 The Central Bank of Nigeria comes under criticism for accusing the online portal of manipulating for its market. The portal, a bookie effect, suspends updates on its sites, who will be reviewing all that happened over the weekend. Two health workers unions give the federal government 15 days to meet their demands or they will go on a strike. Our second major discussion will be on the working conditions in the healthcare sector. And from our deputy governor of the Central Bank and Plus TV Africa contributor, Obadiah Melafia, dies. We say good morning and thanks for joining us on Plus TV Africa. Welcome to the breakfast. I am Osaugi Ogbama. And I am Annette O'Felix saying good morning to you and thank you for joining us on this very beautiful Monday morning, the 20th of September 2021, we hope you had a great weekend. How about you Osaugi? Manchester United once all, yes I had a fantastic weekend, everything totally irrelevant. But when we look at the space of activism and social justice, people in those circles didn't seem to have a great weekend because of the news that we've heard regarding the death of Obadiah Melafia. He was 64 years old. He was first of all bringing him home to Plus TV Africa. He was a regular contributor to Plus TV Africa. We've interviewed him many times here before on economic issues. He was also a columnist for the punch newspaper. He was a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. You know, Mr. Obadiah Melafia really made his mark in the finance sector in terms of the economy and how he volunteered his ideas of, you know, just his analysis on how to better move Nigeria forward. Even in terms of politics, because we know that he was a presidential election candidate for the African Democratic Congress ADC in 2019, you know, Obadiah Melafia's history, his legacy really, when we take a look at all the things he has achieved, it really just brings tears to the hearts and to the eyes of people who understand the impact he was trying to make, how much of a voice he was in Nigeria regarding what really was happening with our politics. And it seemed like, you know, some of the challenges for him really, really began when he was interviewed sometime last year. And the Department of State Services, DSS, invited him to get clarity on some of the things that he had said in that interview. One of the things he mentioned was that he alleged that a Nigerian governor is a member of the terrorist sex aboco ram and he had been invited, interrogated to speak up or rather interrogated to basically justify his claims. And, you know, we know that he was, you know, in the DSS custody for a while. He then later granted interviews to journalists where he alleged that the plan was for them to eliminate him, if not for the fact that he had backing people from, you know, different other countries calling to put pressure on the government to release him. So it's just a shock to see that he passed, you know, the statement was saying is that he passed from a prolonged illness. But really, most of Nigeria is still in shock over what has happened. Yeah, and, you know, there's not really much to say. There's, you know, this year, I think we've lost, you know, a couple of voices that have also been regular on plus TV Africa. Security analyst and public affairs analyst. It's been pretty sad, you know, and his own death is another very, very huge blow, not just to us here, but also to, you know, Nigeria itself as a nation for those who have been speaking, you know, out loud and speaking their truth from the middle belt and speaking about the concerns security wise across the country. He has been one of the loudest voices who didn't care what the, you know, effects were repercussions where he had to say or speak his truth. And so I like the fact that we, oh, I would like that. You know, it's important rather that he is not remembered simply because of his activism and his, you know, campaign against the challenges in Nigeria and against the current administration. You know, he must be remembered as one of, you know, the world's finest economist. He was deputy governor of the central bank. He's also said to have been one of the people who created NEPAD. He was also Oxford trained as an economist. He spoke up to seven languages. And he basically, you know, was also said to be one of the major brains behind the African Development Bank group. So it's, it's, there's so much in his portfolio aside from him being a critic of the government. And it's a great thing that, you know, he was able to put aside his, you know, journey through economies, economics and of course, be a voice. So it's a huge blow. It's a huge, huge, huge loss for, you know, those who have continued to speak the truth. And I think someone had posted something, you know, that I thought was very, very important. Him saying, Dr. Obadiah Meilafia has spoken his truth. He can now rest and is probably in a better place. And, you know, for, for me, that was a very, very significant message to put with regard to Dr. Obadiah Meilafia. And it's also to encourage, you know, everyone who, you know, might be shying away from saying what they feel and speaking their truth. Eventually you would still pass, you know, and, you know, you, you're going to go back, you know, you're going to be buried without anything, you know, regardless of how much you think that you can gather, you know, by staying silent or you can gather by, you know, joining sides with whoever it is that might be the oppressor, you know, in different directions, you will still go back, you know, into the grave without anything. So it's important that you always speak your truth and always be a voice where there are no voices. So, rest in peace to Dr. Obadiah Meilafia. And it's really, it's just really, really sad. And our second top trending story today doesn't make us any happier because it's a video that I watched and screamed and had tears come down my eyes because of what has seemed to be, you know, the murder of Nigerians just, just like that in the South Eastern part of Nigeria. I wanted to take a look at that video. We know that in the Southeast, the IPOB have