 Well, come back, it is still the run-up and we are looking at a statement made by the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesung Wike. He said peace and security will continue to elude Nigeria. If people who think they are majority, they are more in number, continue to rub it off on, you know, the minority. And that statement has continued to generate a lot of back and forth, schools of thought have come up to say a lot of things. But to have that conversation with us this morning is Mr. Lekon Ishola. Good morning, sir. You're welcome. Yeah. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good morning. All right. So you are familiar with the statements the Governor made yesterday. How do you react to such a statement? Yeah, I read the statement, I read it in the news and then just like any politician would try to latch on on popular sentiments. I believe that's what Governor Koumike was trying to do. From the story, he was talking about political marginalization, you know, and if you understand the context of his opinion, he was actually talking about what's happening in his party, you know, the fact that the PPP just seems to be seasoning arrangements and gave their ticket to somebody from the North and all that, and then it's been like, OK, they're not trying to marginalize everybody, and that's what Governor Koumike was saying. For me, that's a political statement, actually. You expect any politician who has lost, you know, an opportunity to get power to say things like that. But be that as it may, we need to examine that statement deeply. Politicians just throw words and fast numbers which they create on their own and all that. But yes, there is marginalization in Nigeria, no doubt about that. But there are at least two levels of marginalization. The first one is, you know, the political marginalization, and then the second one of course is the economic marginalization. The political marginalization, if I were to take it from the angle of Governor Koumike, I would say we'd already studied him that he was wrong. The problem we have in Nigeria was largely, the problem of political marginalization was likely solved by the late General Sanyam Pacha, who in 1995 decided to say Nigeria should recognize six political regions. And that's what we brought into this current political dispensation, six political regions. And ideally, each political region is supposed to have an opportunity to be at the end of a fear of the state of the country. So in that case, if you look at what we have had from 1999 to 2008, you can easily tell yourself that it's only one political region so far that has not had opportunity to be in the political leadership of the country. You all know that. If you do your calculations and do your studies of who and who are really in, you know, from 1999 to 2008, you know that political region that has nothing to do with the center. The question then is, is it the marginalization of that specific political region that has full insecurity in the country? That is the first question you should ask. And your answer would be no, because, again, the word insecurity has dimensions, you know. There is, of course, when we talk of political, you know, marginalization leading to this security, for example, we should be talking about insurrection, we should be talking about said determination, you know, agitation and this and that. Is that the insecurity that is catering to kill Nigeria today? Your answer is that is not it. The one that is threatening to kill this country actually has its roots in economic marginalization. And that is the fact that you have crime, you have banditry, you have kidnappers, you have mutual feelings. You have different activities that will not make people go about, you know, in a tension-less situation. That is not the cause of political marginalization. And, Steve, the politicians, there are just less than half percent of our country. They are interested in capturing power. And any politician that, you know, finds himself out of the net in these arrangements is always coming for us. I think it's a political statement that I have made, but the fact is, yes, we have marginalization. What is fueling our basic quality is not the kind of political marginalization that is being talked about in the statement. It is actually economic marginalization of a large segment of this country. But, sir, you just mentioned two types of marginalization, political and economic. And it was a blanket statement that there was unchecked marginalization leading to insecurity in our country. If you are pitching your tent with the other part of marginalization, economic marginalization, which doesn't have a region, then there must be some credibility to the statement that he made. What can we do to make sure this marginalization, this economic marginalization is checked because he used the word unchecked. So if we can check it, that means there may not be as much crime as there is today, which we have confirmed also this economic marginalization is causing. So what can we do? Well, I don't know. Sometimes any statement that is made by, even you and I, if I make a statement that is against a particular political party, whether my statement is true or not, I will be branded another, the opposition political party. So if I'm making a statement against the PDP, for instance, they will say I'm APC or Labour. And if I'm making a statement against the other party, they will say, I'm in the opposition. Why do we always have to look at every statement made as a political statement? And I think Governor Ike was taking a swipe at some other perspectives and aspects when he made that statement. Because if you narrow it down and call it only a political statement, and then when you read through the story of what he said, he said people who think they have more numbers, they have more power. Rubbing it off on the minorities. It cannot just be a political statement. And then if you