 Our first discussion this morning, President Guari presents a budget of 16.39 trillion naira. But not a few Nigerians are worried about the huge deficit and new borrowings of 5 trillion naira. And of course, on top trend in this morning, actor Chew Atalu Agu has it rough with soldiers who assault and manhandle him in Anishap. His offence is wearing the colours of the African flag. And of course, as always, we go to Off the Press, which is a review of the major stories in today's newspapers. It's the 8th of October. I would say good morning and thanks for joining us on the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. And thanks for sticking with us all through the week and in the month of October so far. I am Osaugi Aguawan. Great to have you here. We'll start with of course our top trending stories. The first one of course takes us to Anambra State where veteran actor Chew Atalu Agu made headlines yesterday for very, very sad reasons. There were video clips that show him being assaulted by members, officers of the Nigerian army in Anambra State where of course he was accused of agitating and causing insurrections or whatever the army put out. I'm going to share a statement from the Nigerian army. It says, troops of the army have arrested one Chew Atalu Agu while inciting members of the public and soliciting for support for the prescribed indigenous people of Biafra, dressed in a well-known attire of the prescribed group. Chew Atalu was picked up for questioning while inciting members of the public to join the prescribed group. Though he attempted putting up some resistance when troops made efforts to take him into custody, he was not assaulted or subjected to brutalization. But from the video clips that we saw, that's all lies. We can basically also tell that this wasn't necessarily anybody trying to incite or call people to join the IPOB or to join in any insurrection. This was basically Chew Atalu Agu driving around with his popular green bus because I've seen this bus a couple of times in the southeast. I also have problems with the bus we'll get to later. He was most likely driving around to either a movie set or wherever he was going and, of course, was dressed in the Biafran collars. Of course, in a traffic stop, the soldiers saw him, asked him to step down from the vehicle very likely and, of course, all the drama then ensued. There's also a video clip showing him being assaulted by members of the army and, of course, you can see they're made to sit on the floor. I mean, every week there is one story or one video clip or something that just makes you sick in your stomach here in Nigeria. And this is our video for the week. Maybe, of course, the killing of Chika Akunili covered for last week, but this is our video for the week that makes you completely sick in your stomach in Nigeria. There's many angles to this. The actor's guild of Nigeria and its president, Tameka Rula, has put out a statement saying that he was wrong for putting on those collars, which, of course, there's people who would say yes. In the times that we currently are in Nigeria, there are certain things that you shouldn't do just to avoid the drama and the problems that might be associated with it, especially in the southeast where there currently is an army operation. Talking about army operation, well, I'll get to that. And so I know that and I've seen a couple of people who say yes, it was wrong to wear those collars, not because it is necessarily illegal to dress in those collars, but because of, if you read the room across Nigeria, you might tell yourself that it's just not a time to be dressed in that way in the southeast, where there's, of course, security agents everywhere. Now, talking about the collars itself, if you, of course, are aware, there is a particular alcohol brand that has pretty much the same rising sun. I think that's what it's called, the land of the rising sun. And so they have pretty much the same green bottle, obviously, and there's a sun on the bottle. Does that make it illegal? Is that now illegal to dress in those collars? Is it now illegal to have a sun on your outfit? Is it now illegal to wear red and black and green with a touch of yellow? These are the questions that need to be answered as quickly as possible. But moving away from whether it's illegal or not, what is legal or illegal, I'm sure that there's many, many legal practitioners that might be looking into that. A lot of people might tell you that it's not necessarily illegal. Yes, the IPOB has been prescribed, but every person still has the right to say, okay, well, I agree with the call for Biafra. I'm not necessarily committing any crimes, but I agree with the narrative of secession. I agree with the idea of secession. And of course, either through Biafra or through the European nation agitators. There's different groups here and there. And so if you are not necessarily committing any crimes, if you are not in any way causing insurrection, if you're not in any way causing violence, you are attacking Nigerian police officers or the Nigerian state, then what exactly makes it illegal? The Nigerian army, and I think I mentioned this sometime this week, that the Nigerian army has over time, in the last couple of years, cheapened itself so much that it has lost the respect that it normally should have. In other climes, when you see soldiers maybe outside Africa, in the US or the UK, there's a lot of videos on YouTube where you see soldiers returning from war or being in the supermarkets or wherever. And you see the respect that they have. Even people who were veterans, people who fought in World War I and World War II, you see them in the streets in the US and there's a level of respect that they have among citizens. But the Nigerian army has, in the last couple of years, made itself look so cheap and has lost complete respect and value in the eyes of the common Nigerian. There is never that level of respect that you should have when you see a soldier because they have basically flooded the streets, they've committed some of these crimes and make them look very, very, very embarrassing. And that's the next point that I'm going into. Shouldn't the Nigerian army be able to tell when a person is a threat and when they are not? Shouldn't the Nigerian police itself be able to tell when a person is a seeming threat or not? What exactly makes a person dressed in certain colors an immediate threat and what makes it immediately offensive to officers of the Nigerian army? These are the very, very important questions that we need to start in ourselves and it really just tells two things that we still, in 2021, have not been able to get to ourselves to