 Mr. President, if you are truly on the side of the poor, if you are serious about the welfare of the people, if you truly want the poor to breathe as you once said, then kill corruption and not Nigerians. Fellow citizens, the rallying cry by with the same Nigerian group Galvanized Nigerians in January 2012 at Ghanifami Park or Jota was kill corruption and not Nigerians. This was a cry when we made it evident that our fight was not against the removal of the first subsidy but against the corruption in the system. This was a fight when amid the threats to my life and family right there at Ojota and live on national and international television, I called out by name those individual and corporate entities who are the allegedly ravaged nation. Mr. President, given the complexity of the Nigerian economy, we are not thoroughly convinced that your palliatives will be sufficient to cushion the effect of your policies on the Nigerian citizens. What we do know, however, is that on May 29, 2023, you swore an oath to be faithful and bear true allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. May I remind you, Mr. President, that Chapter 2, Section 14, Subsection 2, Subsection B of the constitution states that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. Therefore, in compliance with your oath of office and in accordance with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, our demand on you, the current and its just current, the current occupant of the office of the President, our demand on you is the same demand that we made 11 years ago. Mr. President, kill corruption and non-Nigerians. The West African states echo words to violate an ancient principle of diplomacy that is recognized even in the holy book that you must offer peace before declaring war. By placing military invasion on the table from the very start, before subsequently exploring diplomatic options with the coup plotters in the Republic of Nigeria, Mr. President, to number once again put the cap before the horse, thus placing Nigeria and the Subregion in a precarious situation. Truly, those that are loudest in their threats are weakest in the execution of them. Any foreign invasion to succeed in the long term, the support of the locals is essential. From the spillover effect of subsidy removal to the effect of sanctions, local support for Nigeria and our leaders among Nigerians is at an all-time low. It is therefore counterintuitive to engage in what could be a protracted conflict. This month the Sinombu let echo us all to have land from the aftermath of America's invasion of Iraq in 2003. While we condemn the spate of co-details in West Africa, we recognize that the situation calls for deep introspection on the part of African leaders and makes even more urgent the case for good governance. The call upon Nigeria this time is not so much to compel submission in the Subregion through the force of mind, but to command alignment through exemplary governance. Well, that's how we chose to begin of the first day. When you talk about talking through to power, that's one of the things that I think Tunde Bakery just said, Pastor Tunde Bakery said. It made headlines almost all the dailies carried it. In the Guardian it was Tinobu's reforms will fail without economic justice ending corruption says Bakery. And you also find a headline in Daily Independence which reads that Tinobu has plunged Nigeria into chaos. And some of the things that were highlighted by the pastor are the reasons he is saying that he has plunged Nigeria into chaos. Another headline said 66 days of the APC administration and Nigeria has gone down. That was according to Labour Party. But we are not concentrating on the Labour Party here. Apart from all the headlines that we have seen, this is like the most exclusive that happened on the pulpit. Because if our pastors, if our clerics cannot speak through to power, then who can? Because everybody is having a place of refuge as it were. So the people are powerful enough. So let them talk, let them speak through to power and Tinobu Bakery said that. Yes, and one of the things he said, one of the takeaways there which is probably on the lips of almost all Nigerians is kill corruption and not Nigerians. He also said go after those who looted the oil subsidy money. Instead of getting Nigerians to suffer the way we are suffering by the removal of the subsidy, who are those who ate the subsidy money? And he was one of those. We were saying what happened in 2012, this president who is now removing the subsidy and who is saying subsidy has to go. It was a corruption. It was something that corrupt Nigerians used to enrich themselves. Few corrupt Nigerians used to enrich themselves. He was against it in 2012 when former president Jonathan Godlak Jonathan wanted to remove it. And Tinobu Bakery was among those who occupied Nigeria then, kicking against the former president Jonathan. And many Nigerians are already asking where are those people who occupied Nigeria then, who kicked against it? And he did say that even at that time he mentioned some names of those people who probably are part of the Cabal which means that the list of these people is there. Of course it's not secret. So how come these people are going scot-free and