 A section of Nigeria has called for the amendment of its 1999 constitution to give legal backing to state police. Now we're asking this morning, is there a solution to insecurity in the nation? Nigeria's federal government has recovered a total of 2.6 trillion naira in revenue from oil firms in the country. We'll have a guest join us this morning to provide some analysis on this. We also have a news about a review segment, we call it Up the Press. We'll give you in-depth analysis of some headlines on the front pages of today's national daily. So I'll be ahead on the breakfast this morning. We're back with the breakfast in Place TV Africa. Very good morning to you. My name is Kofi Bartels. We're here live from Place TV Africa Studios on Victoria Island in Lagos. It's a beautiful Thursday morning. We're grateful, grateful to be alive today at the 15th day of September 2021. We have interesting conversations lined up for you on the program this morning. My name is Kofi Bartels. You're welcome. We'll start off with a look at the conversations that have been trending online. And of course our first segment Tuesday on the program is where we take these conversations and bring them on there to provide some information and do a little bit of a discussion on them. Writing so today, so I'll do that myself. But hey, let's get it started. We'll start off with the presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party, a party that was a ruling party in Nigeria for 16 years. It was meant to be there for 60 years. If you remember, the People's Democratic Party cared some of its members. Let me know, commit a farce here. They informed the teaming public that they will rule the country for 16 years. So maybe that 60 years, 6-0. Maybe that was the prophecy too quick or too hasty. Well, history, you know, has, it was not kind to them and they couldn't fulfill that 60-year mark rather they were on for 16 years. I'm sure whoever had that word of prophecy from maybe the spiritual realm had 16 and it came to the press to say 60. But anyway, the presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party, these days Atikwa Wubakar is a presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party. He's been here there and everywhere, you know, PDP, moved from PDP to ABC, did a work going back to PDP and he's there. He's been moving around the country seeking to, you know, to cement the party's base, encourage the party's base ahead of the 2023 presidential elections, you know, and he's been trying his very best to rally the base of the party. His latest port of call is the southwestern part of Nigeria, part that is, you know, geopolitical southwest of Nigeria, let's call it that. You have the states that are in the southwest of Nigeria, those states that are traditionally Yoruba-speaking states. He landed in Lagos on Tuesday after landing in Lagos, held a series of meetings. He spoke at a Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry event. Of course, that event itself also was another controversial one, as 15 of the other parties did not take it kindly that Atikwa Wubakar was invited for that event. We told Atikwa Wubakar was meant to be there on Tuesday and then on Wednesday, PTOB was meant to be there as well. And then we told that Palamitinbu, the presidential candidate of all progressives Congress, is meant to be there on October 28th. So the 15 other parties saying that they're being sidelined by not being invited for this event. But the trending story, let's not miss that, is Atikwa has been in Ibaron, the Ayosei capital. He was there yesterday. His visitors aimed at building confidence in the seeming supporters ahead of the flag of the September 28, 2022 campaign date. This is as contained in annexed shadow of activities for this 2023 elections. The governor of Ayosei, Shea Makindae, received him. You can see Shea Makindae in the picture. Shea Makindae, interestingly, is one of Wike's men. I will put him out. He's one of Wike's men. He's in Frolicking around Wike moving together. He was a Wike in London when Wike met Atikwa, Wike met Obe with Obasanjo. And you can see him there too. So I think it's a master stroke by Atikwa because Makindae can't say he won't host or receive Atikwa. I mean, he is the leader of the PDP in New York State. You know, one of the leaders of the PDP in the Southwest. PDP doesn't have a governor in Lagos State. So I mean, you look at Toyo State as the only PDP state in the Southwest. So Makindae is, you know, the factory, the PDP leader in the Southwest and part of Nigeria. Makindae is the PDP leader in the Southwest and part of Nigeria. You know, and so I'm sure that Atikwa has this in the back of his mind. Now, Makindae, he made some statements. He made some statements when Atikwa, he hosted Atikwa to a meeting of stakeholders of the People's Democratic Party in the Southwest. He made some statements. Now, the first statement he made was Atikwa. He described Atikwa as the incoming president of Nigeria in 2023, you know, by the grace of God. By the grace of God. He described Atikwa as the incoming president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2023 by the grace of God. And then, but made a point that the chairman of the party, Ishaayu, must be asked to step down, must be asked to step down because of perceived injustice in the party to members of the party who are from southern Nigeria. Of course, the issues in that party regarding a zoning of the choice offices in the party are well documented with Wike and his block in the party saying that they want your chair, sorry, are you chairman of the party to go? They're asking why, or questioning why, the party should have its board of trustees chairman from the northern part of the country, the party chairman from the