 Welcome back. It's still the breakfast on TV Africa and we will be focusing on politics specifically as regards the election matters. What the PDP opposed in the nomination of President Mohamed Buhari's aide Loretta Anurche as one of the commission and nominees for the independent national electoral commission, they have even threatened legal action. Yes, they have done more than threatened legal action. They have called on all Nigerians to embrace every legitimate means including civic action to protest against what's happening in the Senate right now. So we know that Loretta Anurche is a CAD CARE member of the All Progressives Congress. You know, we know where her party loyalty lies. We know that she has, her name was forwarded to the Senate for confirmation as Ainek, Ainek commissioned her about eight months ago that was rejected. So last year or about October, Buhari forwarded her name again for confirmation and screened exactly. So now it's coming up once more. You know, lots of reactions to this, especially within the opposition people's democratic party. They're basically saying that the fact that she is an APC member hasn't changed. So what's the essence of bringing this up when this was rejected about eight months ago? Looking at this whole issue morally, I'm trying to understand how it would play out because it is really something mind boggling to think that as a member of the All Progressives Congress and over time you have spoken so loudly, passionately, dispassionately as well concerning President Mohammed Buhari and of course the All Progressives Congress, even if you take like our analysts said during the paper review, even if you have shown some sort of oath and not to be impartial, the fact is that you have your antecedent. How are we sure that you are going to be non-partisan? How are we sure that you are supposed to be impartial? How are we also sure that you are going to be independent of all that concerns election matters? And of course the All Progressives Congress. Exactly. That's the challenge because there are no guarantees as to the impartiality of what Loretta Onoche might represent if she becomes an commissioner. So that's why lots of Nigerians... Another thing, looking at it Annette, if she eventually is creamed and is a member of the Commissioner of the Independent National Electrical Commission, does that also mean that she would stop being a member of the APC, would she actually leave that particular party just because she's now a member or a commissioner of the Independent National Electrical Commission? How does it really work? Yes, really, how does it work? These are questions we really need to ask. Would this be a condition for her to be screened and confirmed as Inaq Chairman, for her to actually defect to another party, or for her to actually just pull out of all these police affiliations? Would this be one of the preconditions for her confirmation? There should be some conditions before anyone is actually appointed to be part of the Independent National Electrical Commission. Exactly, and that's why the PDP is just against this. They're saying, let me read a quote from Ola Bojigno here, PDP spokesman. He's basically saying that their intent and their purpose is to preserve the sanity and credibility of Inaq and that the APC would never allow Senator Lawan and his APC to smuggle a fox into Inaq's ship pen in their beach to corrupt and further desecrate the commission. And they say that they would never allow the APC to derail their national efforts towards free, fair and credible processes in their country. They went on to say that President Muhammad al-Buhari is basically trying to perpetuate misrule. You know, his misrule beyond 2020, his misrule beyond 2020, his misrule beyond 2020, his misrule beyond 2020, his misrule beyond 2023. So this is an allegation that the People's Democratic Party is making that the reason, the only motive why President Muhammad al-Buhari is insistent on Loretta Onochi as Inaq Chiamman or Inaq Commissioner is so that he can rule beyond 2023. I really don't see how that will work because our constitution does not provide for presidential race or candidate or beyond two terms. So we really don't know how that will work. But he went on to accuse Lawan of, you know, trying to be like a puppet to the APC, accusing him of not being independent, of being biased, you know, trying to say that what he's doing is an impeachable offense, that basically is a gross violation of Nindres Constitution and just basically saying everything that is wrong with, you know, the act of putting forward Loretta Onochi's name as an Inaq Commissioner. Okay, he went on to say that our party reminds him, Senator Lawan, that the reason that forced his hands to stand down on a chase voted nomination eight months ago have neither changed nor abated. The reasons are still sticking and they are not far fetched. Quote, he says that in case Lawan needs to be reminded, paragraph 14 of the third shadow of the 1999 Constitution as amended forbids a person involved in partisan politics to hold office as a member of INAQ. The Constitution clearly stipulates what is required for anyone to be part of the Independent National Electoral Commission. Indeed, these are the real issues that we have to begin to debate to find out exactly why does the President, you know, once Loretta Onochi approved and confirmed as INAQ Commissioner. We