then Nigerians are the ones who are suffering during the brunt of what evil some people, some mean people committed. It doesn't make sense to me. Did you not see that interview by former, I think he was a former governor who talked about how his friend, him and his friends, they were all involved in receiving the subsidy money. Yes and he said it was too much. They were tired of eating money. And so it's not, it's an open secret really. Anyone who has the political will to prosecute those who benefited from this corruption scandal, failed subsidy scandal has enough information I believe to do the needful. So it is the Nigerian people that are now suffering for their crimes. People, the crimes of people that are known. Someone will use the common money, the common wealth and get tired of eating it. And you don't say anything. There's sometimes that they said that oh, if we open our mouths to say some things and mention some names, we know the people who are sponsoring Boko Haram. Till date we've not seen that list. Then someone came out and said he influenced the wife to make some judgments in the court and in favor of some politicians. We heard it. We know him. We know his name. Nothing is being done about that. And we are saying we are fighting corruption. We are going to be a better country and all that. Political will goes beyond just pronouncements. I think showing working as we say in Nigeria is what we need right now. Who are those people? Name and shame them. Even if you don't prosecute them. No, no, no. It's not enough to shame. Let us know them. But we don't even know them. They're going to be prosecuted. If you're going to do anything about it, there's going to be a deterrence. Because corruption has become so endemic. Look, it's destroyed everything about this country. And even the continent. Because if you're not enough to shame anybody, you got to prosecute them. If I know someone. To show that you mean business. If I know someone. Those who are because look, so many people are deeply into corruption in this country. And that is why. And look, corruption fights back and it fights dirty. So if you're going to cleanse the stable, you just have to start by prosecuting. But you know, if I know the person who did this to me and my family because everybody should take it personally because we are all suffering it. At least next time he's coming to stand for election, I will know what to say to him. Now we don't even know them. They could be among us. They could be people that we are saying are saints. And then they are the ones that plunge Nigeria into this. So prosecution is there. Let us know them. So they could even say that prosecuting them, but they will not name them. You know, it happens sometimes. We are. So first of all, let me know them. And then we will. By the way, let us inform our viewers that sorry. Our guests will not be joining us and all the press as we had earlier. You know, Teased. He's unavoidably absent. So it's Minyamgol and you. So let's let's let's let's judge y'all. Some who we already know to be corrupt came out. They have either been elected, re-elected or appointed into public offices as we speak. It's not in my place to begin to mention their names. So I'm saying until prosecution takes place and we see it happening. Nobody is going to take anything seriously in our so-called quest of fight against corruption. What is even the prosecution that we are looking for? We know some ex-governors, for instance, that were prosecuted, taken to Kuja prison. And then just given the pardon. And then clad of everything. And now tomorrow they could become senators, they could become everything. We know people who have been in court, some are still in court. But they're superintending over activities that influence our life, impact on our lives. We see a lot of them in the National Assembly. And some have gotten perpetual injunctions. Yes. They want to be questioned, arrested and investigated. I really don't know why the courts grant that. If you're innocent, then prove it. Why would you go to court and say, I'm getting a perpetual injunction. And they grant it to you until you die. And then nobody gets prosecuted because your child cannot inherit what you should have suffered. So I don't know why this is allowed. Maybe someday a lawyer will tell us something about it. Why would someone come to you and say, okay, they say I'm corrupt. Make them not investigate me. Doesn't that even tell you that that person could be guilty? We are special breed of people. Oh dear. Yeah, we are. Let's look at some of the headlines on the Guardian. CBN's fiscal irresponsibility act. Fiscal irresponsibility act. That's how it's tagged. Let's investigate a probe's CBN staff, consultant's names, NSPMC. Find details of that on page six. So much came out recently about the CBN, the money they are owning JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs and how much billions they spent on their own vehicles and a lot of things going on in that. Yeah, I'm just trying to compare the money they spent on their vehicles and the one that the National Assembly right now, which is probing them, is spending or is trying to spend like 110 billion or so. The syrup guy will be talking with us later on