 On the breakfast today, the Borno State Government begins a shutdown of internally displaced persons camp, leading to outcry for some quarters. Also, once again, the conversation on governance and the misuse of billions of Naira in security votes. The Nigerian Government has been urged to open the probe. I would also be taking you through the papers this morning and discussing the major stories. Glad to have you join us on the breakfast here on PLOS TV Africa. Welcome to the new year. And of course, thanks for joining us. I am Osao Gi Ogboa. And I am Merciable for a Happy New Year. Same to you. Great to have you join us once again. We hope that we have a very interesting discussion this morning. Moving from Borno State, where the Government has begun shutting down internally displaced persons camps. And there is some outcry from some quarters. Some people, of course, are complaining about it. And so we would have an extensive discussion about that this morning. Trying to understand what those persons would be dealing with as those camps are being shut down. And of course, the motive behind what the Governor is doing. And also, the Social Economic Rights and Accountability Project, CERAP, as they are popularly called, have, of course, urged President Mohammad Ubarri to open an investigation into the use and misuse of security votes by Governors. It says billions and billions of Naira are being laundered and misused. Simply by these Governors that are paid to them as security votes. We'll also get into that conversation. But of course, first, with our top trending stories this morning, we go back to, of course, a follow-up on Sylvester Oromoni, who, of course, has made major, major conversations across Nigeria in the last few weeks. Sometimes last week we spoke about complaints from a cousin of his who had said that the legacy government was seemingly delaying the investigation. And a couple of days later, there was, of course, a release of autopsy results from Delta State. And it showed very, very shocking reports. You know, it simply, it said that he died of blunt, forced trauma, acute lung injury and chemical intoxication. And that was the autopsy report done in Delta State. There was also one down here in Lagos State that, of course, the cousin, if you remember, was asking the Lagos State Government to go ahead and release those results without wasting any time. The Lagos State Police also then responded to this autopsy report and said that they're still waiting for toxicology reports from, you know, Delta State before they can go ahead and release the autopsy result. And, of course, criticism also because of the release of the housemasters and the boys that were accused of killing Sylvester. The response there was from the Lagos State Government or the Lagos State Police was that, you know, the results that have been put out so far from the autopsy have not been able to, are not enough, you know, to charge them with murder. And so since they've not been charged with murder, the time that the court asked them to be held, you know, has elapsed. And so they had to release them. And that's, you know, that's their response. But, of course, the family is saying, you know, what exactly is holding back the toxicology report? If you have done an autopsy here in Lagos that you've refused to release, then why don't you also do the same toxicology investigation here in Lagos, you know, and put them out together? You know, instead of wasting time, it's taking them about three weeks now. They should be getting to the fourth week since all of this conversation started. How long does it take to do an autopsy and put out the results? So already it's becoming that, it's already looking like the conversation surrounding the death of Sylvester is a social, I mean, a call for justice is becoming a social talk. It doesn't feel like we're paying more attention to, you know, this particular incident and what should be done. Like it's been rightly mentioned by the family. How long should it take for all of the reports and everything that needs to be put together? First of all, you remember that the young, those boys, I mean the kids that were actually, or the children that were actually involved or accused of killing Sylvester were charged for conspiracy and homicide. And if you look at it, it's been established already that, you know, homicide would be the fact that you're responsible for the death of another person. So, but the question now is looking at the autopsy report. I mean, the result is actually out now. You want to begin to ask yourself, how did he get the intoxication, you know, the accused's lung and intoxication in his system? Was it that he was, he did it himself? Could he have been forced? These are some of the questions. I mean, these are some of the things that, you know, the police should actually begin to establish. Because at the end of the day, you're saying, oh, yes, these persons, we don't have enough evidence to charge them, you know, to court. But there's also another thing, I mean, I mean, with mother, but there's also usually a thing about when you have somebody, I've forgotten how it's been called in law. But usually at the dying point, as Sylvester confessed and he talked about, it's usually very valid. Because you know why, at that point in time, no one is, the law would not see it as anyone trying to co-issue and force you to say some things. And so usually it is respected. I'm sure there's a particular name for that. I don't remember