 Welcome back. Thanks for watching The Breakfast on Plus TV Africa and of course a race for the vice presidential slots in the ruling parties, the all-progressive Congress and the main opposition party, the People's Democratic Party taking a definite shape. Sources have said that if those opposed to the Muslim-Muslim ticket in the APC succeed, the likes of Simon Lalong would be in line for consideration. Now this has come on the heels of the Christian Association of Nigeria, a Khan, a Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, a PFN and an ARAWA coalition, as well as APC national stakeholders cautioning the APC against fueling a Muslim ticket. So that's the issue as far as the all-progressive Congress is concerned. Now in the People's Democratic Party, sources are saying that despite the strong claim being made by the Southeast for at least something to go there, we're having lost out in the presidency or the presidential run in that party, the battle is panning out as a straight one between Governor Yes and Wikia of River State, who came second at that primary. And the governor of Delta State, Ifa Yokoa, has been right from what Wikia has gotten it. But Okoa was a member of the committee that conducted the primaries that held in Abuja. We are joining us to discuss this, analyze the tassel for who becomes the running mate in the two leading parties of Progressive Congress and the People's Democratic Party. We have a political analyst, Hadeh Misaka, I must say political satirist, Hadeh Misaka is definitely not a satirist. You're welcome to the program. It's quite an interesting one. You know, the, yes, the whole drama that is playing out. Let's start from the People's Democratic Party, because that seems to be where there are rumors that are right. Rumors, really, really heavy ones last night on social media. This morning, one paper has gone with it, the nation is whether Wikia has gotten the ticket, the running mate slot in the PDP. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think this rumor could be true? Well, if the rumor turns out to be true, I might have made this choice, but for watchers and someone like me, I don't think that's a smart choice. Because the running mate is assumed to be a potential vice-president. And our activity since the return on the advent of our civilian or democratic groups since 1990, now is the vice-president in charge of the economy. We've seen how bad the economy is as we speak right now, inflation is 37%. Food inflation is almost at ten point something percent. Unemployment is also over and around 40, 42%. So you want to bring in a wiki that has no economic background, aside from just being the governor of the United States. Or you want to bring in a Nukua that is a, that is, its background is in medicine, if I'm not wrong, to become, to sit atop the economic affairs of this country. We've seen what a lawyer has done in almost seven years. The economy has been battered. We need somebody that knows the figures. We need somebody that knows about management, economic management policies, and what have you. So the two choices being put forward by APC for me as an individual is not impressive at all. But does it really matter, I mean, who becomes a vice-president, whether it's an economist or whether the vice-president comes from a certain region? Because we have seen, like you already know, the vice-president is as good as, you know, a person who takes orders from the president. He can't do beyond his stipulated roles that has been put out. So what difference does it really make? The vice-president is also, based on what we've been practicing since 1999, is the top most diplomat in the country. Can you beat your chest and tell yourself or convince yourself that we can make a good diplomat for the country? Wait, wait, wait, wait, does it talk like one of the aspects? Are we not putting a lot of expectation unnecessarily on, on putting expectation on the office of the vice-president? You see, let's... When some analysts have said, and they miss again, the vice-president is just basically ceremonial, it's just a piece of furniture. Okay, the vice-president, whether we like it or not, is in the presidency that can act as a president at some point, or that could be the president at some point. Well, how many times have we seen the vice-president in this administration act as the president? The one time that the vice-president acted, I mean, we also have, you know, we've got stories and reports saying the president wasn't impressed. We saw that the vice-president took some certain actions. He felt like he didn't really sit well, you know, with the president or those calling the shots, as they would say, not proven, the cabal, even though we are still in denial of all of that. We haven't really seen the president transmit power over time. The president would travel, but has not transmitted power and he would walk within the jurisdiction of how long he has to stay away from office. So does this really matter wherever the vice-president comes from? It matters, because whether we like it or not, there are constitutional rules for the vice-presidents. As much as people want to argue that the vice-president is a spare tire and extra tire, the National Defense Council, the