not say just to say that being conquered in three wrestling books, three wrestling festivals breaks deep shame rivers has been used in 2007 2015 and then 2003 at the end where did these two that have gone before him where did they end the where the department is made to them where death is healed the answer is no we didn't end in glory or in shame the answer is the end of the shame so how is he also going to come back to the PDP Tribunal that's been shifted to Aguija to begin to support who was the presidential candidate of PDP and the governor-elect of river state as it is now what morality is he going to be standing on those two trackers to say look give us this ticket to defect what happens to the people like to echo and others who have been in this party and what are the lectures of the party so this is where the lack of morality for APC speaks volumes and for people like us we don't take such even if they consider such people for appointment such people are not going to be taken very seriously by Nigerians because we already know that their interest is all for and for them all for themselves and there are a few queries they have around them well before we go because we are out of time quickly just as you said the knives might come out whichever way the pendulum swings in this instance and just as you said Mr. Ohtu let's say for example Sim becomes sworn in and then decides to move to the APC there are people who they are at odds with in the APC river state same thing for Governor Wike but I'm going to ask him I'm going to ask him, I took this question lastly before we go if Wike has by any chance to get something out of this I'm just wondering do you see movements within the APC anytime soon a lot of movements being that there might just be a lot of frayed nerves as a result of if he does get something okay let me start by acknowledging the very very wise contributions from Mr. Charles Ohtu he's actually an Aqaibom person because Ohtu is an Aqaibom name that's why he's sounding that intelligent so his name should be Charles Ohtu because that's an Aqaibom name but as you said nobody's a fool I'm very close to a lot of APC members and what happened to Amici will likely happen to Mr. Wike on the double why do I say so you see the man Buhari and the man Tinubu are two different types of people there is something that Mr. Tinubu knows about people he understands betrayal and he knows exactly what Wike has done and I want to tell you that even if Wike is a minister within one year there's going to be a problem that is going to create a scandal just for him to be exited from the place I don't know what sort of agreement he's going to have and said I must be a minister for four years I don't know how that's going to work out but at the end of the day there's something that Mr. Ohtu said which I found very instructive why must we in the Niger Delta always be the cash cow for these people do they really respect us for who we are or the text to exploit us for the resources that we have was Wike approached on account of his superior capacity and intellectual prowess or was he afraid because he had the money and could turn and do the daily job even my government, why was he made the chairman of the campaign committee of the PDP I think we in the Niger Delta need to really come back and sit down and ask ourselves very critical questions on how our resources must be deployed at national level Well on that note I want to say thank you Charles Ohtu as a public affairs analyst and Ezekiel Nyeitoka as a former governorship candidate of the ADC in our QI boom state thank you so much gentlemen for joining us I really appreciate all your thoughts Thank you for having us Thank you Well up next we turn our attention to the postponement of the 2023 population and housing census Stay with us