read for that, you see where I guess where Liko got that idea from. Because we can mention that he wasn't very happy. And of course, he has always made it known about the choice of the presidential candidates of his party coming from the north and the back and forth that has happened with southern governors expressing how disheartened they are about that and all that. Okay. Well, Liko is still back. Let's see. Sorry, we lost the call earlier on, but we're glad that you're back here. We were trying to make a point. I was asking you what we can do to make sure at least the economic marginalisation which you have attested to that could also fuel insecurity. What can we do to make sure that one is checked? Thank you. Hello. The fact is we have... Yes, we can hear you. Go ahead. The fact is we have a basket of problems on the table, right? The biggest of them today which affects the largest segment of these countries, I've said earlier, is the economic marginalisation. Just like you have asked, how do we go about solving it? The first thing we need to do is for us to have a sincere government. You see, we need to... The government needs to ask itself, why do we have crime? Why do we have banditry? Why do we have kidnappings? Which are killings, you know? What's been turned down? And a lot of things that make people have sleepless nights. It is simply and largely because there is poverty. There is frustration. There is inability by people to have joy in their country. And how do we go about solving it? Just a moment, Mr. Eshola. You raised the point that we need to have a sincere leadership. That is where we can start to correct what we need to correct. And if we are trying to decipher between the economic marginalisation and political marginalisation and set that dichotomy and remove political, how can we have sincere leaders when we have a political marginalisation which you said may not even be directly responsible for insecurity? Because a lot of people have argued that we have the kind of leadership we have now because of political marginalisation where a group of people, because they have the numbers or they are set to have the numbers, dictate who becomes who in our country. So I'm seeing a relationship here. I don't know if you see that relationship as well. Yeah, you see, thank you. As I said earlier, we have a basket of problems. When you are looking at the problems, there will be definitely areas where they look alike, areas where they interchange, areas where you also have some kind of different levels of relationship. No doubt about that. But you have to separate them. When we talk about leadership, the process of getting the leadership is what political marginalisation will solve. It's what you will solve when you attack the issue of political marginalisation. It is the process of getting the leadership. Now, the performance of bad leadership is another thing. It's another thing. And as I have said, there is a template for solving the political marginalisation which has been created since 1995 and which we started implementing up to this point. And that is the fact that power has to rotate. And I said, even coming from Godinowiki and knowing the antecedent of what led him to say that, the fact is he himself is not sincere about solving that particular political marginalisation problem because he doesn't even come from that area that should be shouting. But be that as it may. When you have the leadership properly put in place through a process that addresses the marginalisation concern, the next thing is what is the texture? What is the focus of that leadership? Look, you can have a leadership that solves the problem of political marginalisation of being somebody from any tribe that is shouting and put the person there. The question is, who is that person? What is the vision and mission of that person in relation to the larger concern of the economic marginalisation that is affecting people? Without solving economic marginalisation, you solve political marginalisation. Okay, I don't think he has made this point. The texture, the personality, the profile, the mission and vision of the leadership is key to solving economic marginalisation. Okay. Alright, Jess, we've been able to establish a connection between the economic marginalisation and political marginalisation. But do you see us getting to a point where we're able to scream Uhuru and say, okay, we've come to the point where we now have a balance between the economic aspect of things and the political aspect of things and everybody is happy? I mean, I'm asking this question based on what we've seen in the past, the current situation of things politically in the country and how 2023 is looking to everybody. Do you think there is ever going to be a point where we are going to get it right and make sure that everybody is satisfied? Yeah, you see, I am an optimist. I see it and I pray it works. But let me tell you the truth that we have to take. Going to 2023, you need to ask yourself, where do the majority of the strength of this country, the future strength of this country, where does it lie? It lies in the youth. The next question you asked yourself is, where is the propellance of the youth population of this country aligned to in terms of their political, I don't want to use the word choice, let me say political dream. Out of all these candidates we have, you need to see it, it's clear. The question then, the answer then is, if Nigeria is entrusted in a... Oh dear. ...rest of our strength as a country, Nigeria, as we go towards 2023, should allow the voice of the youths, you know, to count. We should have a leadership that is youth-centric. Not all this, you know, pretenses that we have from the majority of the candidates. There is, there is, you don't need to even have a crystal ball to see. There is a mass movement of youths in support of the particular candidates. And if Nigeria is entrusted in our future and we want to speedily