 Today on breakfast, a new study has found that any type of hormonal contraceptive may increase the risk in developing breast cancer. Quite a chilling revelation will speak with a health practitioner for insight on this. Also on the breakfast, we'll take a look at the recent international table tennis ranking and the Super Eagles AFKON qualifiers game today. And of course, we have a latest look at what the papers are saying. Now the press will take some of the big stories on the front pages of the newspapers analyzing them with our guest who is joining us in a few minutes. Alright, we're back. It's the breakfast of Plasti. We have kind of course been enjoying a hot tea here while waiting for you to be with us. Once again, you're welcome. My name is Kofi Bartels. We have a very interesting conversation ahead. I'm looking forward to hearing more about that breast cancer thing because this hormonal pills and stuff is what we hear women use a lot, you know, even the doctors would prescribe it to you sometimes. So I want to know more about it. I feel like it's a conversation we can never, you know, it can never be overemphasized. And so every time we talk about it's very relevant. Once again, thank you for joining us. I am Messi Bopu. And my name is Kofi Bartels. We begin programming today with a look at the top trending stories. We just take three of them and we'll start with a state that is close to my heart. If you follow this conversation, you know, there are three states that are close to my heart. Cross River State, River State and Lagos State. I love those states so much. This one, I want us to just show this picture so that you can understand exactly what we're talking about. It is a letter, a notice, if we can show it now. A notice that was shared. It was posted on the wall of a facility. Yes. So I'm just going to read what this is saying so that we can just go straight, you know, it's not going to waste time. So this is a quick notice of sorts. Quick notice. It says government of River State of Nigeria, office of the permanent secretary, Ministry of Works, dated 20th of March, 2023. Subject to whom it may concern. To whom it may concern. Proposed G.R.A. phase five, Ozoba, Podhakot demolition notice. It says following the imminent commencement of the above project, all structures impacting the right of way of the project have been earmarked for demolition, including your own. Consequently, you are by this notice requested to remove such structures within 48 hours to allow for speedy progress of work. Please. Signed, Iberia Dennis Mnike misses permanent secretary. And just to provide background, this is simply a quick notice, demolition notice, actually. First quit, if you don't quit, it will demolish from the government of River State, of course, led by His Excellency, Governor Yasun Wike, whom his people affectionately call Yerishi, or as he depend them, it is sweet as, as it is sweet as, it depend them. Okay. And so this was served. This was served on the management of dark communications owners of African independent television, AIT, and Ray Power FM. Okay. And this is for them to remove their structures from a piece of land with the government referring to in two days, a failure of which the structures will be demolished. You know, so we've read that the land on which AIT and Ray Power is built is is in said to be in Ozoba and has been the subject of dispute between the River State government, the community, the River State, and the dark communication PLC. The state government recently claimed the property through a motion passed by the state House of Assembly. So that's that. We hear that meanwhile, the River State chapter of the Nigeria journalist has pleaded with the state government to review its plan to pull down the AIT structure. There's a statement signed not just by the chairman of the NUJ, who was a guest at my wedding, Stanley Job Stanley, but also the secretary, Ike Wigodo, respectively, who appealed to the River State government to review their position on the land dispute and drop their plan to demolish and take over the AIT property. Well, so first, it's quite unfortunate that all of this is happening in River State, like you have rightly mentioned is a state that's close to your heart. And one would begin to think, you know, what exactly is going on, you know, in River State? What's going on, you know, with the government? What's going on with Yesom Wike? Well, it's important to note some people, because if you look at the response and reactions from Nigerians, it practically feels like, you know, this is a vendata. It feels like the government is taking it out on anyone. This is being extra with the powers that you have as a state and as a government. Well, it is also important to note that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, says that every citizen of Nigeria should have a right to acquire and own immovable property anywhere in Nigeria. The Constitution gives right to every individual who is a citizen of Nigeria. The right to own properties were righted, so you have a right to own as long as you're a citizen. Now, if you look at the crux of the conversation as to the quick notice for AIT, I'm not sure that AIT just erected that structure. The structure was erected in River State. You have been there. I'm not sure that structure just happened in 2023 or 2022. So I'm sure that that structure has been there for a very long time. And so which gives, you know, premise to the question of, so if you say that there's an obstruction of right of way or right of way, there's some sort of obstruction. Now before, as