 Welcome back. It is still the breakfast and plus TV Africa. Well, it's time for us to take you through the pages of a national dailies. We call it Off the Press and we have Chris Cain in Wendu who joins the conversation in no time. Let's go to have you join us this morning. Thank you very much for having me. Good morning. Good morning. Let's take a look at the leadership newspaper and their attention will be on the top stories, the banner and board caption right here. Now, looking at the first, this talks about after President Mohammed of Buhari's order, security agents go after all illegal refineries. That is very interesting. And 2023 presidency. Citing fairness, southern middle belt leaders make case for southeast. So it's just going to be a lot for us. We hope that Chris shares his thoughts as we proceed. Go and put your house in order. Fene Ferry tells Igbo politicians. Northern stakeholders, one against passing north against south. That's also underneath the board caption. And just before we move away, Nigerian court awards one billion narrow against truck owner for blocking highway. And you have a carry and DLA arrest drug baron behind three billion narrow tramadol deal. And you have reps postponed with resumption of plenary for whatever reason. That's also making the boat caption this morning. And you have World Reachers Man. Alien Marks buys Twitter for $44 billion. Alien Marks buys Twitter for $44 billion. I mean, it was just a conversation we had at the top trending this morning. Police officer kills two injures orders at Lagos party. Very sad headline right here, but that's the much we can take this morning on the leadership. Away from the leadership newspaper. We'll slide on next to the punch newspaper. And the main story this morning. Electrical act. I'm a chicken gig. All this risk disqualification over a failure to resign. Whatever right is there. We will disqualify them at screening if they failed to resign party chieftain. APC summits or submits registered to INEC ahead of that line. Commenced sale of forms today. Rolling party awaits court judgment on controversy or controversial section. Fails to refund aspirants above the head federal government. Short lists, bidders for Lagos, but that was similar. Lagos, Abel, Qatar. 10 other highways. All right, presidency is saying group. The first. First as O'Hanese, one Jonathan. Okay, they're talking about the presidency. Group the first as O'Hanese, one Jonathan. Blame military, not Kuka for to canals delay Northern elders forum. You know they're quoted on that one. Manufacturers borrow 1.03 trillion from banks. That's a heat 4.2 trillion Naira. Okay, Kyari drug baron with 103 bank accounts nabbed at Lagos airport. Although lawmaker fumes as part cable kills four playing children. Sexual acts. Christland, 10 year old people. Delayed social media videos. Apologizes. All right, let's see if we can take one or two more. A laughing contenders begin applications submission after eight days. My dress MSMEs dropped by 2 million Naira or by 2 million rather in four years. That's according to smithing. Those are the bulk of the stories you can find on the punch newspaper this morning. All right, let's take a look at the daily independence newspaper this morning. 2023 presidential election. I will betray Nigerians if I don't contest a vice president. Okay, very interesting. NDLEA, a suspect behind 3 billion Naira illicit drug linked to Abakari. Abakari's team. Federal government concessioned 42.74 billion Naira or billion metric tons of B2 men. That's what you also find about captioned PDP women plot. Winning strategy ahead of 2023 elections. And Pencon reviews regulation on retirement and terminal benefits. Alien marks strikes as $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. Telecom sectors GDP growth rate faces a decline. And that's also another bold head of their PDP. Northern stakeholders reject Sarkim Muhammad as consensus presidential aspirant. Namdik Khan, who sues Chief George and register over secret trial. These are the headlines on the Daily Independent. All right, away from that one. Let's check out the nation newspaper. All right, Peter. All right, PDP ex-governors aspirants reject consensus candidate. Obie in Gege Umai are named Raleigh ethnic nationalities for Southeast presidential bid. It will lead us the night weekend. A reverse governor donates 200 million Naira in Kaduna state. All right, APC begins sale of forms in Abuja and state. Three directors fired. All right, suspects in OAU students are death slumps in court. World Reachers Man, Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44 billion. A laughing body buried according to tradition says, Oh, you're high shift. These are all of the stories on the front page of the nation newspaper this morning. All right, let's have Chris Cain do when you join the conversation this morning. All right. Good morning. Let's take a look at the leadership. It talks about the 2023 presidency and the argument has been citing fairness. Southern Middle Belt leaders make case for the Southeast. The case is that if you look at the, you know, the conversation has been that it's a gentleman agreement. And so the