 Okay. Well, elections were held on the 25th of February and many observers were on the field to cover the election process, especially our reporters. We got some exclusive on the field that day and we would like to have a feel of what it was like on the field. We will be discussing the 2023 election coverage and hearing from our field reporters as soon as they can join us now. Right now they haven't joined us, but we're being joined by someone from the Labour Party. Yes, we have Mr Austin Waze. He's a lecturer with the Pan-African University. I wonder if we have him on Mr Waze. He's also of the Labour Party. Okay, Mr Waze has not joined us yet, but we're hoping to have these people before the program finishes. But let's go back to when we were talking with our guest, especially when we were talking with the APC man, Vincent Essien. He didn't seem to see any wrong done by INAG because we kept asking him to be on the side of the people and he never saw that. But I was just wondering, I wanted him to speak to the fact that we've had, I also know that Cabiro was careful anyway, we've had electoral acts, we've had the beavers that was promised us, and truly that was the factor that made people turn out the way they did. And if people have seen a flop, or they have perceived a flop, maybe there was no flop. If this secondary tertiary primary was anything to go by. But if people have perceived a flop, how do you think that will affect the next election, the governorship election for instance? Do you think it will still have the kind of excitement, the kind of spirit behind the presidential election as a president? My answer to that is capital no. It's going to affect it, people are not going to come out as they did this time if they are not convinced that their votes will count. Because I tell you so many Nigerians came from abroad. Yes. The diaspora were very much interested in this election that took place. And even Nigerians at home never seen such civic excitement in the people. The people have never been this excited about exercising their civic duty, especially to youth. And INEC can confirm that. So to see what has played out has really dampened the morale of the people. And I for one believe that INEC, who has been given the job to do, owes Nigerians an apology. I believe so. Because if I give you an assignment and you deliver in a way that I am not satisfied with, you owe me an explanation. And a lot of money has been spent to do this. The beavers, a lot of money, budgeted for this thing. Nigerians need to be told how this money was spent and why they were not given a satisfactory service done at the end of the day. I have a great deal of respect for the INEC chairman, Mark Mujakub. And I had really expected to see more than what we saw. But then perhaps some would say it's too early in the day, as Vincent has said, to begin to come to some conclusions. However, because of the things, the visuals of this is the technology age. It's no longer like what we had in the past. As it's happening, it's been recorded, pictures are taken, pictures have been uploaded on the internet and all of that. So it's, and the internet never forgets. And so it's difficult to wish away some of the things that have gone out there, which is a major reason why people are crying as loud as they are crying today. And if Nigerians cannot be assured of this process, then there is no guarantee that they would want to participate in the same way they participated in the presidential, when the governorship election comes up in March 11th. The unfortunate thing is that maybe it's also a game plan because if people do not participate, it's only those who have their personal interest that will participate and still do what they want to do. And you know, we've been saying it on this program all the time that anybody who has to make pronouncements to the general public should be careful. Maybe that is the reason people get spokesmen, spokesmen that have the requisite knowledge of what to put out and what not to put out. If the INEC had given us some information, but not everything, they could have explained the way whatever has happened, but they were specific and they were definite about what they were saying. This is what is going to be obtainable at the election. And it came to that point, it began to give us something else. Anyway, we have Loretta joining us now, one of our correspondents or actually the Plus TV head of news, Loretta Chiorgo, is joining us now to discuss some of the experiences she had on the field. Loretta, welcome to the program. Hi, I'm Go. Good. So we just wanted to have a feel of what it was like being on the field, especially like you, who gave us one exclusive story that I'm not sure any other media house was able to get. The story about the guy who wrestled down the hoodlums that came to snatch ballot boxes and retrieved at least that of the presidential election. So that was really, really something to remember. Tell us how your experience was generally on the field that day. Obviously, that's something that should be remembered. And, you know, recalling it now, you know, looking at the mood on the streets now, even after victory has been announced for the APC candidate, Bola Tsinobu, looking at the mood on the streets now. And all I can see is grave silence. And I'm wondering, I thought victory is a sweet thing. However, recalling what happened on 25th of February, you know, and particularly at Lekijakode area where ballot boxes were snatched and only the presidential ballot box was retrieved by that young man that we spoke with exclusively on Plus TV. It's something to to be amazed about because as a reporter on the field on that day, and getting to meet electorate to a very enthusiastic, very vibrant, ready to pick their choice of president, under the rain, under the sun, ready to fight whoever was going to truncate the process. You know, it was amazing for me as a reporter to get such a view and to also know and see that young Nigerians who perhaps were coming up for the first time to cast their ballots were ready to just, you know, do what they needed to do. So for that young man who was celebrated among his peers, he was seen as the hero of the election that day because one of the three ballot boxes was snatched earlier before Plus TV news arrived, that scene, you know, we were told especially by the young man who retrieved the presidential ballot box back that thought that had invaded that place, took away the three ballot boxes, the voters ran after them. This young man did not stop even though it was tired. Others had to stop because they couldn't contend with the faults. This young man didn't stop with his other peers. He went after them and they dropped the presidential ballot box in my presence. Loretta, Loretta. I can hear you. All right. Okay. Because of time, we just have to cut you short there to find out how many polling units were you able to cover in Lagos and what other things can you tell us happened at the different polling units that you got to cover? I can quickly tell you that there were logistical logistics challenges. Some polling units didn't start that process of election early. I think had announced a 34 accreditation and voting. Some didn't start at that point. Some started at past one, some past two. I spoke with