much as the Constitution says that everyone, every Nigerian has a right to own a property where a rightist had a desire in any part of the country, then you ask yourself, at the state level, you also need to have the presence of governance and government. And so who is responsible? What government agency is responsible for ensuring that if a property is being bought, I mean, before you erect a structure, there's supposed to be some sort of approval to ride. Well, all of a sudden that structure is illegal. It's obstructing the right of way and movement of pedestrians or even vehicle movement and what have you. But the next question you ask yourself is who were the persons? Because I'm not sure that AIT as an entity or as an individual just woke up and then they acquired that property. I'm sure that there were procedures. The government gave access or gave a nod to yes, you can, you can build. There's supposed to be all of that. So these properties are not just, people don't just wake up and build structures. There's the laid down rules, government at each level or wherever it is that it is. You won't see it at the state level, at the local government level. There's some sort of control. And so how come all of a sudden that's illegal? Who gave the heed? Because I'm not sure that AIT as an organization or whether you want to look at it as an individual would just wake up and then, hey, they decide to build in a certain space. There would have been procedures, laid down procedures that would have been followed. What gave the approval for that structure to be erected there? All of a sudden the structure is now obstructing the right of way. It's not structured properly and then you have to demolish. It just speaks to a lot of things that's been happening. It speaks to the character or the disposition of our politicians. Especially when you talk about a river state over time, it feels like there's been a lot of some sort of, how do I even put it now? One who's been acting very dictatorial and acting somewhat outside of the premise of the law. And that's what it is. But those who are in the legal space have advised that it's important that they probably file for an injunction stopping the river state government. Don't forget it's not weaker himself. It's the river state government asking for that demolition and whatever will be done. You can't attribute that to a person. But you also cannot take an individual from the state as well. However you look at it, it is what it is. But we hope that we get to a climb and get a society where all of this is not a case. That people will not take their personal grievances or whatever it is out and use the powers within the poor view to act indiscriminately. You mentioned the fact that they consigned the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It gives everyone a right to own property everywhere and all. Which is absolutely true. But also the reason why the state governors are able to do what they want to do. I remember, how would you remember the Inka AFLA case? I think the governor who demolished the radio station, the building of that radio station belonging to Inka AFLA. What's his name again? Is that Jim Moby? That's something I think he's no longer alive. If I'm not mistaken. But that Inka AFLA case is one in point. For those who are in southwest, western part of Nigeria, they remember that the government said that they were expanding the road. And they needed to clear some buildings and all that. So we're used to hearing in Nigeria, in different parts of the world even. But in this country that when government wants to embark on a project, maybe road expansion, they want to dualize the road. For instance, say we're going to break your fence, break your fence, break part of the building, we'll pay compensation. And so people are not able to say no. They actually would just have to go for that compensation. And that's where they can engage in some litigation or negotiation on how much they would receive. The land use act is what has given the governors in the states the right to administer land. You know, that's why most times we're looking at you have a piece of land, you want a sea of O. You have to wait for the governor himself to sign. You know, in some states it's actually a campaign promise that if you vote for me as governor when I come in, all pending sea of O's will be signed. You know, some states where some churches will have a big piece of land, a big portion of land and the governor was refusing to give them a sea of O when they were campaigning. I think it was yes, so Miki was campaigning in 2015, 2014. He promised some of the churches that he was going to sign, you know, just approve their sea when they prayed for him and supported him and all that. So I'll direct us to section 28 of a land use act. That's part five. Part five of land use act talks about revocation of rights of occupancy and compensation thereof, okay, or therefore, you know. So section 28 of the land use act, subsection one says it shall, it shall, and I quote, it shall be lawful for the governor to revoke a right of occupancy for overriding public interest, and that's a simple, you know, law that these governors would always use to do what they have to do. Governors are always powerful. They tell you, oh, it's a federal government. It's a lie. They're able to do a lot. We don't see governors in states in this country declaring people wanted, you know, just to sweep up one day and say, I'm declaring you wanted. Anyway, so there are conditions that is overriding public interest, but section one, subsection one of section 