Detroit Schedule, I think that is part of that schedule, the vice-president is the vice-chairman. The National Security Council is the vice-chairman. A lot of bodies are probably arms of government and everything. The vice-president plays a role. And even when it comes to the National Economic Summit of the country, the vice-president is, I believe, the chairman. The National Economic Council. And you know, that oftentimes only supervises the National Economic Summit group, activities and what have you. So how do you want to pick somebody that doesn't have the requisite experience or qualification to sit at top of the... And an economy that is battered, dwindling? But the point I think, Merci and myself, are trying to make, the question we're trying to ask is rather, is that are we not placing unnecessary, more expectation than normal on the economic qualifications of whoever should be the vice-president of Nigeria? We're number one. Adémy Saka, we have the manager of Nigeria's macroeconomy, who is the central bank of Nigeria, in the UK they call him the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in America they call him the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. We have the Minister of Budget and National Planning, number two, and we have the Minister of Finance. You know, these are three important key stakeholders in Nigeria's macro and microeconomy. Some argue the vice-president just needs to have organization leadership skills to just put people together. You don't need to have a first class in economics or a PhD. Just have the ability to put people together to sit down and say, what do we need to do? And everything is subject to the president. She's reminded us that at some point, all those RCCG people, those Shaplukin guys that are brought into the vice-president's office, who were there? And you remember when the president went on his medical vacation at some point, things were moving really fast, if you remember. And at that point, there was uproar that a lot of people, or a lot of aides in the vice-president's office, had removed that. And the presidency brought people in from the office of the presidency to man-dosed positions. And then we saw the resultant, in fact, people who pay taxes in this country who have had to grab the FIRS to tell you that they know the point where things started going south. And they link the two. They link the two. So some of these things, some will argue, it shows how limited the powers of the president, a vice-president can be, despite what we see as his head of national economic crisis, purely ceremonial. But let me say this, we can excuse that we've, as the time we say, we don't even need the qualification of power list, and there's so much of the credentials around Mr. President, or whatever comes up. That's when we said, even if it's a Nepal bill, we'll take it ahead of any certificate from an university, and we saw where it brought us. We're in a peculiar situation that we have to just get it right. We've wasted almost seven years in our national life. We cannot afford to waste two, three more years. That's why we need every resource we could put together to get this country, pull us out of those rooms. We are in a mess. That is where I'm coming from, my opinion. OK, all right. We sit with the PDP. We're hearing two names. If I call our Delta State, yes, we'll be OK. River State. The Southeastiners are saying, you know what, we need to get that vice presidential slot in the PDP. We were cheated, and the prime minister, at least, at all, at all, naim bad pas. So give us something. Do you think the People's Republic Party should be looking that way? Well, if the PDP wants to go, look Southeast, for me, the only formidable, or permanent, or political personality there, or political person there right now within the PDP, if you want to judge by the last, the special presidential prime minister, or by the PDP, he's from our Senate president, from our SGA, from the Center for Empires, AIM. Yeah, but it's, but... Why do you think AIM is the only person from the Southeast? No, it's the one. I said judging by the last presidential prime minister, it was, I think he was a guy that, it was the man that pulled the largest vote from Southeast from that region. But, you know, there's an ancestral cause, but AIM is an indie born, any Southeast and other statistics. So, I don't know how, and I don't think he wants to take it as a person. I don't think he wants to take it as a person. And if you look at them, the temperament and the conduct and what have, you might want to lean towards Anokua. But some other people will tell you that, are you sure if you pick Anokua, you have a replay of, AIM made him, a betrayed accusation in future, because a lot of people will tell you that, for what's Anokua, for whatever height he has risen in politics, it's all thanks to the former governor of Delta State, James Iboi. So, are you going to divorce him from James Iboi? Are you going to have a vice president that's going to be under the control of a godfather? Are you going to have a vice president who somebody might start saying is his benefactor? We saw how that played out in the APC house on said felt vice president of the ministry of budget is a betrayer. It