a place where security agencies understand the respect for the rights of the Nigerian that they are meant to protect. Yes, there's a narrative that the clothes that they wear, the guns that they use are paid for with taxpayers' money. But they still do not understand the rights of every single Nigerian. They don't value themselves, those rights of every single Nigerian that they are meant to protect. And that's why you get to see these things happen from the police, to the NSCDC, to the DSS, to the army, every single security agent because there's zero respect for human rights here in Nigeria. Zero respect in any way for rights here in Nigeria and that's why you see some of these things continue to happen. And it's embarrassing, and I will say that. I've seen Inebehe Efrong put out his own statement on social media condemning these actions and, of course, asking that Chulita Loagu be released. I hope that we understand that we must do the right thing and this also makes you start to wonder whether the army operation in the south is really to protect and, of course, kill insurrections and cortisim and some of the things that they had mentioned and robbery and kidnapping. It's really just to put fear in the eyes and the minds of the IPOB because that's what it seems like. It feels like they've been told that anybody who looks or dresses or sounds or barks like an IPOB member is immediately a threat and should be eliminated and that's what you saw play out in that video yesterday. I'll also quickly mention that I don't know why Chulita Loagu is still driving that green bus when actresses across the industry are buying new benzes and houses across Lagos. It's embarrassing. I'll say that. Anyway, to other stories this morning, in the news, of course, the son of Abdulashid Mena, former head of the pensions reform tax team, has been sentenced to about 24 years in prison and by Chip George Okona Bang. He, of course, got five years for the first count and, of course, another five years and an extra 10 years, I believe. I need to look at that again to be sure for, of course, the crimes that he was accused of, mostly money laundering charges. And if you remember also, his father is also currently in custody and, of course, has been sentenced or rather has been held until he's sentenced. He also, you know, was accused of jumping bail, if you remember Abdulashid Mena, a couple of years ago. I think it was in 2019 or 2020. Had jumped bail, he was, you know, eventually rearrested and, you know, held in custody. The judge acts that he be held in custody. He applied for another bail in September, I believe, of 2021, which was denied because, of course, the judge said, well, you jumped bail before there's no way we're going to give you bail again. But his son also, who has pretty much the same or similar charges of money laundering, has now been sentenced to about 24 years imprisonment. The difference with these two stories is, or maybe the similarities with these two persons is the fact that Faisal Mena is currently nowhere to be found. And so he has been sentenced in absentia. And, you know, people have asked, you know, will he be, you know, arrested the same way his father was rearrested? Will he be found the same way Namdi Khan was easily found? What exactly would play out next? Yes, this, you know, would be seen as a victory in the fight against corruption and the fact that those people whose monies were laundered and mismanaged by these two persons, father and son, who couldn't get their pensions for one reason or the other, those persons who somehow or someone may be able to say, yes, this is justice. And so, you know, you know, it's kudos, I believe, to the Nigerian, to the EFCC and, of course, the Nigerian justice system being able to prove their case in court and find these two guilty. And of course, you know, go ahead with a sentencing to, you know, prison time. We hope, you know, somehow, some way that Faisal will be found wherever he is, either here in Nigeria or outside the country. And of course, we'll get to serve his, you know, time in prison to pay for, of course, the crimes that he committed against the Nigerian state and, of course, against those thousands of pensioners that, of course, had their monies laundered. Billions of Naira that were allegedly laundered by these two persons. Pretty interesting development in that case. Finally, I'm going to wrap up our top trend in this morning. We're talking sports. Yesterday, Lagos State basically was shut down. I remember that I shared the news, you know, a few times yesterday saying that there was going to be traffic, you know, blockage in certain places from Surulir to Osho to many, many names. You can dive that left and right. You can, you know, have to stop here. Don't pass this road because, you know, there's everywhere is blocked. It's supergoose are going to be playing today. And so there's, in fact, Lagos should shut down. They eventually lost. They eventually lost the game. And so, while it's caught, I remember just before sports yesterday was complaining bitterly, you know, about how, you know, he didn't think it was necessary to cause that much traffic and, you know, discomfort to Lagosha and simply because the supergoose were playing. It's not like they were playing against Lana Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. It was Central African Republic. And so, why did we need to shut Lagos down? But the reason they shut Lagos down, you know, eventually they didn't go as planned as the supergoose eventually lost. I think it was Wango Tino yesterday. There have been calls for Gernet Ross. I've seen a couple of those calls on social media. I'm not sure how that will turn out, but we will continue to wish the supergoose best of luck and hope that they eventually get to qualify for the World Cup. While it's caught, when he steps in for sports this morning, we'll be telling you a little bit more about their chances going forward. But of course, it's really, really sad that they lost that game. But these are our top trending stories from Anambra State where Chihuahua Go was assaulted to Fisal Meina who has been sentenced to, you know, about 24 years in prison and, of course, to sports where the supergoose yesterday lost to the Central African Republic. Once again, why is Chihuahua Talago still driving that green, ugly boss when the Nollywood actresses are buying their vehicles and houses every week? There's a new actress buying a car or house. Stay with us this morning. We'll take a short break. When we come back, Jiray Johnson will be joining us for Off The Press and we'll have a quick review of the stories making headlines on breakfast this morning.