seemed to enforce their heavy hand regarding their concerns to release, to get Namdi Kano to be freed. They declared Ghost Mondays where they banned anyone from coming out to work, carry out any commercial activity. And even though the IPOB's official statement has been that, that Ghost Monday has been suspended. We still keep seeing videos and pictures of people's properties being destroyed, you know, you know, the vandalism of, of, of property. People who are coming out to simply trade and conduct business because the organisers in the board, the South Eastern government have said, you know what, come out and do your business. And the IPOB official management or spokesperson has said, the Cit atom order is called off. But regardless, we still keep seeing videos of people being killed of, you know, it just seems to be like anarchy so far in the Southeast. I remember when there was a video where a school in one of the South Eastern states was invaded, students were forced to flee, exams basically disrupted. The official statement that we got, first of all, in that video, the person who was filming said it was IPOB members, members of IPOB. But later we got a statement from IPOB, an official statement saying that those people are no IPOB members and any property that was destroyed or any motorcycle that was destroyed will be replaced. So it really makes me wonder why, why we're seeing what we're seeing now, a video that might be too gruesome for us to share. Well, so, so we, we're going to share the clip, but you know, just quickly point out, you know, that we cannot, you know, completely or 100% verify when that video was made. If it was this weekend, if it was weeks ago, nobody, you know, went out 100% sure. And also nobody was actually killed in the video. If you watched the whole length of it, there was some violence, but they didn't, they didn't kill anyone or shoot anybody. But we're going to play the clip so you can, you know, see exactly what she's describing here. And we'll talk about it when we come back. One, two, three, four, five, six, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Up on mercy. Up on mercy. Up on mercy. Up on mercy. No, no. Get him down. Go on the rock. Holy shit. Come up on me. Quick call. They are here. This is... Welcome back and yes you know a little shocking and hard to watch but you know once again we cannot verify entirely when that video was made if it was this week last week over the weekend or not but the main point is that there is some violence there is you know some elements you know that are causing chaos in the southeast IPOB members ESN members as alleged I've also seen a few people put out statements saying oh you know these aren't IPOB members or ESN members that they are government agents and some other nonsense like that you know and I've repeatedly said it that if they are not the ones then you should be able to identify who they are it's pretty simple because it would continue to be said that these IPOB members and if you don't have any other proof you know to you know dispel that then you know you might as well take the blame over and over and over we've said that they would continue to become worse than the people that they criticize they will continue to take advantage of the tiny little very tiny crumb of power that they've you know they've been able to gather over time and now become the oppressors and that's what they're doing to their own people in the southeast you know but even now becoming worse than the same people that they have criticized for a very very long time and immediately and all of these things are really just they build up to IPOB completely losing every drop of sympathy or you know you know support that they had had in the southeast whoever it is that in the past I've said oh yes you know their ways might be a little rough but we support their cause and we would you know stay with them all those people and those numbers are dropping every second so at some points they would not become or they wouldn't have the support that they think that they have in the southeast the narrative has always been that people sit at home on Mondays because of fear and because they don't want their goods to be damaged and you know there would be more and more of that there's gonna be a point where people would you know completely completely say we no longer are gonna be sitting at home or no longer care about whatever it is that the IPOB is fighting for we're not you know a part of them and we have the rights as Igbo people to do our business on Monday mornings or do our business all through Mondays and IPOB will not tell me to sit at home and that time is coming very very soon I'm not sure what the southeast is like this morning if there's people who are sitting at home or not but that sympathy is is steadily is steadily you know depleting and very soon it will be completely zero so best of luck to them first of all their campaign or they are sitting at home to get done and the kind of release is not going to work obviously and I'm sure that they are not that stupid that they cannot tell that it's not gonna work and then second you know the whole campaign of no election in Biafra land and some of all of that that also hasn't helped their cause in any way because you eventually would have less people coming to vote the election would be won by somebody regardless of what you do somebody is going to win that election and you know sadly it may not be a person that is in your favor either so that also hasn't worked I'm not sure where this thinking is coming from or why they're so easily you know pushed in that direction but good luck to them and would see how this eventually plays out nobody wins with violence that's that's the truth regardless of how you want to do it if you're gonna convince the people and I think some people have even said in the past you know that yes the electoral process might be flawed somehow some way but there's also that opportunity for you to be able to push a candidate in the councilor ship you know a level in the local government level in the state House of Assembly level push a candidate that you