 Welcome once again to the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. Our first major conversation for today is talking politics and of course the third force idea. There of course has been little bits of clamor here and there. You know we've seen of course Professor Patu Tomi Atahiru Jega and a few other people come together and make mention of the possibilities of a third force. Nigerians have also stated and just like Ezekiel Yenetok mentioned that a lot of Nigerians are tired of the two major political parties in the country today, the APC and the PDP. But a lot of questions have also risen as to if the third force really can ever be strong enough to create enough political noise and of course win an election in one year plus couple of months. We're speaking this morning with Tanco Yunusa who's the head of media and public affairs for the National Consultative Front. Good morning Mr. Yunusa. Thanks for joining us. Thank you very much for having me. Good morning Nigerians. Great to have you on the program. Alright so I'm going to start with you sharing your thoughts on where we currently are and the idea of a third force. Of course this always happens. This happened late 2019 or sometime in 2019 really before the elections. Eventually that fell apart where they of course they had the internal issues, internal scrambling here and then you know that didn't go far. But we're back here again with the idea of a third force. Would you agree with those who say that this is really just a waste of time? No, I certainly disagree because people have positioned that you take them back into memory names of how did the APC come about. It was through this kind of same agitation when people were not satisfied with what the ruling government was doing at that time. Then discussions arising from different different groups and then eventually what we had was an APC emerging from a consumer of a new PDT, ABGAS, CPC, ACN and then other productive party which eventually become the APC. So you see if it can happen at that period in time then it can happen in no distance time. And I'm glad that you made mention to the fact that these discussions happened in 2019 and these discussions have been ongoing for a very long time. And as of today it has dominated into a very concrete discussion, starting from a platform discussion with eminent Nigerians who of course many of them have been in the field too. If you can remember very well my part in my humble self I was chairman of the initial party at the state council. I was chairman of all political parties in Nigeria and that to tell you that I have a depth of knowledge as to what the political party's feelings are. And so eventually when we come to a platform with different individuals, intellectuals, talk about the captains of industries. All right it seems we may have lost him but of course as we try to reconnect and hope that he connects us immediately. The conversation is about the third force and where Nigeria seems to be headed. And of course at Tango Unisazi like as just said mentioned that just like in 2019 or in 2015 rather there are still those possibilities of it happening. There's still possibilities of a couple of people coming together, forces, political forces coming together and of course being able to make some sense and maybe win the elections. Mr. Yunus, I welcome back. Can I go ahead? Yes as I was saying and now this discussion started from the platform, the social media platform and then individuals come to agree that there's a need for us to actually come up with something new that will resonate with the people. And that will of course bring about discussions with different different groups political parties. Let's have a program. Mr. Malan is not about a program that he will as a political circle wants. No. What does the people themselves want? What is their need? What are the acting leaders to do for them? And this of course is what we are going to sell to the people. It's only when you get information from the people and you know their feelings, you know their things, you know their plans then you'll be able to connect with them. And that's why we come to agreement. And I'm glad so far so good we've been able to discuss. At the moment now there are 18 political parties being recognized by INET. But don't forget there are other political parties that are registered and there's a cost decision that many are expecting by the end of probably end of this month or early November. But we have concerted with 18 political parties who are not environmentalists except of the PDP. They too realize that look they can't do this alone. They need to get work together with others. Some of them are ready to collaborate. Some are ready to march. Some are ready to just be on the fence. But we've been able to identify those who are ready to work together and those who are ready to march. And so very soon we will make our known to the Nigerian people and then we will tell them exactly this is where we want to go together. And then we are working together to ensure that we give Nigerians what they want. And in fact, I've even gone beyond the thinking that it is not even helpful. The idea is that they say look we don't even have a second vote because the PDP and the APP is not different from five and half a six. So they are even one. They are looking for a political party that will resonate with the people that will give Nigerians what they want and then it will connect and give Nigerians the right turn of the most important again for a second vote. No, it will not be helpful. Okay, let's also talk about the fact that I mean the APC and the PDP amongst other parties is not like you don't have other political parties in Nigeria but they have been dominant because I mean if you look at the political economy of these parties they do have the finances, they have the finances, they also have the political structures across the 36 states of the federation. Right? So do you think that paraventure or any of this movement becomes a political party? Do they have the structure? Do they have what it takes? The structure across the different parts of the country? I mean the grassroots because these elections are not just won by just saying oh yes we're a movement or you know you have people who are very prominent but we're talking about numbers now. Do they have the recognition grassroots structures? Do they have the muscle, the financial