Southeast is saying it has to be fair if we're looking at this agreement over time. What are your thoughts? I totally agree with all fairness, equity and fairness. I think without any doubt, the South is the political zone. It's well granted for the presidency in 2023. And don't forget the fact that practically all parts of the country have had a test of the since 1999. In 1999, it was the Southwest with Unichagón-Basangio. After the Unichagón-Basangio, it moved to the North as it were. There, the South side also got it. When the Yeraguar died, Good Lord Jonathan took over. After the Yeraguar died, they did not know that Muhammad Wari is in the South. Don't forget that it's more like a report. And normally we say it's the North, which is no one we call ours the West. We call it the Yobas and the East. The South is called the East. But as it is presently, it's obvious that we can't any doubt that yes, the South is without the presidency. And as I've always said, the presidency is not just putting on a lot of cuts. It's not something that we are saddened. It's just for the fun of it. We have to work hard for it. Even as a region, we have to get the kind of support from other parts of the country. We have to convince other parts of the country on why you should be voted for. Not just because you think you're an Igbo man. And you just sit back and feel that the presidency is just giving to you. So the Igbo Southeast contestants should try to reach out to their brothers and sisters in other parts of the country, in the Southwest, in the North Central, in the North East, in the Northwest, in the South South, so that they can be able to convince them on their needs for them to be given the opportunity to be the president of Nigeria. So Chris, let's just, you know, cut it in a bit here. So we understand that the issue of zoning rotation of the presidency is an agreement, is an arrangement that's been going on for a while. And it might not have any constitutional backing, but that's what happened. And that's practically to some point because you have political parties projecting all of that. So when you say that the Igbo man or, you know, a candidate from the Southeast should go about lobbying, in what capacity should they be lobbying? Should the parties involved now, the different political parties that we have not understand or not imbibe that, should they be allowed to just take a stroll within the party structure to go begin to lobby with their, you know, counterparts in the different parts of the country? The politics is about lobbying. Politics is about lobbying. You have to lobby. No, no, my question here is, should it not be a constant for the political parties to understand that, you know, it has to go to the Southeast? At what point do you have, you know, this candidate, especially like you have mentioned, the South is going about lobbying? Lobbing to who? Lobbing with who? We've said that it is not constitutional. But let me correct that a little bit. In the constitution of the BDP, I think, there is this issue of zoning that is enshrined in their constitution. But that was not cast on stone. And when I say lobbying, I mean, it's politically friendly part of this country. Even if you are contested in your own local government, even if you are contested as a councilman in your local government, you still have to lobby. You have to lobby people. You have to talk to people. You have to make sure that people vote for you. You have to converse. Don't forget you are not the only candidate. So lobbying is part of politics. So what I'm saying in this sense is that there is a way to be able to reach out to other parts. And that is what you've seen them doing. Most of them have been moving around the country. You've seen people be in the north. You saw him in, I think he was in Nakura a few days ago. You saw payasai him also moving around. He has been to the west. He has been to the north. He has been to the south side. And you saw some other politicians from that. So that is what I'm talking about. But what I'm also talking about, even if you vote within the party itself, there's what is called consultation. That is why you hear them say, oh, I'm consulting. Remember when as Raju said he was going to consult. He said he was consulting. I think he said he was consulting. He said he was consulting. He said he was consulting. He was consulting. He said he was consulting. So that consultation is part of lobbying. You can be able to lobby people. Oh, within and outside your political party. That is what politics is all about. So when I say that you have to lobby, it is not enshrined. The fact that you say that you are the best candidate does not necessarily mean that the party will give you the ticket. You have to do the right way. You have to do some convincing. And in the course of doing that, there you have to convince. Don't forget that primary is a political stuff. It is really the political parties to be able to do that. But even at that, there are some people that are not even the political parties that also determine some of the things that happen in the political parties. To be short, how powerful some certain traditional