 The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, hints at emergency rule in Anambra state following recent violence there. And the Pandora Papers throws more light on Nigerians with shell companies and accounts in tax havens, we'll be discussing with journalist Nicolas Ibeque of Premium Times. And also this morning we will, as always, be reviewing the papers. Glad to have you join us here on the Breakfast on Plus TV Africa. I am Osaugi Obon. Welcome to the Thursday morning edition of the Breakfast, and we hope that we have a very interesting run. We hope that you've had a very interesting night's rest, and you're ready for Thursday. I'll start this morning, as always, with trending stories across the country this morning. First of all, it is in Anambra state where elections are set for the 6th of November. But as political parties are jostling, you need to put their houses in order. People of Anambra have also tried to figure out if they will be voting or not. One of the most important perspectives really is voter apathy, and if there's going to be many people showing up to vote and looking at also the number of registered voters currently in Anambra, and how many of those people will come out to exercise their rights to vote. But of course, it's many reasons, and we've spoken about this even yesterday, the different reasons why we may not see that many people coming out to vote, and one of them is the insecurity challenge that the Southeast has been experiencing in the last long while, a couple of weeks, months, maybe. And of course, that has led the, I'm sorry, to make statements yesterday saying that the federal government is considering declaring a state of emergency in Anambra state to ensure that the election goes through peacefully. If you remember also, the army has also started its own military operations in the Southeast, and that will cover Anambra state also. But of course, it didn't go down well with a lot of people who saw this as, you know, a little off, you know, seeing that there's been security challenges in many other states across the country, mostly in northern Nigeria that have not gotten the same call for a state of emergency. Kaduna state, for example, has had numerous kidnappings, has had numerous, you know, killings, murder, by bandits, by Boko Haram, by whichever group that you can imagine. Every other day in the news, we'll report about 18 people, 30 people, 20 different numbers, dozens, basically, of Nigerians that have lost their lives the night before in Kaduna state. And of course, you know, there's never a call for a state of emergency. And that's really where the controversy concerning this is. Besides those who are asking, you know, does the Mr. Justice of Boko Kamalami really have the right to declare a state of emergency anywhere? You know, does he have that authority to declare a state of emergency? It doesn't seem so. But aside that, why is Anambra state, you know, being looked at as, you know, has trouble some enough to declare a state of emergency? I'm going to share a couple of the statements and reactions to this. There's a person here who said, who responded, so elections are now more important than hundreds of innocent Nigerians that have been killed on a daily basis in the north. Says the core mandate of government is to protect lives and properties and not to conduct elections by declaring state of emergency. This is a better option for the north. I'm a guy called Shegun Empire. And of course, there's somebody here also says his name is Babajide Onye Dot. Says this is the end game, declare a state of emergency so the election can be comfortably stolen between IPOB and gunmen, known and unknown. The Anambra people are about to have, you know, a stooge imposed on them. Well done, everyone. And so, you know, everyone might look at these as, you know, extreme statements and, you know, say, oh, you know, you're probably reaching too far. But you can't also, you know, stop people from feeling this way, seeing the disparities and seeing, you know, how far fetched, you know, state of emergencies is in Anambra state, seeing that also that there's still the Nigerian police force, there's still the NSCDC, and I've repeatedly said this, that there is enough of the security agencies that should be able to carry out proper investigation, should be able to end the killings in Anambra state. When I say like that, it makes it sound like it's as bad as it is in the north. It really isn't as bad as it has been in northern Nigeria. But at least the little pockets of violence here and there, the attacks of security agencies, the attacks on INEC offices, the attacks on policemen here and there, there's, I'm sure, enough of Nigeria security agencies to end these things, to arrest these perpetrators, to ensure that they completely make Anambra state peaceful. But the reason that is not happening is, you know, what is really, really shocking for everyone. How much will it take and what will it really cost for Anambra state to become peaceful again? In what ways do the security agencies need to act better to ensure that Anambra state is peaceful again? Who needs to be arrested? Who's the source of the arms and ammunition that is flowing into Anambra state, into the hands of these criminals? Either IPOB or not IPOB. Nobody really knows. And so, you know, if those actions are not taken, then why do we jump in 19,000 steps ahead to go declare a state of emergency? And that's really where the controversy is. Fishaio Shorombo, who is a very popular investigative journalist, also made his own statement. He says, you