know we now have a public affairs analyst, Izikal Eiatok. Good morning, Mr. Eiatok. Thanks for joining us. Good morning, thanks for having me again. Yes. All right, we've been looking at, we've just been discussing the issue that we mentioned earlier, you know, when we were looking at of the press, the issue of the nomination of Loretta Onochi as a Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission. We've tried to analyze the moral justification and of course, constitutionally, because the PDP clearly stated what the Constitution says. In case Lawan needs to be reminded, paragraph 14 of the third shadow of the 1999 Constitution as amended forbids a person involved in partisan politics to hold office as a member of INAQ. And I'm sure the Senate President, as the Costodian or law maker, clearly knows what the Constitution of Nigeria says. You know, we started this discussion in the morning. I tell it to people that this, what concerns me is what really motivates people to take public office. We really need to look into that very, very, very seriously. Mr. President is not just a president. There are one, two, three things that stand out about it. Number one is I was a former head of state. So he understands what it means. He should understand what it means to be the leader of a country. Though he was so at a military time, but even at a military time, leadership is global. Whether you are in the army, leadership is leadership. Whether you are head of a corporate body, leadership is leadership. Whether you are in a democratic setting, you should understand that leadership is about organizing the system to the best interest of the constituents of that system. Okay? So he heard that he's not naive. He's not, he's not, he's not new to the public. He's been a head of state before. Second is that he's wanted to be a president on four occasions. The first three didn't work out. The last one worked out. Okay? So if you've done something three times, I've contested twice to be a government. As of today, I should be able to tell people what it is, what it means for you to want to be a governor. It means you have the resources of the people. It means you have the life of the people. It means you have the hopes of the people for you to manage so that at the end of your tenure, the people are better off. It's about the people. It's all about me wanting to be. If it's about this now, whatever, who built your company? Can't be the CEO of your company and they can do what you wish. But when you are the head of an institution, you're not the owner of that institution. You know? And again, in government, before we talk in terms of the processes and the evolutions, there were times that you had, you know, warlords who were kings and they conquered territories. It was about 10. It was their domain. The superintendent over those territories, they were the lords, they were the kings. But this is a democracy where the leader of that democracy is the chief servant. And on the line word is servant. Why am I saying all these things? For Mr. President to mix it in, what am I called? I choose to call mistakes for my own sanity. I think I find it difficult to come down to the issue in question. Please, does Mr. President not understand that my name is expected to be a fair, unbiased, after running three times, failing, calling jagged names, and all sorts of things, being very unhappy that he was badly treated, assuming that he was maltreated, that the system was unfair to him, seeking justice, going as far as to the Supreme Court. He should understand what it means like to be on the other side of the divide. And what's fair is fair. He's a man of integrity. He should understand the concept of fairness. Why would you, of all people, want to have your media aid as an on fire in INAG? Exactly, Mr. INAG. That really is my question, Mr. INAG. What do you think Buhari might be thinking, President Muhammad Buhari might be thinking, that motivated him to send Loretta Onoucher's name, who's a cadre member of the APC, as an INAG commissioner? When the party, when INAG in itself, you know, has the word independence as it should be? Two things. The first one might not be very nice. And that's that, to what extent is Mr. President aware? He said, oh, he signed the letter. I'm happy to hear. But let me tell you something. And I should say this advice said, I think that there are many letters. I think that there are many letters coming from the President, President, that Mr. President, we need to draw a line between Mr. President and President. And nothing makes this more subtle than a question asked by the Secretary to go made for the Federation. A man who occupied the office that is like the engine room of the presidency. And Babachi Lauer, when he asked me a question, he retorted, who is presidency? That question is instructing. And Nigerians should not just laugh over it like we do. Who is presidency? We need to understand what presidency is and what presidency. So my question is, how many of the documents that come out of presidency really have the scrutiny of Mr. President? That he signs a letter. There are two types of signatures. One could be electronic signature and that electronic signature could come one way or the other. One is that authorize you to go ahead and take a decision for me on my behalf. I don't know how it's done. The second is that Mr. President has a way of