think believes in your cause you know get people to get registered to vote get people you know get those numbers of if you believe that you have those numbers then be able to push forward candidates and people will vote for them but when you completely are violent against elections that you are deceiving yourself and you eventually lose both ways at the end but anyway that's from the southeast our next up trending story this one really was the subjects of controversy talk and debate all through the weekend even till now and that's because we've had lots of discussions regarding Central Bank of Nigeria and the actions it's been taking suspending certain operators in Nigeria's financial markets but this time around what's happened is that Abokey FX has announced that it has temporarily suspended publishing exchange rates in Nigeria he put out a press statement on Friday announcing this and this came just hours after the Central Bank of Nigeria accused Abokey FX which is a website that basically collates black market exchange rates in Nigeria of illegally trading forex now the alleged owner of this Abokey FX is Oniwinde Adidoto, CBN's governor, Godina Mefe, alleged that this man is a Nigerian living in England that it would track him down and you know they would not allow him to continue killing the economy because according to what the Central Bank is saying is that this Mr Adidoto gets Naira notes and uses it to purchase dollars and then takes a position changes the rates over a given period of time sells the dollars and make a profit and that this is a completely illegal activity it is unacceptable and the Central Bank of Nigeria will track them down they're basically saying what the Central Bank is saying is that Mr Oniwinde is an illegal forex dealer who directly benefits from the rates that are quoted daily on the Abokey FX website but they responded to this almost immediately saying that first of all that the allegations against the director is unconfirmed and that they do not trade in FX they simply published the rates this is what they said in the press statement that they released you know they simply went on to say that they do quote unquote we at Abokey FX do not trade in FX neither do we manipulate parallel market rates and that they only simply collate information and displayed on their platforms daily they say that their staff go into the market gather the rates as all the businesses in the country you know have their rates displayed and it's just really been a lot regarding this because we know that the value of the Naira really seems to be depreciating regarding the rates that we've seen we've discussed this many times on the breakfast the Naira selling at 500 as much as 570 people even predicting that it is a sell at 600 Naira by the end of the week to a dollar so the Central Bank now we say that it's the rates that Abokey FX is publishing that is responsible for what the market is saying but in their defense they simply collect the rates from the black market and publish it and have no influence whatsoever but that really is what's on the table yeah and you know the central bank governor you know asides the controversy concerning you know whether Abokey FX is responsible or not you know he also did some very controversial things over the weekend you know asking that they should come out and fight you know and sounding very very very unprofessional for CBN governor those are some of the things that also you know made conversations across the weekend you know he completely loses the manner for a person at that level to be speaking like that so there is that and then second you know does Abokey FX trade you know or influence the parallel market rates or not you know I'm looking forward to what the next couple of days would show if they would be able to actually show proof that Abokey FX owner has really been trading or not the arguments over the weekend were mostly about how much a blog is able to influence the Nigeria's parallel market in what way is and you know people were equating it to say you know maybe it's the same way you know livescause.com or ufacambanlivescause.com because they put out you know game results over the weekend we are now lost or somehow can be angry with lives cause because they put out game figures showing that they lost the game that was just on a lighter note so the conversation would really be how important is Abokey FX with regards parallel market but it's also important to know that it's not just Abokey FX that does this you know this market review and putting out figures on their website. Narrow metrics also does the same thing there's a couple of other websites that put out. In fact the new one you know was created over the weekend immediately after Abokey FX announced the suspension. There's many of them that do the same thing so there might be something that we do not know that makes God in MFLA so upset with Abokey FX in particular. Have they completely shut down every website that is putting out figures on the online and how relevant really is you know Abokey FX to Aodo or Kasmir or Smile in you know any junction across the road that is selling dollars. Does he go online to check first before he knows what to trade? I believe that these guys call each other I mean different parts of the country and say you know what figure are we trading with today. They don't necessarily have to go online and see what Abokey FX tells them to you know what figure it puts there but we'll see. I think with time you know in the next couple of days we would be able to see if this is genuine or not. One thing finally Abokey FX did say was let's see what the next week brings if this would really affect the price if shutting down their website or them stopping to post their figures will affect the exchange rate or not and if it doesn't then obviously you know the central bank has once again gotten it wrong with these knee-jerk reactions to trying to save the nair from falling. Yes those are our three top trending stories this morning for you. We'll take a break here and come back to discuss the stories that are making headlines across Nigeria. Stay with us.