was nobody. And I was wondering somebody that served in the presidency is in the 80s. I'm wondering how somebody that appointed as a commissioner in the 90s made him. So this is quite interesting. If Aqours becomes vice president, what are the chances that he will not be controlled by Iboi? It's not even about the control. Everybody wants to ex-attest power and authority. No, no, but that, I mean, we can't even take that out of, you know, the Nigerian politics, the politics of godfatherism. He thrives all the time. And I don't see that leaving any time soon. So whether or not, I mean, someone who's the president would definitely, would have been. I think article one of PQK, based on articles, experience, you know, article in 1999 to 2007, was a victim and was an actor. Victim about victim. When I say victim out, the president used this force and might against him. That was Alicia Gombas, actor because of the way he played the politics and how much he wielded so much influence in the presidency as a vice president. So, so do you see the PDP going outside of this other names that have been mentioned or are popular because we're beginning to see, you know, some quarter saying that not verified that, you know, there's a possibility of a Donald Duke from a governor of cross river state, you know, been considered. Even apart from that, there's another name being, you know, bandied around. I tried to, one of the three names then that was on wood on the mammal of Aqaibon. I don't know how he just, I went, I got off the list, but it was that some point. So we could look at Donut Duke too. We could look at Donut Duke. The options are, the options for articles. So, so, but do you see, do you see article, you know, moving away from these names that are very popular going beyond that? I see article not picking any of these two guys. What is the importance of course? I mean, Donald Duke sounds exciting mercy. But what are the chances of, you know, having somebody who's a political choice as somebody who is not a popular choice, but an ideal candidate? Like you've talked about, you know, somebody needs to have at least a track record of some economic management success, you know, and no links to Godfathers like you talked about so that nobody will be remote controlling him or her. But the parties are also in a position where they need to look at votes, you know. And the thought is that people be imagines as the candidate of the Labour Party will eat into the votes coming, the will of PDP from the South East, you know. So how does the party maneuver this, this, this? You took us to another sphere of conversation. And I say it's, when I was pushing for the choice of economic sound vice president running me for this, for article and what are you? It's because they are looking at votes. They need to pick somebody that can balance the engagement and the conversation Peter Abbey's pushing out there. If you pick, I don't know Emmanuel, or pick a Donald Duke, they give us the same, they've given us the same narrative that Peter Abbey's giving Nigerians. So that could appeal to Nigerians. And now Peter Abbey coming out is not just going to eat the votes of South East. Peter Abbey, there's a massive movement across board. And I tell people, when people tell me that no, Peter Abbey's followers are just on Facebook on social media and I ask them, those people on Facebook, I did not exist in real life. Is that not, is that, and if Nigerians decide to want to give Peter Abbey the structure, don't you think that structure will move? So there's a Peter Abbey factor that you need to balance out. If you're looking at a vote, we can, whether you like it or not, there's a Kwan Kwan Sir in Kano. And Kwan Kwan Sir's influence in Kano is not just Kano. He's across North West and I can bet, I can, I'm not. So you're saying that there's a possibility of a Kwan Kwan Sir and Peter Abbey's? There might not be a possibility. You can expect a Kwan Kwan Sir that has a secured vote of almost three, four, five million to Jettison that for Peter Abbey. There could be a measure at some point. But what I'm trying to say is this, a Kwan Kwan Sir can probably pull five million votes across board. And Peter Abbey that I'm seeing as well will also pull five million votes. And that's the worst I can give to these two men. And if these two men pull 10 million votes, what's the end of the vote left for APC and PDP to pick? There are quite a number of votes. But it's not, they probably will not meet the required to third, spread of the 36 states and the FCT. So these two other contestants cannot be, as much as you're looking at, you want to look at votes, you should also look at the importance and influence of these guys at the next dispensation. Did you tell me a lot that will happen? Let's move to the All Progressives Congress, still looking at the running mate, Ashwaju has his work cut out. And we're hearing that, you know, the decision is hovering between Ashwaju and Mr. President, you know, governance of the APC to decide. The man has been meeting with some of those who he defeated. But of course we have the North-South issue in the country where parties have to have a processional candidate for the South-South. The North-South Muslim, Christian and