what it's called. So all of this is really, really sad. And I'm hoping that the police will be able to put the dots and cross the T's and all of the I's. Because these are questions. And if that's found in him, first of all, we saw pictures of him with, you know, bruises, the mouth and what a view and all of that. So now the autopsy report has it that there was some kind of acute long injury due to some kind of intoxication. And you begin to ask yourself, how did he get it there? How did he get into his system? Did he take it himself? Did he cost that to himself? Did someone cost that for him? I mean, was it, so all of this is what we're hoping that can be answered. The major questions, you know, for me are, you know, why the autopsy result from, you know, the legislative police investigation has taken so long to be put out. And that is, you know, bringing the narrative that there seems to be, you know, conspiracy to delay or to find a way to, of course, to stall the investigation and some of all of that. And you can't blame people for feeling that way when it's taking you three weeks or a month, you know, to simply put out an autopsy report. And then, of course, also, you know, asking for a toxicology report from Delta State when you could do one here. And that's, for me, is the first part. And then the second part would be the, you know, the reason the house masters were arrested, I'm really not sure, you know, if they are going to be charged with criminal negligence or, you know, if they will be charged with murder also. And from, of course, you know, his dying statements don't seem like they were very, they were very much involved. I personally feel a lot of anger, you know, mostly because, you know, and that's in response to the questions as to how he died. The school, you know, the initial statement by the school talking about how he was playing football and, you know, he had a leg injury and that's, you know, the cause of his death. And also, cameiolunoyo, which, of course, for me, you know, made me start to say that I think that the one drugs in Nigeria needs to be tightened and Bubamara needs to do better because it seems like there are certain people that might be living in houses that, you know, the cloud over their houses is filled with, you know, cocaine dust, you know, because that's the only reason cameiolunoyo would come out and put out a segment or make a segment like that and say that, you know, he killed himself. How could he kill himself? Yeah, that he consumed, you know, those chemicals by himself. It shocks me, you know, that is what a human being would say. So that for me and, of course, also the school trying to find a way around, you know, not being held responsible for it, you know, and putting out a segment about football and all of that. How is the life of an 11-year-old boy less important than your image as a school? How do we, as a society, not value life enough to ensure that, you know, there is immediate justice or there is, you know, an unhindered investigation into his death and how does this school, I mean, yeah, you know, I know that, you know, there are laws and, you know, we need to work with the laws of the land, but for me, that school has absolutely no reason to be opened again because they have not shown that they are responsible for the safety of every child that is there and they are, you know, also not shown that they are willing to take responsibility, you know, when there is a situation like this. So for me, those are the big, you know, big challenges that I have with all of it. You know, some persons, I mean, over time and over the days that we have to talk about, you know, all of these issues, one of the concerns that's been raised is the fact that how do you keep, you know, children without any kind of supervision? Now, what would be expected with the kind of fees that's been paid? I mean, the resources that people have to, you know, pay to have their kids and their words in this school. And there probably would have been a CCTV camera that would probably would show eventually what transpired and all of that. It's really, really sad, but I know that if we are very willing, there's a will to it. We're definitely going to, you know, get the answers. It brings us back to the conversation of saying that there's usually might. There's a play of might, interest, some elements that want to be protected and trying to protect, you know, the image of the school. It brings us back to the fact that we constantly do not have any regard and respect for lives of the human. We'll continue, of course, to give you updates on the story as they emerge. Let's move away from Lagos State and from Nigeria entirely and move to Ghana where there is a very shocking video. We hope, we thought that we were going to be able to show you that video this morning. But, of course, it's a very, very shocking video that showed a pastor, you know, church leader at the crossover service, simply, you know, in his special way trying to usher people into the New Year, but mostly females in the church. Where, of course, he made them undress completely in front of the rest of the congregation or every other person who was there and, you know, sit in a basin that was put in front of him so he can bathe them. And these weren't kids. These were grown females who, you know, took their clothes off, you know, so that the pastor can bathe them and then there was, you know, maybe an assistant pastor right next to him, you know, rubbing anointing oil