muscle, they have the finances you know to pull through? Can you hear us please? Okay, as I told you earlier in the platform we have political parties, we have groups, we have individuals, we have associations. Now each of these associations and groups have their structures down the line even to the one level. Don't forget as I told you political parties who are the legislators have their structures down the line. So imagine, don't put on an imagining trap that if all of these groups at least let me assume that half of them come to get to their people to the grassroots. So the number is large, very, very large. At the moment now we're even talking about building the structures from the zoom on level, the ceiling to the same level and going down to the one level. So we can as a movement if I can get our access to our data we can boost of each of these particular zones. For example in the north west we have like seven million people, but it is one million from south, south west, 60, one million. So each of the zones come together, we'll have about 36 million people working together at one. So the number is enormous, but we are trying to get the accurate data before we make our pronouncement to the Nigerian people so that they will know the sense in which we are really building. Mr. Yusa, can you clarify, when you say seven million, you say one million, are you saying members of your movement or you're saying people who are aware of you know your movement? I guess for the minimum target for each of these is one million per six and we are working already to get that particular data to say north west has seven million people. Can you clarify once again because we lost sound there, seven million registered members of your movement of your party? That is exactly what I'm saying. Each state at the moment now, and that is a fact, so we are trying to work together with eminent Nigerians who are going to collaborate with them to ensure that the zones are working to ensure that we are in with that seven million for example north west and then six million from north east, north central, six million and then south south six million south west six million and south east six million. That will give it a total of six million. Mr. Yusa, these are very interesting figures and anyone who hears these very likely would be excited about these numbers because even Nigeria's elections over time hasn't been able to provide 35 or 36 million voters all at once, so it's interesting to see that you have these figures and of course like you said you're going to confirm but do you think that you have these numbers? Is millions of people all registered and is that also going to be another stumbling block for you? How many of these 36 million that you're projecting are fully registered to vote and would be willing to vote when you give, of course, whenever your party gives a go ahead with a candidate? Is that also going to be one of the stumbling blocks? And second is, and I'm asking this because I heard something from Deli Momodi yesterday, what's something that he put out, the possibility of a merger with either the PDP or the APC, are you also open to such a conversation? If the PDP says, okay, we see that you have a good movement, we see that you have an annoying structure, we would like to come together and do this movement together. Is there also a possibility that that can work? Let me go down the line with the 36th century just in relation. Accurately, we had a registered voter decision in about 88 million after the 33 million people voted and leaving about 65 million, that's at 569. Now imagine that's 65 million on registered voters who did not vote. So at that particular number, we have enough to even know that is multiplying even now. Remember the ensigns movement who are majority of the Nigerian youth who are so agile with the way in which governance is being administered to them, we are working with them. So talking about our movement, we are working with political parties, working with either groups of ensigns, working with other groups, so the number is large. So we have only been murdered with our numbers. But as I said, when the data comes out, we will actually give you an accurate number. But what we are trying to do is that this is the first time we are even mentioning our numbers, because we didn't want to mention it at all. But it has been this time that we start to tell Nigerians the sense in which we are working, and there are other groups too who we are working with. Now to come to your questions as regards to whether APC or PDP make an advancement towards us, the idea is not about the PDP or APC. We are talking about talking to Nigerian people who want to give Nigerian people what they request for. And so looking, working with the APC or PDP is not on our table at the moment now. Because if the Nigerian people have gotten what they wanted, they wouldn't have been agitating for a second thought. So the Nigerian people are looking out for something new, something different, and what we are ready to give to them. So the issue is about a program for the Nigerian people which they are demanding for. In fact, you could understand any group that comes out now and make a speech without even making pronouncement that it's a party. The next thing that the person will say that it's a political party, that's to tell you how eager Nigerians are. Okay, so the closest election to us right now is the Anambra election, hopefully on the 6th of November 2021. Is that going to be a thought first in that election? No, not at the moment. We have not really synergized with the actions or what has taken place in Anambra. But we are putting these issues on the table too. We want to look at it if there's a possibility of talking to all of our members of the group that were together to see what can we mobilize for Anambra. We don't want to use Anambra as a test case. There are other elections that may come up even before the general election. When we have full permission, we can put those ones as a test case for our group. But at the moment now, we can confirm that we are going to use the groupings for the Anambra election, not a government. All right. So I want to also speak about one of the things that I've seen, people reacting and describing as one of the fears concerning the possibility of a third force. And that is the fact that a lot of the electorate really most times aren't politically aware