Muslim. So let's talk about the Muslim-Muslim thing. It's, I think we flogged it. Is there anybody who thinks about the Muslims and they should just bury it? The country is divided. And I went, some people tell us we need competence. I tell me that there are no competent Muslims and Christians in Northern Nigeria. And for crying out, if you are calling, if you are saying competence, place them, my mother buries a Muslim. Is he competent when it comes to dealing with insecurity? Has he not failed us? Has he not even failed his Muslim brothers? Has he not? And you see, people should, I, you see, it's this. You want to pick a Muslim-Muslim ticket after you've had eight years of President Mammadou Bari a Muslim as the president. President Mammadou Bari with his popularity, did not dare or assume or imagine they could probably pick a Muslim from Southern Nigeria to win an election. He always goes for Christians. He's been going for Christians. So why have you not told me that, and you think you want to pick a Northern Muslim as a running mate, and you think the Northern Christians, you are not missing out their votes. Are you telling me that they have votes? Is it consequential? So, I mean, the party said a choice to make. You're talking about the right thing to do, the ideal thing to do, which is to carry everybody along. But the difficulty here for the All Progressive Congress, some would say, is that they need to also look at how to capture as many votes as possible. Everyone wants to win the election. Will the All Progressive Congress get the majority Northern vote if they go for a Northern Christian, in your opinion, as a running mate? The question is, is Ashurajibullah mentioned that we're not Muslim enough to get the votes of Muslims of Northern destruction? To some people, they feel that the core Northern Muslim does not see the Northern Muslim, for instance, you were Muslim as genuine real Muslim. You know this. No, some people say, some people have been coming out to the Bong Dalat and said, no, I'm a Sada now. They take me as a true Muslim. And you know, it's laughable and it's funny how people say this. And I will say this on an international platform here. You cannot tell me that the voice of Christians in Nigeria shouldn't count at this next dispensation. If three parties out of four we're talking about have chosen to go for a Northern presidential candidate that's I'm talking about the APDP, the APC, and the NNPP, the whole Muslims. The only party that has a Christian flag is Peter or B. That's amongst those four. I must stop leading forward talking about now. So, but, okay. I'm just going to drive at something. And we are in a country that in the last 30 days two people have been killed for blasphemy. And as we speak, there was no Northern politician who is a Muslim that spoke against the killing. No, President Buhar released a statement that spoke against the first one. No, President Buhar has always been saying we should respect other people's religion. That's always the case. No, no, but he condemned it. If you really statement it, he condemned it. Now, the question is- Including vice, from a vice president. Even they deleted the tweet. So, you're not telling me that in a government that had a Christian, that happened. What would happen if they don't have a Christian at all? No, but- So, to balance things, whether we like it or not, so we should face it. We are more divided than we were in 1999. We need to balance things. It's always been North, South, East, West. What if the APC presidential candidate said, see, I'm going for competence. And competent person I've found, I don't care where they are from. I don't care who they preach in the morning and afternoon and night. And he finds a competent person from- Yes, I don't care, I want to have a new Nigeria. It's up to the Nigerians to either to vote along that line or reject it. But the question is, are there any competent Christian from the North? So, but let's also- I mean, we're being prompted to call it a wrap. Now, but the question here is, the question here is, should in 2015, if the consideration for a Muslim-Muslim ticket did not fly, why is the APC considering a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2023? Oh, I guess somebody is either they are being divisional or somebody is being overwhelmed or drunk on his personal ambition. That's just it, that's my submission. And there's just speculations in the public. I have to be speculated. Any right-thinking Nigeria right now will want to balance these long-tribal lines and religious lines. Because I do remember Shibaji put out a statement on the day of a special convention in Abuja that they had not made any decision, since some text messages have been flying out. No, no, no, it's like I said, even if they go for that, they should know that there's a Kwan-Kwan so incarnate that is a Muslim that will pull Northern votes. All right, all right, we have to go. I want to thank you very much for your time. Ademisaka. You're welcome. All right, still the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. Ademisaka is a political analyst. He's been an analyst and guest on the first major conversation over back after this break to do some more talking with another guest still with us.