and the like over their naked bodies while people watched and there was a camera filming. That, of course, also created a lot of outrage and a lot of conversations over the weekend. You know, and for me, you know, I watched the video some time ago and I completely agree with a colleague from a different television station saying that there is a mental health crisis in Africa that is not being taken seriously. And there's a lot of people who have mental challenges that eventually do not get treatment but instead go to open churches. You think that that's a mental... Oh, it is. I believe it is. Definitely is. There's a lot of people who have mental health challenges and, you know, eventually run off to open churches instead of going to get treated. And so that mental health challenge moves from not just the pastor to the congregation also for a grown woman to willingly go naked in front of her pastor so that he can bathe her, you know, into the new years, you know, as a way of washing away whatever it is. That is also a mental health challenge. Well, as much as it's okay to, you know, I mean, everyone is entitled to the opinion and yours is very valid as well. But I'm thinking that it's also, first of all, Africa were a big religion and especially West Africa. And I just as a part of it, but it feels like, you know, gradually what actually are growing all of that, right? And so what's going on right now in Ghana is something to be concerned about. Let's not even forget that there was a statement by the Ghanian police saying that we're going to arrest, you know, pastors for prophecies that might just cause panic and great fear and all of that. It's just the issue of ignorance for me, even if you have to be part of a religion. And I'm sure that the Bible would say that my people perish for lack of knowledge. I really don't remember anywhere. I wouldn't say that I'm 100% a student of the Bible or probably would have read the Bible from start to finish. But I don't know if there's anywhere in the Bible where it was cited that Jesus himself, those that are believing, you know, had that he had, yes, he watched the feats of the disciples. It was the feet. And, you know, it was just to show some level of, you know, savhood and service and all of that, but not necessarily what happened. So for me, because the essence of all of that, you know, washing and, you know, the base that they actually had was to cleanse them of 2021 and usher them into 2022. So you just bring it up to the kind of ignorance and how people constantly, no, it is ignorant. I don't think it's a mental challenge. I mean, I know I was over pushing it, you know, but I believe that there is a little bit of it. Might be two drops of mental health issues in that space. No, I'm thinking it's an ignorance issue. They constantly just feel that, you know, this is the way then you wash off and everything in 2022 is going to be okay. But we forget that life and the world is governed by rules and principle and until we begin to respect all of that, nothing will change. Yeah, well, he hasn't broken any laws, you know, in particular. Nobody's talking about laws. It's really about, you know, why, you know, any female, any woman. And, you know, he could have done it, you know, to both sexes. No, but he actually did it too. So it wasn't just about, you know, the female. Why you will, you know, willingly go and get undressed in front of your pastor and in front of every other person, completely stark naked and sitting in a basin in front of him so that he can bathe you and then, you know, assistant pastor then oils your skin, you know, as, you know, anointing into it. You have no idea how, you know, the followership when people constantly, you know, follow. And that's because we just feel that our problems... Are very, very, you know, religious and spiritual. Yeah, so we don't think about the fact that we have to... For me, I would say there's a human path to every miracle. It would not be in any way shocking if the pastor invites four of them to his house for a weekend. Then we'll believe it. Yeah, because according to him, it's the Holy Spirit who directed him. And then he started saying that he knows that a lot of people will be saying, oh, he's a faith prophet and all of that, but you see, whatever God has told him to do. Now, it just brings us back to the fact that we don't pay attention as the people in this path. We don't read even the religion that you get to follow. It's important that you make reference to the Bible, that you don't take everything with, you know, take everything with a pinch of salt. Oh well, good luck to them in Ghana and good luck to those ladies and to Mr. Pastor. Moving away, let's come back to Lagos State where, of course, the allegations that the Commissioner of Police, Akimo Dumoso, who should have stepped down on the second today actually, you know, was, of course, allegedly accused of shutting down estates' gates in Lagos, mainland, I think in Magudo, you know, to be precise, because according to allegations, he was delayed while trying to gain exit or entry into the estate. He got upset and ordered his men to arrest the security guards at the estate gate and shut down the gate, preventing residents from going out or coming into the estate. He has not, so far, has not responded to these allegations to share exactly what happened on that day or if these are true, but of course, residents at that estate made videos and complained that it was the Commissioner of Police who