20 of the land use act, it clearly states, and I quote, it shall be lawful for the governor to revoke a right of occupancy for overriding public interest. And we've seen, we've seen the case in point where people who, buildings that hosted political meetings, you know, the governor came out of, yes, we came out and said, see, if your building is not meant for a commercial purpose, you can't host any rally and all that there. If you host it, you know, we'll, we'll have to act. And part of the action some people would expect to be revocation of CFO. You know, there was a politician, I think it was Lee Mayba, who had a house, a piece of land somewhere in a very plush part of Podhaka called Ojiari. That should be like the, maybe Ikoi of Podhaka 10. It was revoked if I'm not mistaken. So, you know, that's why we ended conditions to this. We don't want to go into all of that. So the governor has a right to revoke a CFO in overriding public interest. Now, if you look at the letter or the equidnotes that they issued, they're saying that all the structure is impacting the right of way of the project called GRE phase five was over now. I know GRE phase five was over. Because I used to play football on that land. You know, it's an expanse of land. And where I used to work was just part of that place as well. There has not been touched. You look at development from right from the Uniport Axis. Even if you're entering Podhaka from Worry or from Lagos, you could pass through Bayosa. You'd be coming in through the Uniport Axis. Now, development has taken place from all those places. When I moved to Podhaka, that place was bush, you know. But that's when you get to a place called Obiri Quarry Fly, but that part of Podhaka, you know, that you see a bushy part that has not been developed till now. That is where you call GRE phase five. They said there were plants. The history of that land is longer. We can't go into it today, you know. It goes all the way to the end of the civil war. In Olisha-Gobat-Sangio, some people told me, historians in that area told me, they went into a chopper and flew. And then said we are taking this place for University of Podhaka and all this land from here to here in military now. So the community, they've been, you know, all the communities on that stretch of land. You have many communities that have been, you know, angling for some land. And then the River State Government, of course, which came up after the civil war took over, you know, and then it was a military time from Date Spief, military and all that till the civilians came back in 99. So they had that land. Now the communities were still angling. They wanted that land. The land is a big deal in Podhaka. It's a big deal. You know, they wanted that land, you know, and they went to court. Okay, so they have some judgments and all that. But the thing about it is a government of River State that, you know, in civilian government now, they inherited the land from the military who, you know, let's say annexed it or, you know, apportioned it for public use, was able to give out these lands to media houses. You have a number of media houses who are there. A media house I used to work for had land there. I know the AIT land. It's quite big. You know, if you go into an NTA compound, you know, I've not seen any NTA in this country that is small. It's like that. You know, even the NTA was allocated to very big by government. You know, so you have a number of media houses there. There's one popular television station, the popular one, the private one. They just opened their studio not far. You know, I don't know if that is part of this arrangement. But what I'm saying is the state government had this magnanimity, you know, to welcome media houses and all that. But what we hear is that at some point, the State House of Assembly, if you remember, in 2022 said they wanted to probe the history of that AIT land, you know. And also the community, the Ozoba community, which is a very hospitable community, very nice community. They had some very nice land which they were able to sell. And you know, some of it is still their fantastic place. I used to live there by the way. They had to look into the complaints of the community that they had a court ruling saying that whole land was for them. Now, what some of us expected was that the undeveloped parts of the land, which is quite enormous, a lot of it, you know, will be developed as part of that GRE phase five. Even the football field I used to play on, they brought bulldozers to clear the place. But the thing about it is the River State House of Assembly did a probe, you know, into the acquisition of that land. And when they concluded their probe, they said that their communications is 868 plots. Imagine that, quite a large land. That communications had wrongfully acquired that land. And there was a recommendation or recommendations by the House of Assembly Committee on Public Petitions. We sat over the petition that the community brought. So we have communities, namely Rumu Qwashi, Rumu Si, which is where I used to work, and play football, Ozoba, which is where I used to live. Alla Kaheya, these communities came together to petition the House of Assembly. So what the chairman of the House of Committee said was that Ivan's BP, during his presentation, you know, of the Reported Committee, this last year, September, he said that that communications failed to provide land documents for the said property, you know. And after they had two meetings, and after the two meetings and they had joined for a long time, they requested the management of their