want to declare a state of emergency in Anambra, but you haven't contemplated it for states like Kaduna and Co. Ravaged by terrorism, banditry, and general insecurity, it means elections are more important than lives. Our leaders are more interested in politics than governance. This basically is the general reaction. I'm sure nine out of 10 people who have seen that story from Abu Bakr Malami reacted the same way, concerning the idea of a state of emergency in Anambra state. And of course, the fears that, you know, this might be one of the tactics to, you know, take the elections from the people and the electorate in Anambra state who really wants to vote their conscience and a candidate that they choose would see how it goes. And of course, a state of emergency, you know, doesn't that also increase the voter apathy in the state? If a state has been a state of emergency that has been declared in the state, how many people are going to be eager to come out with their voter scars and actually vote? So I, of course, would say that these are some of the knee-jerk reactions and knee-jerk statements that have been made every now and then by persons in the current administration that they don't really think certain statements through before, you know, making them. They don't also think certain decisions through before making them and it also gives space for those who say that some of the, you know, acts of violence in Anambra state, you know, conspiracy theorists who say are state-sponsored. They're sponsored by persons in the government, you know, to try to create that narrative. You know, this might be entirely false, but it creates a space for people to make those type of insinuations and statements like that. That's our first top trend in the story. We'll move away from Anambra now and go to international news media, CNN, who, you know, had a, there was an interview yesterday with the Nigerian government of the Nigerian presidents, aid on new media, a special advisor on new media, Tulu Ogunlesi, who, of course, if you look back in history, is an award-winning journalist, you know, fantastic journalist, you know, I guess. But since, you know, the coming of this administration and, of course, since he got appointed in this administration, you know, a lot of people have questioned some of the statements that he's made and, you know, the stance that he has taken. It is expected, you know, that, of course, since you work for the administration, you will always defend the administration. You're never going to go on international news or any other platform and, you know, speak bad or speak ill about the administration that you work for. But it is definitely one of the most difficult jobs to continue to defend certain policies of the current administration. I don't even, I'm not sure which, you know, is harder. The people who worked as White House press secretaries during Donald Trump's time in the White House or the people who currently have to defend the current administration here in Nigeria and, you know, defend their policies every now and then. We're going to play a few clips for you so you see what exactly I'm talking about. He was on an interview on CNN yesterday speaking about the Twitter ban in Nigeria and this is what Tulu Ogunlesi had to deal with. In the beginning, was Twitter suspended in Nigeria because it deleted a tweet by President Buhari? So it was, it's a, the context is a lot bigger than that. But of course, from a media point of view, you'll find that, you know, usually, and this is not just in Nigeria, there's often an event or something that happens that kind of triggers something else. But, you know, the context- So the trigger for this suspension, Tulu, the trigger for the suspension was because Twitter deleted a tweet by President Buhari which violated its terms of service? Well, so that's very debatable. I do not, that tweet was not, I do not believe that that tweet violated the terms of service of Twitter. And it's, of course, it leads us to the question of how does local content and local context, how is Twitter- In fact, you bring up context, which is important because as an Nigerian and anybody who's followed the context understands that when you talk about people who misbehave and will be treated in their language, they understand that is an incitement to violence in their plain meaning. That's why Twitter- No, it's not- That tweet because it has been seen as inciting people to violence. No, no, absolutely not. The President spoke in his capacity as the President of Nigeria and it was a law enforcement message. It is a law, I think- Let's go back to the beginning. Was Twitter suspended in Nigeria because it deleted a tweet? So somebody who tweets, mostly President Boharis, praises, do you support the Twitter ban? Well, so I, you know, it's, I'm not, you know, the government of Nigeria has made a decision, you know, like all governments- That's not a yes. That's not a yes. Do you support the Twitter ban? And for me, no, so it's not, I'm not sure that's the question that you should be asking me. I think it's a win-win, actually, for both, for both, for Twitter and the government of Nigeria. That's certainly the view I get out of the, from the negotiations. That's a win-win for both parties. And yeah, I'm happy about that. All right, Tolu, I have to leave it there. I'm not sure it's a win-win when a lot of people just go use virtual private networks and bypass the ban. So I'm not sure how much of a win-win that is, but we're gonna have to leave it there. Tolu Gunless, a special assistant to the President of Nigeria on digital