that. So much racket. So much racket. Talk about the black market, the brood change and all of that goes on. You'd be amazed how the dollars were being given and how they were being gotten in. And look, a lot is going on. There's just so much. Sometimes I think there's bleach in not knowing because sometimes when you know some of these things happening, it just sets your mind on, I don't know, you get so angry all the time. Okay, but at least something good on the headlines. Niger military succumbed to dialogue, say Ku in Nigeria's interest. I don't want to talk about the second part which says it's in Nigeria's interest. But I love the fact that they are now going to negotiate. Even though I know that maybe they'll say, okay, the president cannot come back. Give us time for transition, blah, blah, blah. We'll now have the transition period. They will transit into civilian government that someone else takes the reins of leadership and the circle just goes on and on. Maybe ten years later, another junta springs up. I don't know, but we should find permanent solutions and dialogue should be the first thing. Like Bakare said, dialogue is the first thing. You don't declare war before you come back to say. That process, we've gone past that stage now. It's already, we've gone past that stage. The threat for war has already been given before the dialogues. But I understand that the coupists are now coming down and saying, okay, they are ready to discuss. War does no one any good. It does no one any good. As Tunde Bakare has said, it calls for introspection. Let African leaders begin to think and begin to talk to themselves about how they are caring about the responsibility of leadership that has been given to them. Well, but sometimes we know that we vilify, we condemn when the military people come to take over. It is not right. People should select their own leaders and all that. But they threw up some things that even if they cannot act on, whoever is a civilian president should look at it. Because most times our civilian presidents are such that they seem to be looking for validation from the west. And so they enslave us to the west so that the west can validate us or validate them as individuals. And we become slaves that we should not be. So they raised one of those questions there all, one of those concerns that Niger is unevenly yoked with France. Which, if you ask me, is true. How can a sovereign nation have a central bank in another country that regulates the kind of money they spend in a country? So what level of, how independent are they really? That is not independent. And this validation that some of our so-called leaders seek from the west. You begin to wonder why. How long will they suffer from this colonialism mentality? When would they, just as the late Netanyahu Mali said, emancipate yourself from mental slavery. When will they do that? Because if you are not free, you are not free. Yeah, so I don't know. Even us in Nigeria, we are part of the commonwealth. I don't know how really that commonwealth is beneficial to us if we cannot stand on our own. UK or rather Britain has the population of about 60 million. We have 200 million. The market is here. The natural resources are here. What do they produce? What do they have? Natural resources and other things in UK. They don't have that much if they have at all. Everything comes from this commonwealth including Nigeria. And we are looking at this and we are seeing it. But we are not doing anything about it. We are not doing anything deliberately to remove ourselves from the shackles. So now, anything that wants to happen in Nigeria and we will say, for instance, it didn't take up to two months or six months after Abacha made a pronouncement. He may not be a very good leader, but he said, this dependence on the west has become too much. It has to stop. He used the words enough is enough. A few months later, he ate an apple, as we say. So anytime anybody wants to talk about the true independence of Africa, something happens. Tomosankara was at the vanguard of freedom for Africa. See what happened. You go to Bamangatafi, the same thing. See what happened and all that. And we are allowing this. Is it that they are afraid of paying the supreme price or that they just want to be selfish because they are gaining. And we are not gaining. Are we not the Nigerians? You know, I watched the Blood Diamond movie again. I don't know if you've seen that movie. Yes, I've watched it. That movie reminds you of a lot of the realities that we're talking about and we've been talking about and questions about how we have led ourselves and comparing the leadership that Africa has seen from their colonial masters and the leadership that Africans have seen governing themselves, leading their own affairs. And so many things are just not so beautiful about the continent. It's a terrible thing. When are we going to see that change? We don't know. Can I travel to South Africa without a visa? Can I travel to Congo? Don't even mention South Africa. Even within some of the countries in the West African sub-region, they will be looking at you even though it is legal to travel there without a visa and all that, but they'll still be looking at you somehow. You'll be subjected to