communications, you know, to enable them to provide land allocation papers and all that, it said they failed to provide those land allocations. So that was what they ruled. But you see, what the government is doing now may not be connected to that committee because now they are not talking about lack of documents. They are talking about a right of way. We want to build the GRE phase 2, phase 5, and your building is standing in our way. So we're going to move it. Is this politically or not politically related to that? Because we all know that Raymond Dopecy has been a strong member of the People's Democratic Party, at least from the time of Goodluck Jonathan. We all know that the PDP National, and yes, we care the government, they've not really been in good terms. You know that Raymond Dopecy has also been part of the Article Presidential Campaign, a bid, you know. So some people suspect that this is not unconnected with that. Now how do you expect, it's a large expanse of land messy. You have a radio station there, you have a television station there, a lot of facilities. Now how does it also move the building, move the building in two days? So Kofi, just as we coasted down, you have actually said a lot, giving history as to all that has happened, but it's also important to note, as much as you say that the laws, it's within the purview of the governor or any governor, you know, to revoke any property based on land, but you also need to understand, yes, even if you have the constitution saying everyone has a right to owning the property. I'm just saying that it's not possible for you to wake up here and say you want to take a property without, you know, the government being involved. For instance, in Lagos state, I mean, there's something very popular. I'm sure that it should be, you know, national, it should be a national phrase. It's called the building permit, which is essentially a regulatory approval given by government through its relevant agency. So the question that we begin to ask, as much as you say, hey, it's right to way, and I mean, you can't even talk about the obstruction of right to way. Everyone, especially pedestrians, they have a right to way, and so that is not it. But I'm saying that it wouldn't have been possible for dark communications or Raymond Duck by saying, you know, to wake up and acquire property without the approval of the government. It wouldn't have been. So who gave the approval to that? Did that not consider, you know, all of the concerns of the community? I mean, at the end of the day, let's even look at it rationally. I'm not sure that you can wake up anywhere, whoever you are, in this country to wake up and say you want to acquire property without due diligence, without even saying you want to erect a structure anywhere. So that's also another thing to look at. Is it that they just woke up and got to the point and then got a property? Did this government not know that all of these were issues and concern? So how come this is becoming an issue? Why did they, in the first place, whether or not it's long-term or short-term, you're supposed to have your, what's it called, environmental impact assessment over time carried out. So it's just a lot to grapple with, but we can't really dwell so much on that. Yes, just to add that the suspicion, messy that the criticism is for the entire building. I mean, it's like someone saying, here plus C, we should move this in two days. You know, it's not possible. The House of Assembly had, in its recommendations, and the House of Assembly is not, they're not the law. They're not a court. They can't just determine what to be done. It should be done. It's just recommendation. They recommended that part of the land should be given, retained with AIT. The rest of the land is made, it's quite large, okay? They now recommended that the remaining section should be given back to the community. So we have about 10.7 plots out of how many plots or hectares they say should be given to. So I do not know if this crit notice or demolition notice has to do with, maybe the fence, okay, that they want to break and not the entire building, which is all we'll have to see in the coming days. But we just move away from that. There's also another interesting conversation that's gotten the interest of a lot of Nigerians. It's about the, you know, the approval of designation or redesignation of State House Assembly Clinic or State House Clinic to Medical Center. President Mohammed Buhari has a, has a, the renaming of State House Clinic back to the Medical Center. Tijani Umar, who is the Permanent Secretary State House, made the disclosure after the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Is he under suspension? We thought there was some sort of suspension. The SGV. The, the party in, in Adamah C.A.P.C.F. set a committee to look into disciplinary committee. And they've seen that the, the ward doesn't have, the ward executives don't have the power to suspend Boss Mustafa. Okay, so, but let's move away from that. It's a different conversation. Like I rightly mentioned, Tijani Umar, who's the Permanent Secretary State House, made this known after, you know, the meeting with Boss Mustafa, who is the, you know, Government, I mean, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, he commissioned an inspection of the new Presidential Wing of the State Medical, or State House Medical Center. However, it was, it's also important to note that in March 2019, the President Mohammad Dabuhari had approved that the State House Medical Center, Sokoro, which was facing challenges with funding, deterioration