and new media. Thank you for your time. Well, a lot of people have said they've never seen Tolu Gunless's stutter that much. Even a husband who has been caught in the act with a, you know, by his wife wouldn't stutter stutter as much as Tolu Gunless's stuttered yesterday. Just simply trying to defend certain things. And, you know, if you watch the full six-minute interview, you might also tell that, you know, not very much was said. You know, a lot of, you know, not very much sense, you know, was actually made, you know, with certain questions that he was asked. You know, do you support the ban? He said, yes or no question. You know, and, you know, you should, you know, be able to say, yes, I support the ban for this reason, so that reason. But it was a lot of stuttering from Tolu Gunless. You know, and these are some of the things that have made, you know, a lot of talking points across the country, you know, because of how difficult it is to support and to, you know, be a face, you know, to support some of the things that the current administration has, you know, done or put in place. He found himself on the hot seat yesterday and, you know, a lot of people have been reacting to that. But I will also share that aside, you know, where he currently is, and you know, I also saw people say, you know, he probably tweets, you know, better than he speaks. But aside that, you know, I'm gonna, you know, quickly mention something that was pretty critical or was pretty interesting, you know, with this whole discussion. In 2014, 2013, 2014, you know, built up to the elections, he was one of the most vocal people on social media. This is the same Tolo Gunglissina, who, of course, is advising on better use of social media. He was one of the most vocal people on social media, criticizing the previous administration. He wrote the script, and I saw this on a particular person's page, that he, Tolo Gunglissina, wrote the script for a particular cartoon, or, you know, a particular, you know, yeah, a cartoon, basically, a propaganda cartoon that basically saw or showed from a president, Good Luck, Jonathan, and Abu Bakr Shakar, the leader of Boko Haram, whining and dining, you know, creating that narrative that they both were one and the same and they, you know, were working together. He wrote that script, and they post out all of that on social media. The governor of Kaduna State, Nasser Arafai, also used the same social media platforms to create whatever narrative whatsoever that they wanted to create back then. I remember that there is still, I believe it's still online, a tweet by former president, not by current governor for Kaduna State, Nasser Arafai, where he, you know, alleged that former president, Good Luck, Jonathan, had, you know, a plan. There was a Boko Haram plan with the government and these are the things that they had laid out. You know, it was gonna go from this stage to that stage. You know, it was a, you know, pretty much detailed plan, you know, that Arafai had put out on social media then, and even said that Good Luck, Jonathan had put him on a list of people to be executed, you know, that he had brought in snipers into the country. Those are some of the very wild allegations that they freely put out back then on social media. I have also spoken to a man, since I've been here on Plus TV Africa, there's a particular person that I spoke with on a report, somewhere along at Mirality here in like, he phase one, you know, who very was complaining bitterly about the current administration and how, you know, things were completely difficult for him and he was living a very, very terrible life and he regrets ever supporting the current administration. But you know who that person is. If you remember, months ago, not months ago, actually in 2014, in the buildup to the election, there was a particular picture that went viral on Twitter, a man who carried a goat and hung up, you know, a piece of paper or a cat on the goat's neck and wrote, of course, Good Luck, Jonathan, or I am Good Luck, Jonathan, or something like that on that goat's neck. That same person freely had the time and you know, had all the freedom to express those very, very insulting messages to former President Good Luck, Jonathan, in 2014. You know, fast forward now, he doesn't have that freedom anymore. And so, Tolu Ogulesti, back to him, is one of those people who had the freedom to say whatever allegation, so put out whatever type of statements that they felt like in 2014 against the former president, but now, are preaching for a safer social media space and you know how, you know, Nigeria and Twitter have been negotiating and they're trying to mend fences and you know, finding ways that, you know, they can have a more responsible media space. It's just very, very difficult to put all of this together. But anyway, those are two top trending stories this morning. I hope that you did enjoy them. This morning, we will be speaking with Nikolas Ibikwi, is one of the major conversations we're having on the program this morning to discuss something called Pandora Papers. If you haven't been following that hashtag across all social media platforms, of course, it has hit Nigeria. A new one dropped this morning that involves President Mahmoud Abouhari from our Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Boyega Uyitala and of course, Desyani Madweke. Couple of names, you know, have made Pandora Papers for this morning and we'll be talking to Nikolas Ibikwi about the whole of it on the show this morning. So don't move them also. Stay with us. Welcome once again to the breakfast.