had gone for dinner or some evening party at the estate and while he was trying to either get in or come out, there was some delay at the gate and he ordered his men to arrest these persons. I'm honestly just going to wait until there is some statement from Akimo Dumoso himself and, of course, you know, recently he has been promoted to AIJ, I believe. I'm going to wait until there is some clarity, of course, so if he does get to respond to these allegations, so we can be able to discuss this to its full extent. For now these are what he's accused of and it's misuse of power. In the statement it was called Power Drunk, Commissioner of Police, but until I would like to hear from his side of this conversation. Now, the point is, for me, I've actually seen several reports, more like a counter report saying that he actually did not order a shutdown of the estate and what have you, but the argument has been are there protocols because, you know, in Lagos, if you live in Lagos, you would understand that Lagos is governed by having estates and all of these estates will probably have security and they have protocols and there are some estates you have to go through, you will need a code to get in there and there are some estates you have to go through, you need to call whoever is there, you know, to get access and all of that. But my point is, should we respect protocol? At what point was it, you know, was he, you know, in an official, was he an official outing? And even if he's an official outing, is it okay to respect whatever laws are there? Should we just grant you access because you are the Commissioner of Police? So it brings us back to the fact that we do not have respect for laws and protocols and we constantly feel that we're above the law. And that's where we are. We cannot make progress until we begin to pay attention to some of these issues. So it feels like you get to the queue, you're supposed to withdraw and it happens a lot of time, you can't be on the queue and that's because you are a governor. See the governors and some of these, you know, political office holders outside of this country, they respect the law a lot. They don't have anyone following them around, they don't have anybody, they queue, they respect the law and all of that. But what happens when you are in your country? Nothing stops you from waiting and respecting protocol. And then you feel, oh, yes, because, you know, I'm the Commissioner for Police and I'm the, you know, Iger Police. I control, you know, the entire police architecture and the command. And therefore, so why should I? In the same society, you know, when these type of allegations come out, you know, you would expect that, you know, he would either immediately respond to it or, you know, there's very, you know, a lot of times then there's a lot of, you know, condemnation, you know, that will get the person to resign. People resign for less. But we don't expect that here in Nigeria and I agree with you, you know, that there's, you know, a couple of people who, you know, who are meant to be the gatekeepers but instead are the ones who are breaking down those gates. They're the ones driving against traffic, they're the ones beating traffic laws, they're the ones not respecting, you know, other people's rights. You know, these are police officers, these are people in positions of power that should know better and should do better. But it's a society that we live, you know, I'm really just going to, you know, hope that he has an actual response, you know, to these allegations that we'll be able to put some clarity because these are the allegations that the people in the estate and security guards in that estate have put out, they're saying that this is what happened. He cannot, you know, simply just stay silent and act like, you know, nobody's saying anything about it. And, you know, as always in Nigeria, we're not expecting that there will be any punitive measures, we're not expecting that there will be anything, you know, that would shake his career or shake his person as commissioner of police, but it's just going to be a conversation very likely and everybody will move on. But if we're trying to move into a better society, leadership needs to start to act better so that people will follow. If the people who are meant to, you know, protect the laws of the land, that the ones breaking the laws of the land, if they are the ones who are not even respecting the common rights of the Nigeria and then we don't expect that, you know, citizens will do the same. But once again, we'll wait for a response from Aki Mudumusu, the commissioner of police here in Lagos State. And, of course, finally we move to a very, very interesting, but, you know, for me, very, very shocking, you know, display of childishness and arrogance that took place over the weekend between the African giant, Burnaboy and, of course, one of Ghana's biggest artists, Shata Wali. This, of course, started about two days ago when Burnaboy put out statements, you know, welcome everyone into the new year and then addressing some of the allegations that Shata Wali had made, saying that Nigerian artists, you know, should be, you know, he basically used curse words against Nigerian artists, accusing Nigerian artists and Nigerian music industry of not supporting Ghanaian artists or artists from, you know, the rest of Africa. He did get an appropriate response from the, you know, for most people who responded to him, you know, to try to tell him that this was completely