rulers, some retired general, some retired politicians, when it comes to issue of politics. So that is the how it grows. All right. Let's check out some other papers. Let's look at the nation. At least paper if we would. The main, the lead story that these are PDP ex-governance aspirants reject consensus candidate that several writers, an umbrella ethnic nationalities for North East presidential bid. It will lead us in IWIK and MACHI, reverse governor, donate. But let's talk about the issue of consensus candidate or candidacy. And a whole lot of people believe that it may mark the PDP some chances ahead of 2023 if they actually look in that particular direction. What are your thoughts, really? Politics is a dynamic game as it is. And which is all it is. You never say never on this over. Let's start with, you are talking about PDP. Don't forget that the some northern candidates about four of them came together and said that, I'm moving around the country in order to be able to come up with a consensus candidate among themselves. You are talking of Sarah K. You are talking of Ala Mohamed. You are talking of one of the candidates. And the head of it all. Certain elements within the Northern Edas Forum specifically, I think the chairman came up with two names and said that that is what they are, the people that they have chosen and supported for 2023. Talking of Sarah K. And Ala Mohamed. But really that name came out so many, so many people from the North. Even within the Edas Forum. I remember that the secretary of that forum also came up and said that they are not part of it. That it's just a personal opinion of the leader of that forum. There you also say, someone like you, gone out on the Tamboa of Subotostey said that he is not part of that. I was never a candidate such. So it is already, as I said, it's dynamic. They're willing to be trade horses, when you can trade horses. At the end of it all, I personally, if you ask me, I would say that everyone of them should go into the field. It's also helping them in franchising some people from testing data. I would say that everyone of them should go to the field and let the best candidate within the ranks because that in this sector is no foreclose. Certain elements, certain things come to play. They're not a caring decision of the world. But PDP has no comment specifically to say whether present that ticket if this is. Don't forget that it was a committee that was set up by PDP headed by Governor Odom of Bay Bay State which came out with a report, and that report was handed over to the neck of PDP. We're expecting that the neck will come out by now to state the stand on that. to say that, well, let us not jump the gun and let it neck. I don't know when the neck of the PDT is going to come out with their zoning arrangements, but if it's only what I told you about the rest of them, but you can see that everybody's campaigning, those from the north and the south are campaigning for the presidency. So if the PDT doesn't zone it, only if Adam is there, but it's going to be critical. But obviously, I think it's a bit much easier because it seems and the way it looks that the PDT already have zone is a presidential ticket to the south. So it's between those of the south to determine whether it's going to the south-south, whether it's going to the south, it's going to the south-west. But in the next few days, we know how this will go. Don't forget that the primaries is going to come up within the next one month or the other, and by then we'd have known the candidates for the political parties. All right. So Chris, let's take a look at the daily independence as well this morning. And quickly on that, he talks about the issue of betrayal. The vice president is saying that he will betray Nigerians if he doesn't contest for the position of the president. Well, the vice president will not betray me. I'm a Nigerian. I don't know whether he will to betray me because personally, if I'm to join the vice president with what the government, which is part of, which is his vice president, has achieved in the past several years, there is a big failure completely. If I'm going to escort this government by his promises in 2015 and 2019, I will escort them less than 35%. That to me is total failure. But when he says, but if you last want to judge him as an individual, there's a thing that's what is called collective responsibility. So he can not detach himself from whatever has happened in the past several years. But it is his right, the person who only asks, does he have the right to contest? Of course he does. Is he only qualified to contest? Of course he's permanently qualified. But the issue of betrayal, I don't know where it's coming from and almost that will be betrayed. Personally, I will not be betrayed whether he is contesting or not. What we need now is those that have the capacity and not going to go back to Egypt as it were. Because in the last seven years, Nigerians have not found it rising at all. All the promises made were not fulfilled. From what was the first one in 2018, I can't remember, they said they are taking us to the next level in 2019. We can see the level where, whether the next level