of infrastructure and equipment, scale up, or scale down to a clinic until the challenges were addressed. And now with improvement in the problem and in the areas, the new VIP Wing with the state of the art facilities, it can no longer operate as a clinic. It is now to operate as a State House Medical Center. I don't know if, you know, anyone would contend that if you look at, you know, the issues, can you operate as a clinic or, and let's also forget that there's also a big issue as to not even having a syringe at a time where Aisha Dabuhari had raised that concern. And one would think, I mean, what clinic should not have, especially the one that is located in Asorok? Yes, indeed. I mean, Medical Center, clinic, I don't know if, sorry, Nigerians care about it, you know, because I think these are things that sometimes are terrible not to bother about because you know, you don't want to give yourself too much unnecessary pressure and too much, maybe increase of blood pressure, stress of thinking about the issues in this country. If you want to go into the budgets, to see how much have been how much has been budgeted or allocated to State House Health Center Clinic over the years. I'm not just talking about since it came. It's just, it's just funny, you know, they're having issues, they're not sure, should we maybe take a clinic? Okay, oh, we don't have enough of a less test than really. They can't even put their own health facility in order, can't even sustain it, you know, they can't even have a proper I mean, run it and then without all these issues, you know, so, you know, just laugh about it, people. The question is, whether it's been related to a health center or not, will it change the fact that Muhammad Buhari, you know, has in 2020, but as at the end of 2022, as of December 2022 spent 237 days on medical trips since his inauguration in 2015. Okay, will it change that fact that he goes abroad, you know, to have his medical attention? I don't think it will change that fact. I don't think so. And then we have another one that is warming up, you know, which is the president-elect. He's already taking a rest, gone to Paris, from Paris is going to London, you know, take a rest. And of course I'm sure that may involve, I believe that may involve some medical attention. So, rest is still part of medicine, is it not? You know, and then some are asking, can't you rest in Nigeria? Have to go to Paris and then London to rest? I mean, so, I don't know. Clinic Health Center, will it change the fact that health facilities are not good enough to take care of a president and senior officials? Will it be good enough for the president? When the vice president had his leg issue, it wasn't a private hospital that he went to. Some private hospitals somewhere in Abuja, or Lagos, I can't remember where. It wasn't in government house clinic, you know, so what will it change? Is the question people will want to ask. I don't think much. We have to go, but just a quick one, very quick one, to inform us that the former deputy senator president, of course, and his wife have been found guilty of organ trafficking, and that story is well covered. What do you think about this before we go? Well, it's not rocket science. It's just a reflection of you know, society whose values are very intact. Not an extremely you know, like a plus, saying that they have no flaws in the entire society, but it is what it is. I've seen how Nigerians have reacted. Some people say, oh, can the United Kingdom cut them a slack? Any parent will go a long way to do anything to save their daughter. You don't want to be in a situation where you would do anything. But the next question you want to ask your service, are there procedures? Are there laid down procedures to get the same result? But maybe we're already in a climb where we're used to getting it quick. You know, cutting corners, looking for shortcuts, however it is. And if you look at the judgment, I mean, I read through all of that, you know, they were convicted or for conspiracy to exploit a man of his kidney according to the first verdict and they're looking at the issue of modern day slavery acts. They have that already. Now you want to talk about the laws and implementing the laws and the judiciary interpreting it. I also read some of the comments. It was really really, you know, looking at some of the details that were said, they said the issue of hypocrisy pretend entitlement, all of that. We don't have so much time, you know, to get into the crux of this issue because we need to move you know, to the paper review at this point in time. But just simple and short, it's just a society that has structures that are functioning and the lower tickets cost despite whoever it is that you are. I mean, the word is exploiting the poor. You know, you're exploiting the poor if you look at it exploitation of a poor person. Wow. And laws would be there. We have fantastic laws in Nigeria. But what's the level of implementation? And if you also look at the judiciary, would we have a different outcome if this case were to be in Nigeria? I have seen comments, but for how long will we continue to make excuses for wrong behaviour? It's just different and it just speaks, you know, entirely to a different polity and a climate. That's what it is. The law is the law. There's no sentiment about it. You can't, you know, say for that. But Kofi, we need to go. I know something that we can talk about. I'm sure we would talk about it on the paper review Kofi. We'll take a break. When we come back we'll quickly dive into the paper review segment. Please stay with us.