northern part of the country and the presidential candidate from the northern part of the country that this means that those who are from southern Nigeria have been sidelined. Some feel that Wike's outbursts or Wike's demands are not unconnected to his losing the party's presidential ticket. But Wike said he's just interested in making sure the southern part of the country is not disenfranchised, it's not cheated, that's what he's saying. Ayua said he won't step down. Atikwa has not said he will ask Ayu to step down or he won't step down. He doesn't even have the power to ask Ayu to step down. The National Working Committee of the party, they had a meeting recently and they gave a vote of confidence, a vote of confidence in the leadership of Ayu, of course they are the ones that can probably vote him out if he doesn't step down voluntarily. What they did was that the board of trustees of the party had a change. The gentleman who was the chairman of the board stepped aside and they handed over to another member of the board, the former senate president Adolfo Swabba, who is from Nigeria's southeast, Nigeria's geopolitical southeast. These are the Igbo speaking states. So, I mean, this was perceived, it was thought it would be a way of assuaging Wike and his people, but Shea McIndy is saying, still, your chair Ayu must go. Of course I said she is the only PDP governor in South West. I forgot. I had a dancing senator who is now governor of Osho State, so there are two of them. But he is the oldest governor in the southwest from PDP, so he is the leader of the party in the southwest in terms of offices. So, McIndy has hosted TIKO. TIKO has probably used this as a photo up to show that, hey, I'm the presidential candidate of the party and I'm here. You can see even the fire shea was there as well. Now, fire shea was in Potakot to commission a project. Of course, Wike took the opportunity to make some statements and sing a song or two with his band. But fire shea made something important. Ayu fire shea is the former governor of Haiti State and the leader of the PDP in the southwest. He said that TIKO is not the problem. There are people surrounding TIKO who are lying to him and not giving him the clear picture and they are bent on causing trouble between him and other people in the party. That's what he said, but he is still Wike's man. So, these are the dynamics in the party. We'll keep monitoring to see what comes out of this. But I think this is a master stroke for Atikua Buwakara seeing that he's been able to use this opportunity to show his legitimacy and to show that he's the one. It's a photo opportunity. These men, fire shea, cannot say they won't attend the meeting. McIndy cannot say he won't attend the meeting. Well, these men get tired of Wike's antics and say, let's just move forward. Atikua on the election is okay. Let's just, it's enough. Or will they keep making their demands? We'll see what happens moving forward. I'm sure Atikua will say it's a middle belt. I mean, it goes to Benoist state. Some of them with another Wike's men would have no choice than to host him and they'll take pictures together. You know, if it goes to the southeast, of course, OK, Zeg Paaz, as well as the others in the southeast, will have to be with Atikua, take pictures with him and host him, you know. So that's that. Let's move on. Samuel O'Toole, who I just mentioned, is the governor of Benoist state. He's accusing the Upper Progressives Congress of taking Nigeria from the top to the bottom. In fact, he's not just accusing the Upper Progressives Congress. He's also accusing President Mohammed Buhari from taking, he said, for keeping his promise, the APC and the president for keeping their promise of relegating Nigeria to a bottom position. I'm sure he's, in his mind, he has something like a picture of a league table. You know, if, for instance, Manchester United goes down to the bottom or Chelsea is at the bottom of the league, it won't be a good thing. So some Chelsea fans are wondering whether this new coach they've appointed will be able to keep them on top or whether he will take them to the bottom. I don't know if that will happen, but this is what Otomi is saying, that Nigeria as a sort of Chelsea, for instance, Buhari and APC have kept their promise of relegating Nigeria to a bottom position. Don't forget, two days ago, the president gave a speech when he was hosted to a state, to a meeting, to an event, rather in Oweri, the Amos State Capitol, where he was on a presidential visit. What did the president say? He said that he, as president, has done extremely well. He, as president, has done extremely well. Given the circumstances, the resources available to him as president and the time he's had, and he compared his achievements to that of his predecessor, Sir Jonathan, and the government and the state of affairs in Nigeria when he took over in 2015. And I'm sure Tom is, you know, also reacting to a statement like that by saying that Buhari and the APC have kept their promise of relegating Nigeria from the top-to-the-bottom position. All right. Anyway, he set this through his chief press secretary, Nathaniel Ikul. Tom noted that the APC would lose the 2023 elections because the party had performed woefully since it took over power from the PDP. All right, so this is a member of the PDP using, you know, taking the opportunity to respond to the president. I think it's good to see the opposition party speaking, you know, and saying something. I mean, the government should also speak out and say stuff, you know, so that we see the opposition active, you know, we see them active. But what Tom is interesting, until maybe a couple of years ago, was a member of this APC, so what is he talking about? He was also going to see