was to the top or the bottom, it's never been against, we say. All right, Sikian, let's look at all the stories on the punch, newspaper. It's as though section 84, subsection 12, is still actually generating mixed reactions from Nigerians. And Mechi and Gege, others risk disqualification over failure to resign. There are several writers to that story where we disqualify them by screening if they fail to resign. A party chieftain is quoted on that now. So let's talk about them. There's Mechi and Gege, others risking disqualification as a result of them not resigning from their positions right now. How do you react to all of this? I think the political parties are just trying to be smart and to me, which is a good one. Because yes, as much as a high court in Romania gave a judgment that the session of the Electoral House should be a sponge. And the AGF at the point was almost doing that. But the National Assembly said they are going to do an appeal, which I think they have done. And the risk here is that if they don't resign, as stated by the Electoral House, despite the ruling of the High Court in Umayah, and the court of appeal of the Supreme Court, it virtually gave a judgment in favor of the Electoral House. What that means is that anybody that came up that was elected or selected through the primaries and rest of them may not be able to be disqualified at the election. That, in this sense, is a huge risk for any political party today. And some of the governors are already doing the right thing, because most of them have been axed the aid and the political appointees who are interested in protesting any of the positions in 2023 to resign now. That is the best thing to do. So for me, the political parties are doing the right thing. It is right, the Electoral House has been passed despite whatever the court have said for now. But this is not over and it's over. It's just a High Court in Umayah. We are still going to have this get into the Supreme Court. So the worst thing for anybody is for them to be able to the political parties will ask whoever is going to contest to resign. And for me, that is the only good thing. If you are going to contest for a election, why do you still want to hold on to a political position as a political appointee? So I think they should do the needful. But if they want to take the risk over that route, let them face the risk. If you are going to pay 100 million to get the nomination form from MAPIS as a presidential candidate, and in the end of the year, you come to realize that the court has passed a job that you cannot contest. There goes your 100 million or 40 million as it is with PDP and other positions. Alright, let's also look at it. I mean, it's a conversation that's generating a lot of reactions. But before then, we look at the issue of telecom sector and their GDP growth rate facing a decline. Do you also think that with the federal government giving the injunction that 72 million subscribers should be banned from making outgoing calls or have been banned from making outgoing calls, have also contributed to the decline of growth that telecom sectors are faced with? Of course it does, because we have to look at the issues holistically. We are talking of security here. The greatest problem facing Nigeria currently is not just the economy, it's security. And the federal government in the United States don't think that they can be able to meet this in the court if all seems irregistered. What I just said is that everybody should make sure that this seems irregistered. Yes, the telecom companies will be affected. But that is not going to be the only issue, because also don't forget that the telecom sector is also facing serious challenges. It has to do with the economy. Regarding the simplest of terms, if you know what it takes to generate power, most of them depends on individual or private generation of power. Each of those base stations have two generators each, most of them. And you can multiply that across Nigeria. If you have a steady power, then you realize that their overhead will be practically reduced. But they practically depend on the generating set and the rest of them. That in this case is a fact. Also look at the mirror to the dollar. Most of the things that also the equipment includes are imported and the more the mirror protrudes against the dollar, that in this sense is a huge problem. So first part of all this to get done, coupled with about 70 million lines that have not been laid, then that is a great... Why this is happening? You can also see that massive growth across the globe. Just yesterday, Elon Musk already said he'd do your opening. But over Twitter for about $44 billion. That is huge. That is how huge the market is. And I'm able to do the much we can do. I'm able to assist this sector. It will really help us. It will help our GDP. And it will help out a certain problem. We'll have it seriously in a foreign exchange. All right. Let's talk more about the issue of insecurity. Just on Sunday, the president was in the news and he blamed the bishop of Amsakutou Darces and other Nigerians for the delivery of the Tukano special jets. But there is actually now a reaction