enough to make these decisions. The third force might have very brilliant personalities. I've seen Patutomi, I've seen Donald Duke, I've seen Kingsley Mogalu, I've seen Tahir Ujjaga, that you might regard as very interesting political figures in brilliant minds. But the electorate across Nigeria and, of course, mostly in Northern Nigeria may not really care about some of these persons. So how do you plan to also order the possibilities of defeating that aspect? And also the fact that there's still some level of voter inducement in Nigeria's electoral process. Okay. Before I go into the issue of mobilization, let me make a quick clarification so that some of these personalities will not be mistaken for what their intentions are. Some of the groups that you've seen come out, like Donald Duke, Tahir Ujjaga, our eminent auditor, Bakuba. Yes. So Donald Duke, he has come out, the sources that you saw them with were talking about good governance. They were not being partisan. And I think Donald Duke came out and made clear the question with the guy to that. So Tahir Ujjaga, who is an eminent scholar, is a member of the PRP. Oh, see, he belongs to our group and we were, we were, we pardoned eminent leaders who, of course, is currently in the movement of their, we are galvanizing. And these people are talking about issues. And so until when we come to that position of political formation, with a little bit of clarification as with regards to that, so that people will not say, probably we are dropping their name for any position. Understood. With regards to your question, like I said, and then probably exposing some of the strategies in which we put in place. But I can tell you what we intend to do is to connect all of our friends and witnesses, putting them together, and look at how we are going to meet. That of course means that, for example, if an AA, for example, or ADC, we're not building from the top. We are building along the world. If you understand that, what, what that means politically, that is our target. Because you need to have your strength. It's like a pillar. If you don't have a strong pillar, you will not be able to build a duplex or one-story building. It will collapse. So we are building from the grassroots. And we want our leaders who are interested in this particular movement to help in continuously to do the stuff from the world. We know that Nigerian people are tired and with the impact, people are even thinking that we are wasting too much time. But we need to make sure that every technicality that needs to be collected is done before we make pronouncements. So that is where we are at the moment. And as much as I can tell you so that I will not be able to, I may not be accused of the emerging statistics move, but we are working very seriously. Okay, but some political elements are saying that there's a tendency that monetized politics might just play out as it always happens all the time. A situation where on both ends, where you have those who are part of this movement, who will be ruled by those who have the resources, maybe from other parties, I can categorically mention which party will come forward to try to get those who are part of this movement to go to the other side. And also on the other hand, you have the electorate falling for the crumbs, those ones who are impoverished. And so at the end of the day, you find out that the third force movement might just be another failure. So do you see that playing itself out ahead of the 2023 elections? We are trying to take all the mix together. We don't want to rule out the fact that people will be afraid with money. Even among us, we are looking at money and probably offer to them that is not impossible. But what we intend to do is that as politicians and the activists, we want to look at credible people who are to go with the Nigerian people. And I'm sure the Nigerian people who have been this particular kind of fair leadership have seen the difference from them taking my agree and collecting 55,000 naira and then collecting, you know, rappers and all others have seen the results. So many of them may not want to go the same way again. But to be very fair to every Nigerian who don't want to do track of some of the challenges that have undermined the emergence of credible leadership in this country, because it is the result of that particular form of collecting small change that has led to we having very bad leaders in the country. So every Nigerian who is interested in good leadership should know that any attempt whatsoever to collect any peanuts will resolve care in the system. And I don't think Nigerians are ready for such a fair leadership. And that is the reason why they have been agitating for a new form of leadership that is credible, a leadership that can be proportional, a leadership that is abusive. It is the past empathy that belongs to the people. And that is exactly what we are inciting them to do. So we will ask them to look beyond the issue of money politics. We are not saying that we are the best. They can even bring us some of the best among themselves to come and contest under the leadership so that they can win elections and do what they have been preaching. It's not about you sitting in your bedroom complaining all the time or sitting down around a new super vendor and looking at all the headlines and making all kinds of comments. No, this time around everybody must be on board. When you make a decision, bring up your best ideas, let's work together to serve this country because this country needs us now, needs everybody. All right. Well, Tango Unisa, there's a lot more, you know, angles here and that I wish we had time for but unfortunately we'll have to let this go and of course bring you back again as quickly as soon as possible so we can also explore the avenues concerning the possibility of a third force between now and 2023. Well, thanks anyway for joining us and for sharing your time with us this Thursday morning. We wish you a great day ahead. All right. Many thanks for joining us. All right. We'll move away from there now and move, you know, our conversations away from, you know, what national politics and focus on an umbrella state where elections of course are coming up in just about a month or less. We're going to be talking about the November 6 elections and the possibilities of having free, fair, but most importantly, peaceful elections in Anambra. We'll be back.