trusting people. One of my friends told me a very, very big person in government. He said once I'm rushing to the car and the print documents for me to sign, I never sign those documents. Because they would have worked with you, understand when to give you something that you don't need to read through. They make it like an urgency and they're like, okay, have you read through it? Yes, I've got, are you sure it's okay? Yes, it's okay. Papa, papa, you signed. I said, they read you, they study you like a book. They know what document to bring to you and what time. I've been friends with a lot of people that are either working directly with the government or even in the presidency. And I go to discuss a matter and they say, cross, leave and talk now. Don't worry, do it in the right time. Come on, go and let you know. What they need is that there's a time for every game. So the question is, have these people studied Mr. President like a book and know the time to submit certain things that he will not interrogate? Secondly, have they primed his mind in a certain way, you know, before time? So I'm going to take a document to him, say something we did and blah, blah, blah, just add the names. And they know there's a way you could put a name in a list and nobody knows. Ms. Aiyai took, Ms. Aiyai took, are you inferring that the decision to submit Loretta Onoche's name as Aiyai Commissioner was not solely the president's? There's a possibility that the president is not in the full picture of that, because I know that, you see, no matter how much, I'm not too much a fan of Mr. President. I know that there are certain things he goes on to, you know, as principles. I know that for a fact, okay? And you'll be shocked that if you asked him in one of those interviews, Mr. President, why would you want your age to be, you know, an INEP Commissioner, knowing how sensitive he might ask you who? You'll be shocked. That's probably one of the reasons, because Mr. President, he has this childlike, you know, approach to things, and he just says what's in his mind. Look at the interview, just in one of your sister's stations, under the NTA, you can tell two different people, a man that talks off the call from his heart, and a man that knows who... So, Ms. Aiyai took, Ms. Aiyai took, you're basically suggesting that the president really is not in charge of some of these decisions that seem to be by the president. So, if that's the case, who then is the presidency and who's in charge? And again, there's a follow-up to that question, a follow-up to that question, even if the president is not so aware of who he nominated or appointed. Speaking about principle and morality, shouldn't the aid herself know that she, since she is a card-calling member of the All Progressive Congress, doesn't morality tell her that she should not be part of an independent commission? It just shows that her personal interest supersedes the reputation of our world. And it's sad. It shows that her personal interest, it shows that loyalty within this context, won't be questioned. Because there are certain things that we want to do, even there are certain things your boss wants to do for you. And he said, ah, ah, let me do this office, the way people they talk. I appreciate it. Let it be the other way. That's because in spite of the fact that it will benefit you, you're thinking this is a social media lady. She's active in the social media. She knows what's going on. To what extent is the reputation of her boss important to her? More important than her personal, you know, gains and advertisement and all that. So I think that I don't want to talk about the lady and I actually feel between you and I. The Bible says all things are lawful but not all things are expedient. She should know better. So back to my question, Mr. Ieyetok, who then is controlling the presidency? I want a question. I think I should ask the journalist who is, who am I? Claudia Tectola, I know his house. So journalists please, who is behind the presidency? That's one question that we are, you know, all looking forward to getting answers to. Let's stay with election matters. You know, also yesterday the independent national electoral commission announced new polling units. They have created specifically about over 50,000 of them and of course some new policies were made, you know, voting cannot be done at mosques and churches and some other areas. But with this new development with the creation of more polling units, do you see the desired changes we hope to see in our election maybe in 2023? I've continued to be a fan of INE because INE needs to know that they have people there who are supporting them so that they can take independent decisions. If the system, what I say system is like the presidency, the party in power wants them to hand that to their own wins and caprices. They need to know that there are other statesmen out there who are behind them so that they do the right thing. We can't all be knocking on it. If not so, taking line of this resistance is a natural human self-preservation mode, okay? So to that extent, I think that in election management, the turnaround time is very important for you or to you as an upfire. As a result, you want to try to see that you don't have more than 500 people within a polling unit because you're asking yourself if I open the voting by 12 o'clock or by 8 o'clock in the morning, how many people