solve the problems, then 2023 should be an opportunity for us to hear the youths, the kind of president that speaks their language, that meets their aspiration and that offers them real hope. Because you see, once you have the large segment of your country displeased, you have the large segment of your country, you know, frustrated, you have the large segment of your country's population, you know, saying, look, we are not happy, we want this. And if you refuse to give it to them, you are only postponing the people that you are not solving the problem. But if we, as a country, are entrusted in solving our problems, I can tell you one thing. Look, I can tell you the scenario that I believe we play up. If, for instance, the youths, the president we have in 2023 is a president that the youths really want. And don't forget, the youths represent over 60% of our country's population. Now, factor in the fact that by 2027, for instance, the average 17, 18-year-old Nigerian would be 21, 22 in 2027. And he is already, or she is already, seeing a picture of hopelessness. And you don't give them people like that opportunity for hope, opportunity for, you know, excitement, opportunity to embrace their country. You can see that by 2027, what we are even witnessing now is a child's play in terms of this effect of economic, you know, marginalization. The youths are angry, not because the president is not from their part of the country or whatever, but only for politicians. The youths, largely, are angry because there are no opportunities for sincere, legitimate expression of their talents, of their dreams. That's what is forming it in their own parts, you understand? And then secondly, there is poverty, mass poverty, mass poverty forming all these things. Now, how do you get out of this mess? The first thing is to give the country to the youths and tell them, this is the country. What that does immediately is that it makes everybody to embrace the country. It makes everybody to love the country and to want the country to survive. And once you have that, once that comes, and look, are you with me? Yes. Just wrap up, please. Okay, so once you have that, you realize that the issues are half solved and the other ones you can solve along the line. You don't solve the problem of the country in one, two, three, four years. You solve part of it, but it's important to start from the most important aspects of it. All right. Thank you, Mr. Ishola, for your thoughts on the issue of this marginalization as brought to us by Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike. Well, thank you so much for being a part of our program today. Thank you very much, Flos Tidasuka. Thank you. Yeah, he made this point. One takeaway from what he was saying is that give the people their choice. I would not subscribe to, okay, just carry it and hand it over to the youths if they don't go out to vote. But if the Nigerian people vote and they see that their votes countered, no matter who wins, they will see that it was the choice of the majority. And much as I want to agree with what you just said, I'm sorry, young persons have, I think, abundantly made it clear that they are very interested in the forthcoming 2023 general election. And in the political process entirely, it's not just about the 2023 elections and the seatback. I mean, they've given a timeline of consistency. If I'm not exaggerating, let's leave whatever happened behind 2020, behind 2020. But from 2020 down, the young persons in Nigeria, who statistics has shown are, you know, consist the majority of the population of the country. And they've been consistent with their cry, with their statements, with their ideas, with their, you know, perspectives. And they've continued to show it. The INEC statement that came out recently says that the number of registered voters for 2023 general election has largely doubled and the more percentage of these people are young women and men, the youths. So I don't think we are at the point where we are trying to get the youth to agree to participate. No, they are at the forefront. What you are saying is, please, leave the road. We want to pass. Yeah, well, my point was just generally that the fact that the youths are making the noise, we know some of the political... I don't agree with the choice of words. Just a moment. Just a moment. How do you say we are not making noise? Let me land. Let me land. The youths are making a point. Okay, yes, I agree with that. Let me not use the noise if I use that. They are making a point. But from his statement, it should not be seen like, okay, because the youths are supporting candidate ABC, the election will just, the results of the elections will just be given to that candidate, ABC, sorry, not ABC. So the youths is also a call to the youths that whatever you're doing now, maintain the tempo, make sure you vote, and let us see that the votes count. So that when that candidate you have anointed wins, we will start to see that, okay, they are restoring confidence in the people and all that. So the work doesn't end here. It ends after February where the elections will come. So maintain the momentum. It actually doesn't end after February because then we have the work of holding whoever it is accountable. Accountable, yes. So then it continues. It's called, it's the run-up. It's our government. That's how it's going to be. Exactly. I'm not saying that as a youth, I'm not a youth. It's our government collectively because some people who are aged like I am will vote for some candidates. And at the end of the day, it becomes a... You aged. It becomes that all of us. Please raise your walking stick. Anyway, we'll quickly take a break now and when we return, we'll come back with our second guest who will be talking to us about what happened in Murtala Muhammad International Airport and what is really happening in the aviation industry. We'll be joined by an aviation expert after this break. Stay with us.