a series of checks that you don't even know whether you're a foreigner or you're still a co-ass member or something. And you can't find that within the UK, for instance. You can't find that within the EU, for instance. But Africans, we cannot travel, we cannot interact, we cannot treat, we cannot do anything as brothers and trust ourselves. It just doesn't make sense to me. Okay, let's look at some other headlines on... Daily independence, for instance. And so we go to daily independence and it leads with CBN, NiraFloat may crash in a short while, experts warn. The writers there say in Nigeria not ripe to operate currency float and devaluation affecting productivity, manufacturing. You know, when this NiraFloat was the policy came up back then a few weeks ago. One of the first questions, because initially I didn't quite understand it, that's the truth. But one of the first questions I asked was is this going to add value to our currency or is it going to devaluate? That was the first question I asked, because for me that was important. It will rub off on everything. And sadly, this is what we're seeing. It's like removing subsidy from everything. Now, if you were able to get it from the official window for less and black marketers were doing what they're doing at least they were still seeing that if we take it too high people may not patronize us. They could just decide to be patient enough to get it from the official window. Now there's nothing like that. Nira is angling towards 1,000 Nira per dollar. Nira is on a free fall. And it's scary. It's like for nine something at least a few weeks ago or a few days ago even and if it can be that close to 1,000 then before December who knows what will happen? They keep telling us that the policy is good. Removal of fuel subsidy is good. See what we are facing. The Nira float is good. See what we are facing. Did they not think it through? Now the experts are talking that it might crash before the policy came on or a few people just sat together and said we have to do this to show that we are hitting the ground running. For president Boilati Nubu he said to be an economist and so I don't know I don't know but what we do know is that Do you trust accountants? But one thing I know about accountants is that they are stingy. That's what he said about them generally. I don't know anything else about them but these economic reforms we have been told those who are pro-it are saying be patient give it time eventually everything is going to balance out but some are just some projections are just not looking and what we are feeling right now those of us that are not economists that do not have any where he is going to land in the near future we are apprehensive a bit we are worried because the cost of things are just hitting the roof everything is hitting the roof you can't flight tickets foreign flight tickets I discussed that on Tuesday last week it's about 1.5 to the UK what is 1.5? it's gone up to the US it was 2.5 2.4 like 3 weeks ago I don't know how much it is right now although this is peak of summer the prices go higher but obviously influenced by the devaluation of our currency and the fact that the funds of foreign airlines are still trapped in this country matter of fact you understand Nigeria has the highest highest of foreign airlines funds being trapped anywhere in the world if you go to Benin for instance to take that same flight it will cost you like 300% less or even 400% less over 600% the papers had it last week less than what we are experiencing in the giant of Africa we are not economists we need timelines if you tell us that things are going to get better give us a timeline and say maybe in the next 3 months or in the next 4 months in the next even 6 months we know how to plan but this one you just leave it is by Russia now the second coming of Jesus Christ that has not happened now everybody is still waiting we shouldn't be left in the dark like that so if the Naira will appreciate because of this policy if the Lord Jesus did not leave us in the dark he told us the signs to see about his second coming so it can't be compared to Nigerians I understand some Nigerians now have to go to Ghana they travel to other states other Africans to travel because it's cheaper to travel from those countries than traveling from Nigeria alright so this thing you talked about aviation college outreach over missing 4.750 billion Naira 2 trainee helicopters yeah it's just like they fuel subsidy that they say people were taking and then we don't know the people how can 2 trainee helicopters just disappear okay the rector 4.750 billion Naira yes that's the cause senators are querying the rector and they are petitioning the national assembly and all that but helicopters were duly auctioned those were the words of rector of the college so if they were duly auctioned where did the money go to billion not million where did the money go to money just fly left right and center why didn't you know they near your side or my side I want to make heaven a big I want to make heaven okay well that's the much you can take enough of the press this Monday morning we'll be right back to give you our first hot topic stay with us is the breakfast the mindset edition on plus tv africa