President Buhari in Benway State and was also defending the president and one of, you know, people saying good things about the president and all of that before he had come to the PDP to save his political future ahead of elections ahead of elections in Benway State. So what is he talking about? If his political future was at risk, you know, you have the likes of Baramas, Kimare and Ko in Benway State who were tussling for the APC in that state. If Tom's political future was not at risk, he maybe would not have left the APC for the PDP and if he had not left, he would have been saying these things. There's a question some would ask. If the party has failed, then he was definitely part of that failure as a member of the party for at least four years. At least four years, but it's politics, you know, so fair play to him, fair play to him. All right, let's move to the next one now. This is another one that elicited comments, you know, on social media. Well, it's not always received with happiness and acceptance the idea of writing promotion exams when it comes to members of the public service. We're all aware of what the electricity workers have been doing, you know, in a bid to avoid writing a certain promotion exam or having their members write a certain promotion exam, the power in the country, in the name of strike, literally just turned off the power. It wasn't the only issue, but it was one of the issues and I think a major factor in their industrial action, this talk about the Conwa, which is an electricity workers union. The day that that power was turned off, the last strike they had, was the day the promotion exam for certain members of that union who are under the transmission company of Nigeria that was the same day they were meant to write the exams. We have other examples in history. We can look at what Adam Soshimoli tried to do in a dosage asking government teachers to write exams, absolute tests, so he can determine who is who and know who is fit to teach. We can go to Kaduna State where Malam Nasser Erofa, the governor of Kaduna State, also tried to get the teachers in the public service to write exams. All these were met with stiff resistance. You wonder why. All right, so when, of course, you hear that the Ministry of Interior, Obedir Erofa, has ordered the Civil Defence, that's an Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Correctional Services, Fire Services and Immigration Service Board to conduct the next promotion exams for its officers in various states where they operate, you'll be able to wonder if this will also be met with stiff resistance or if this is something to tutor that these organizations go through. But, well, this was contained in a statement signed by the Ministry's Deputy Director of Press, Afonja Jibala on Tuesday, Arbashalogi of the Directive, during an inspection visit to the examination center and Abuja stated that the overcrowded examination centers can fault the integrity of an exam. So imagine if you have such an exam and people are copying from themselves because the whole is overcrowded. I think that's a good one coming from Arbashala. You don't need to have an overcrowded hall so that people can write the exam without copying from each other. I mean, and think of it, how many officers in our public service are promoted and not an account of merit but an account of how many years they've spent in service. And I think it's a good one that they be allowed to write promotion exams so that we know who is who. We know who is who. So we won't have any more of God at the top moments. Yes, that's the truth. So we won't have any more of God at the top moments. I mean, that's the gospel truth. So, fair play to Arbashala. Will these people, will these groups, these agencies react? I don't think they can because they are also security agencies as well. And as a member of a security service, you basically what Fela called a zombie. No offense intended to our gallant officers of these organizations. But basically, you do what you are told is what I mean. You do what you are told. So I don't expect that there will be a backlash and they will have to write the exam and let's see what comes out of it. But, you know, when it comes to writing exams by some of these agencies like immigration, it's been a bitter experience. Remember the stampede that we experienced at Mosul Dabiola Stadium? Then it was called the National Stadium in Mapuja. That has not been sorted out till now. You know, remember Abamoro, and then the Ministry of Interior. And how many people died there? That matter hasn't been really fully sorted till now. But we hope that we know this will be the same. It won't be the same. They have their centers, places where they will go and write the exams. It's going to be a computer-based test, CBT, which is a good one as far as the Ministry of Interior is concerned. It's also a good one for the boards or the board concerned with this. I mean, the Ministry of Interior had a good press in recent time under his watch that we have had several prison escapes, including the infamous Kujie prison escape. Even though the Minister has spared no effort in telling Nigerians that many more attempts have been made by prisoners to jailbreak. And these attempts were successfully, you know, handled by the agencies. So, you know, it's a mixed bag. But from what we see, a lot of the breaks have come from outside. And it's not been a successful repealing of that. But this is a good one for the Ministry and recommend them. We'll see what happens at the end of the day. We wish all the officers who are writing these exams the best. I think that's as much we can say on this, really. All right, that's the top trending segment. On the Breakfast and Plus, we'll be right back with more. Stay with us.