taking the turnaround per person can I have by maybe 2 o'clock? And when the number comes between maybe 40 and 16 depending on 400 and 600 beyond the people and you take the average line of 500 and you discover that the polling unit has as many as 1,300 people. It's just wise for you to seek a situation where you can have less people per polling unit. This is basically the underlying factor behind the action that INEC has created and I think that that INEC, that decision is informed and it is well motivated. The only thing is that they found themselves doing this if we had a situation where there was a combination of online voting and then on-site voting, then they would now know that even a polling unit that has as many of say 1,500, about 1,000 of such people may decide to stay in the comfort of their homes and do their online voting. So that will not be a problem. But for a situation in the current dispensation we are in, I think that INEC, you know, with all due respect, I'm taking a decision that is patriotic, that is informed, that is difficult, you know, but I think it's the best thing they could do and within this context I applaud INEC's efforts. All right, INEC also made some changes and some polling units have been moved from where they were before to all the places, specifically from mosques, from churches and to shrine. In your opinion, do you foresee any sort of a maybe miscommunication during election period, maybe next year when they even have those of them or showing of course in the equity state? Good, that is where it will come in with respect to feedback. Locking it for me, this decision has not been taking two weeks to election. No, it has been taking about a year to election. It is therefore the duty of parties and it really bothers me that we, those are wrong parties, you know, there is a story I would not want to go into when I was the national chairman of your democratic party and I went for high power, the first day was an election and I applied for the office of the vice chairman chief of that noble body and when I was even five minutes to talk I told them party is government, either in waiting or in action. Today BDP is party in, in, as of that time, in action. Any of us can be the party that comes up so you are party in waiting and if APC had listened to me then they would have prepared themselves knowing that they were party. Why am I bringing this up? It is the duty, responsibility, obligation of every party chairman at the state level to find out this polling unit, have regular meetings, enlighten their people so that they are not disenfranchised on the day of election. This is very important but we cannot leave it to pilot, for pilot to come and let every polling know, yes, pilot has a role to play, for instance, if they have an electronic register and this electronic register shows where the polling unit of each person was, I think they will have two options. Option number one is to ask people as clearly as possible. These are the two units which you want is closer to you and then from the responses if they have a spreadsheet at the back end which is where technology comes in the analysis can be done easily and then they can now see that from what they have done they have been able to change this and then there's still an overflow of these they can direct the people and then within a month or two they can send direct messages to as many people that have phone numbers. There are some areas that people will not have very good best you can by letting the people know and secondly going to publish this list early enough so that people can go and look almost a year to election and not only election the people are running health and skills are trying to do so that that communication I think has a role to play, parties have a role to play but the first thing should be calling the parties and having a meeting and let them understand how they so that each person can do themselves well and communicate with their electorates. Okay so now polling units have been added to the ones that we had so what do you think annex should begin to to do to ensure adequate security in these new polling units ahead of the election? Nothing. They can only appeal to the police. You see like I said I was a chairman of a party at the national and I had a lot of interface with INEC and INEC chairman and he vented his frustrations because he has no control over how can I prosecute people that have no systems structures and infrastructure to handle. Secondly on violence protection that is a constitutional rule of the police and other military or paramilitary agencies to come in as maybe coordinated by the police so to that extent the best that INEC would do is to have a very strong interface by letting the police know this number of units and then letting the police know the manpower required per unit letting the police also know their risk analysis of polling units. They are setting polling units in such an area that you don't really need to put too many people there because I don't need to name the best. They are setting high rates per polling unit so this question of the one policeman want this one that the polling unit doesn't want we need to come down to the realities and I believe that when that unit of INEC interfaces with the military or with the police I use the police now to talk in terms of all the apparatus sections that give us protection. I