from the Northern Elders Forum. And they are saying that blame military, not KUKA for Tukano's delay. Do you agree with the NEF? That's been made by the president. It was an absolute statement that I had in my life. You blame the bishop of KUKA for the delay in getting the Tukano. I'm trying to say which kind of part has been referred to by the bishop of KUKA. We are in a position of a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Am I able to say all this? Say this all this well. Just because he gave a sermon or made a statement during the Easter period and still came the truth. What he has to do is look at every single statement, every single line of that statement he made. We are Nigerians, we know the truth. And we know that the clergy say the truth. But the government will always try to say it like the ostrich. And try to believe that all this well. Is it not in this country that few months ago that a list of information told us that Nigeria is safer than, is safer? And we do this. There was an attack of a trade between Abuja and Kaduna. Over 106 Nigerians were buried in a mass grave in a electric stage. That is just one out of so many other clinics all around. So I see no reason why the government instead of looking at the message are trying to look at the message. And because of all this, most truly are to everything. Most truly are to everything. There is a communication, the communication deficit within the presidency. And that I put on the lap of the president, because it seems that his information is not what you say. They don't even know what to do at the right time. Instead of looking at what are saying, they say, first of all if the president blame Fadra Kuka, then also to place some elements in the US for that. That will be absorbed. That is not a true position of things. Let's all look at the situation that everybody is in with the insecurity situation and that is what should be why the president. He said that why did he give the machinada to the service chief again to make sure that they leave this in the court. Why did he give the machinada? Several times he invited them to give them the machinada and nothing happens. I think the president should be so worried about it. One of the reasons why he was elected is because he is a general of the army. He must have gone on down as a common victory person. But what is happening now? Before we move away from the papers this morning there is a quick one on the daily independent. He talks about the PDP not in stakeholders rejecting Tarki, Muhammad as consensus, presidential aspirants. It feels like we are just here to see a lot of drama unfold in these political parties ahead of the primaries. Yes, I think we have discussed that because of this program but as I said the the candidates put forward by some leaders or herders of course it is not acceptable to resolve that we decided to join it. Personally I knew that it was a mission infinity. There is no way they will be able to come out with the consensus because they will do themselves. Who are you going to talk to? Is it Tambora? Is it Bala Mohammed? Is this Tarki? The other guy had that too or had that too already? I can't remember his name now. It is a mission infinity. If you ask me personally this is my personal opinion of all those four candidates Tambora seems to meet the most broad based candidates within the rank of the four but are you going to get to see the person of Atiku Abubaka who is also from the nut? Somebody who contested the election in 2019 and gathered about 11 million votes on their part are you going to get to see him and say is Atiku Abubaka not from the nut as well? That in itself to me is neither here nor there. The primary is coming. Let them pick up their phones and put on their bussing gloves, go into the ring and smog it out and make the best candidate best. I will also repeat that for me the best this is the best time to give the people of the South East the opportunity to be able to also produce the president. We must like to hear from the PDP because since 1990 the South East more than any other presidential have pitched their attention with PDP go and check the records since 1999 it is doing this for the school this zone and I know that it is so consistent which also the South Souths are like and I think that that means for them also to look at the South East for once and see whether they can also get the best for when I am good. Let everybody go to the ring and the best candidate I hope they go to come out with a candidate that can be able to swear out to the APC conference it is a good opportunity for the PDP to win the election for the president who has given the arrowhead of the PDP to come to the ballot so it is an open race when it comes to the president All right we must say a very big thank you to Chris, KND, Wando Chartered, Mediator and Concillator thanks for all the thoughts that you have shared on the off the press segment. Would you appreciate it? Thank you very much All right it is still the breakfast and lost TV Africa. We will go back these days in history and see what happened and we will come back and have our first major conversation for today to join us again