false. But that, of course, controversy happened two, three days ago and seemed to have died down until Burnaboy stepped in and asked, you know, that Shata Wali picks a stadium where they can fight and, you know, set two scores that seem to have been brewing for a long time. He had asked that they find any place in the world and set two scores. Shata Wali, first of all, is on the student thinking it was a rap battle or a freestyle battle he was asking for until he clarified. Boy, boy, it was actually very clear. Exactly, boy. I'm not sure why he chose to misunderstand it. And so Burnaboy clarified and said, oh, I want your blood and teeth on the floor. I mean, all this drama, of course, Shata Wali then responded, you know, started putting out videos of how he supposedly helped Burnaboy when he was, you know, growing in his career, how his mom knows him, and then went, you know, completely bonkers. But he just went wild, you know, bringing up his mother and his father and some really, really wild statements like that. Eventually, after all, the drama, Burnaboy then apologized and said, no, before he apologized, he had certain parts of this whole conversation that shouldn't be left out, the part where he said, you know, I could have gotten you cued if I wanted to. At any time, I could stop you from leaving Ghana. If I choose to, I could make you only safe in Ghana. You know, accuse Shata Wali of rape. Shata Wali returned the same rape allegation like it was going that they were sharing. And now Shata Wali is also saying that there are a lot of girls in Ghana that are willing to speak out on all of that. See, first of all, for me, I feel like it's totally disgraceful. It's very embarrassing that, you know, it's sort of with Shata Wali, right? So we're here in Africa and we constantly say that our dependence on, you know, the western world is too much and that we're hoping that we can get a united Africa and then come together, be a formidable force. There's a good thing that you see that music for us, the entertainment industry is putting us on top of the chart and that's a good thing to see. Could also all of the artists in Nigeria and also in Africa. But I'm thinking that we shouldn't get to that point where we're fighting ourselves. I mean, if we have the enemy, okay, let's not even say the enemy. But if we have the fact that, you know, we need to put our acts together and then come through, we can't be allying all of this. So first of all, yes, what we, you know, I was highly disappointed when I read some of the comments of the videos from Shata Wali. And I'm thinking that, hey, if you are Ghana, we're in West Africa, the same region, we can do better for ourselves. And whatever the issue is, we can actually always find a way, you know, to, you know, resolve all of these issues. Well, however, looking at, you know, the response from Borne Boy himself, he mentioned a few issues. One of it is the fact that, you know, those case of rape, you know, the fact that Shata Wali, and that's where his beef actually lies, right? Because I know that a lot of Nigerians are very, if you look at the artists, a lot of them just like to go to Ghana, have a great time. It feels like that's the second home from them after Nigeria. So I really do not know where that's coming from, but as a people, as a continent, I'm hoping that we can come together and find a way to grow. So if you think that you haven't been carried along in the years, you're not, you know, you're not having Nigerian artists, it can't be necessarily everyone, because that would be hasty generalization. I'm sure that there are a lot of collaboration with other artists and what have you. So it's just to find another way, rather than, you know, being very dirty. And some of those issues that were put out, I started getting very, you know, a little bit irritated. I'm a fan of Bonobo and in my mind I'm saying did he really rape someone? Yeah, so for me... Did he really do all of that? Because we need to go. And for me, the two major points for me are, you know, how these two grown adults, you know, are exchanging rep allegations. Like I said, like it said, what's going on. Like, you know, these aren't things that you simply just mentioned. And it really just tells that for the last couple of years, you've known that this person allegedly committed, you know, sexual assault or rape and you kept quiet. And if you didn't quarrel now, then nobody would hear about it. And the victims would be somewhere dealing with their own issues, seeing you on stage, knowing that you assaulted and maybe these allegations are true. And that for me was a very, very disgusting part of it. And then second also, was Bonobo himself, reducing himself into that kind of dirty fight with someone who really is miles beneath him, you know, as an artist. You're a Grammy Award winner. How are you exchanging dirty comments with Shata Wale, who really, you know, almost is irrelevant compared to, you know, where you are, you know, in the music industry. And he apologized. I'm hoping that, of course, he said he was sorry and is out of character and the fact that he's getting in that fight. However, we hope that, you know, all of this would be in the past. It's a new year. It's just the third of January. Yeah. We're hoping to have a very pleasant 2022 whole things being called. All right, stay with us coming up next. We have Off the Press, where we go through the major stories, making headlines across Nigeria this morning. We'll be back.