somebody today who said at our own polling units in Maguru area of Auguste, the IEC officials arrived at past two because she was hungry. She had left home. It's to be part of the process. She was hungry. She had to turn back. She couldn't cast a ballot. I saw that there was enough security presence on the street but not around the polling units. Around the polling units, we are just one, two policemen guarding a whole mass of people. And then there were disruptions were thought invaded. There was also the issue of the beavers not including results, you know, at the point of voting and the people where it became chaotic where the people had to hold IEC officials to the ground to say if you do not input our votes, you're not leaving. So we have all of that on video. Did you get to meet some foreign observers on field as you went out? And did you interact with them? I didn't come across them where I was. I didn't come across them. But I met a local observer very early in the day. That's Joe Odumaki who had said observers should not be partisan and observers should just observe and see what's going on and report accordingly when the time for a report comes. That was early on Saturday. Okay. Thank you very much, Loretta. We thank God that you were safe out there. That was a very big issue. Do you know I was harassed? I know you have some of that video where I was harassed by soldiers who said I should stop taking shots and I was wondering I'm on my job. Why would you tell me to stop taking shots? They even see my phone. Oh wow. I was following them. Yeah. That was scary. We saw it live on TV. I was with them asking them why I didn't use my phone as a journalist and I was accredited. I showed them my accreditation ID to say I'm here on Purple O of reporting. I'm not illegal. I'm not doing anything illegal. All right. Well, thank you, Loretta. Just hold yourself. We understand that Stephen Enoch from Kano, a correspondent in Kano, can now join us. Hello, Stephen. Stephen. Stephen, unmute yourself please. We can't hear you. Can you hear me now? Yeah, we can hear you now. Okay, good afternoon. It is nice to join you. You're absolutely. All right. Stephen, one in Kano, which is not so surprising. However, one thing stood out from Kano among all the reports that came up from Kano during the election is underage voting. Did you experience that in the areas where you covered? Well, in the areas where I covered, I did not experience on the age of voting, although some of my colleagues who were in other areas sent videos showing underage voting in some local government areas in Kano states. But what about the security generally for this election and some of the discrepancies that have been mentioned or that were experienced in other parts of the country where those things also in Kano. Okay, there was, you know, violence in some places in Kano, but not as we expected. There's a particular polling unit where I was. When someone came with a car with people suspected and you say harassing the person. And you know, the person was almost mobbed actually. And in a few minutes, we saw police presence. We saw presence of the poachers they came from the INEC headquarters. We heard from different agents and some observers that there was a violence in some places in the Kano, although the police stepped up and ensured that the violence was first told in Kano states. I was actually impressed to the place where I because I saw police presence everywhere. But you know, the police cannot be everywhere actually. And no doubt they realized what that was. No one could have turned out because there were a number of people in the crowd. And if the mob activity was rampant, it would have been put out at sea if you ask me. We can't, we're having audio problems speaking with Steven in our correspondent in Kano. Steven in trying to explain to us some of the things he observed in the field in Kano state. He didn't see underage voting with some other reporters from some of the media outfits, you know, captured. But of course he's not omnipresent. Yeah, but he did say that he's colleagues or sent him videos because they witnessed it. So, well, it's as good as saying authentic. Yeah. But as the voice was, you know, fading away, I heard him talk about, you know, veta apathy over there in Kano, which is quite strange, isn't it? Yeah, it's quite strange to hear that because, okay, Kano gave us one million plus, you know, that gave Konkoso the kind of votes that he had and then he won the election and he said veta apathy. I don't even know if it's really veta apathy or Biva's at least did one thing good for us because in the past we hear of the Kardashian states and we hear inflated numbers, if you ask me, millions upon millions coming from these states and because of the Biva's, even with the incidences of underage voters, we still had a streamlined kind of number of people that voted and they turned out, but if you compare that to what is obtainable or what used to be obtainable in the past, then it's a very small number and you can call it veta apathy. So, I'm looking at it at a liberal side and saying that, okay, it may not really actually be veta apathy but the fact that the real voters voted this time and the numbers were not that much. Well, we could have taken more reporters and tell us their experiences but the time is up and would like to thank you so very much. I particularly would like to thank you because it might be the last time I'm thanking you on the run up because next time you may not see my face anymore for a very long time, who knows what happens tomorrow, but you will always see Maureen and her face is more agreeable than mine. Are you sure? Maureen, thank you so much for accepting to do this while I move out to plus politics that comes up every seven o'clock in the evening. So, I hope that you'll join me if you are that much of a fan of me. Thank you for doing this. Oh, thank you Nyamgul, it's a pleasure to join you on this, but we are here, we're here, plus politics, run up the news. So, as long as it's a plus on the lives of the people, yeah. It's plus TV and it's a it's a pleasure to be here and we'll be here tomorrow for more updates on what's unfolding from the elections, no doubt there will be litigations, want to know what the other parties are doing and how they're doing it. We also want to hear what the president-elect Balak Matinubu has to say to us, he's asked for calm and he's reached out to the other candidates, you know, from the other parties to join him to move the country forward, because at the end of the day, we want Nigeria to move forward. That's just the crux of the matter. Every Nigerian home and abroad is seeking for the Nigerian dream, if we have one yet. Do you have a Nigerian dream? I have for Nigeria. Do you have a Nigerian dream? Let's know what it is. So, that's what it's all about, the Nigerian dream. We want to see Nigeria move forward. APC, PDP, LP, AD, A-party, whatever party, we want someone that can move the country forward. So far, a winner has been declared and that is in the person of Balak Matinubu of the APC. We wish him the best. Thank you so much. Thank you. So, until tomorrow, when you join her for the rest of the program, or another edition of the program, and me for the last time, my name is Nyanguru Agadji. Bye for now.