think it should start early enough to have an interface so the police will be able to let the national assembly know that for this period we may need to bring in a few more of our retirees to bring them back you know in every system they are always a segment that can be called up for national duty if they need to arises for that specific timeline so these are the ways we need to start to think in government and governors so that these retirees who are still strong I mean yesterday it was on the telly of one man that was a retired general at 57 which means it's just my age mate well we might be a little younger because of November 158 and you can't imagine that I am retired at this time when my energy is still real top notch so what am I saying such people can be on the reserve list and for a national assignment like this they could be called up but that will only work if that system is negotiated early enough so that the budgetary provision is made and special budgetary provision so I think that it is possible if we start planning early you know the bottom line the first one is early strategic planning all right Mr let's just finalize but just confirming how possible this is what the INA chairman said yesterday that these will enable let me just quote him fresh registrant and those seeking transfer will know the new polling units and it also enabled them to choose their preferred voting locations on election day do you see this being possible that the voters can actually choose where exactly they want to vote on elections or election days rather it is so possible all I need is to have one day interface with the ITD unit of INA you know what the internet can do is amazing it's unbelievable I can sit here today and transfer money to somebody in India or Finland I can do almost anything imagine the base the database that contains billions of people and yet we have just about a hundred million voters now two things are possible one is those that have the that are online and those are not let's start from what is possible how many of our voters will like to Ina just say if you are a voter you have your PVC and you like to vote online or register online or not is it please go online and fill this form okay and on the health side within one week they will have a database that will take nothing less than 40 million voters I can tell you this so they can deal with that and see how they can segment that now the next step is those that are not because we always say about those that are not those in rural areas my guy my village is rural area and I know the number of people with phones and internet and I communicate with them so don't tell me that every rural area is so rural that they don't want to have access to things like that if in my village I can get two units where people can go there and provide that service because I want my people to vote and not to be disenfranchised all of us seeking election we are going to be Ina's food soldiers who are going to send out those information and the people will give a feedback and Ina will be sitting down in the office spending not a dime not a common and yet being able to get maybe 60 percent of the problem solved the other 40 percent or even 40 percent of the problem solved the other 60 percent they can now bring their ingenuity creativity okay what we need to work with within a private sector who are the heads who are the people the village look there is a body called the national association of village youth leaders in a private state every village has a youth leader imagine and they have an interface with these youth leaders of all the villages they become very easy point of communication and because you're probably next to nothing you know we should come to us you know in Nigeria or less we put money to a thing we don't think it works because we don't think in terms of service we think in terms of contract and it's sad there are many things you can achieve without lifting a finger because of technology let I make the rate of technology and life will be made much easier for them and I want to live with national assembly and the amendment of the electoral act let them give I need leverage to do a lot of technology Nigeria has moved on look at when Mr. Sanus left your school years last day Amy and Sanus say you know say we should go cashless everybody said no no no we're not up to that no we cannot you just carry clothes on his head to the decision now everybody has a card that they work with it's working we're not as a cake and a chronic stick as we would see we are moving with the time and you're as intelligent even in the villages it's not a hundred percent but even if it's 40 percent start with that 40 percent then you know that you have only 60 percent to contend with we want to sit down and think everything has to be contract everything has to be physical everything must be manual everything must be cost it is easier for it to manipulate that way I think we should get on that all right Mr. Ezekiel yeah I talk with thank you you really have mentioned important points about adopting technology into electoral processes to make that you know more convenient and safer thank you very much for for coming in my pleasure I do appreciate your time thank you sir thank you all right it's still the breakfast on plus tv africa yes and we'll be right back to discuss more important issues in the country do stay with us