 Coming up on the breakfast, Chable's turn as Federal High Court in Oka affirms, saludes candidates as the all-progressives grand alliance for this year's Anambra State Co-ponsorship election. It is Idel Kabir, a time of sacrifice and celebration, but there are complaints of increasing cost of rams and foodstuff. Also coming up is a review of today's papers as well as a look at two events that took place in history. You're welcome back to the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. Good morning. Thanks for joining us this very beautiful Tuesday morning, the 20th of July 2021. The month is wrapping up speedily. Yes, it is. Just about 10 days left and good morning. I am a saugi, but also driving to work this morning, barely 10, 12 cars on the road. Public holiday. Public holiday, you know, so Legas is going to be a little calm this morning. Good news. Yes, we hope that the weather also stays the same way and everyone has a very, very interesting day of rest, of course, as we celebrate the Idel Kabir celebrations. I'm talking about the Idel Kabir celebrations. We know that it's one of the most important feasts in the Muslim calendar and the most important holiday. You know, it's marked, you know, by the slouching of rams and cows and you know, families just get to enjoy. Even if you're not Muslim, everybody gets to enjoy, you know, this period because you have friends who would share with you and you get to enjoy big, you know, big sizes of meat and, you know, you get food shared with you. It's just such a beautiful celebration just like Christmas, you know, when we get to share with our Muslim brothers and sisters. But the sad thing is that this year, you know, many people are not smiling, especially traders and Nigerians who want to celebrate this period, you know, by going to buy these rams and cows in the market because the prices have kind of rocketed. Oh my God, things are now so expensive. There's a lot of reports that in Katsina Ram markets, and buyers have actually deserted them because of the high cost of, you know, cattle and livestock there. So we usually know that during this time of the year, it's something we experience, but it's, I don't think it's been this bad. Maybe we can attribute that to the insecurity one way or another. But I don't think it's been this bad in our history where the prices are so expensive. But nonetheless, people still make a way. I mean, in my state this morning as I was coming out, there was a ram, a cow, just a cattle on every, you know, every gate, every door. There's just, you know, a Muslim family who would tie two rams, three rams, two cows. And it's just exciting to see, you know, that. But the sad thing is that there are lots of people who could not afford to get those because of the costless period. Yeah, well, inflation, yeah, I think we had brought this up a few weeks ago, a month ago, you know, about how inflation will affect, you know, the price of goods and people's ability and to spend and to afford, you know, food items. So it's one of the, you know, reasons. And of course, you know, the fact that, you know, generally across the whole country, food stuff, you know, everything seems to have almost doubled in price. Unfortunately, of course, the ram is a very important detail, you know, when celebrating Sala. So people would have to figure out ways that they can buy, you know, some meat. If you can buy a cow, you know, buy a ram, if you can buy a big ram, buy a small one. And then there's also, I think, you know, I'm not sure if they do it with rams, but it's just an option. I know that there's people who are committees who come together, you know, and then you're 10 people share, you know, a ram. So if you can buy a full one, you know, you can. Partner with, you know, five, six people and you guys can share one ram, you know, if it is just to celebrate, you know, the moment and of course get some ram meat in your food. Yeah, so we do have a report. One of our correspondents did a service to find out exactly what it was like in the market. And what we saw in the news was that, you know, people who trade in these livestock set that last year, they were selling a ram or for 200,000 era and lesser. But now it's way over that 230,000 era and more. But let's take a listen. Yes, let's take a listen to what people are saying in the country. In few hours, Muslims all over the world will celebrate Idil Kabeer. Rams are an essential part of the festival and you will see a lot of them in markets around Lagos. But the turnout of buyers are lower than what Ram sellers were expecting. The secretary of the Baghdad Ram market believes it has to do with the prices. Hazan Idris says buyers are unhappy with the high prices, which he blames on the economy and the security situation in northern Nigeria. Almost 50,000 to 60,000 era. And the people are not happy. And the initiative is a layer of festival. Recording progress. It's a festival that people want to show their happiness. But gradually, people are patronizing, but compared to last year, the turnout is totally low. Idris isn't wrong. Potential buyers are complaining of high prices. Despite that, these Muslim faithful are ready to celebrate the festival. The Ram is too costly. I price two, one fifty. I price the big one, two fifty. Two. The man, I'm not agree. So I'm going back to my house now. I'm not happy about it. It's too cost. The person pass in boundary, the person go weak. So as my hand be, I want to buy it. I am happy because of the mood of the season. It's disappointing how rams are so highly priced. But I understand because of the insecurity in the country. Most tell us, they claimed that the ones they bought right from the places where they bought them, they are expensive before they get here. So they are to sell what they bought. So it was expensive last year also. But this year, it was quite highly expensive than that of last year. If you look around, you'll discover there's a low turnout of buyers this year compared to the previous years. And this is due to the high cost of rams in the market. Ngoziqa or HSE reporting for Plus TV Africa. Well, we absolutely wish all our Muslims faithful across the country and across Africa happy celebrations this period. And like we said, celebrating the best way that you can. If you can't afford a ram for 150,000 or 200,000, maybe you can crowd buy one. But isn't it a bit too late? Do you even think the markets will open today? Yeah, I'm sure there definitely will be some person who wants to sell. But then you would have to dole out much more cash because obviously they would want to overpriced those items. But anyway, let's move on to our next uptrending story. And it's about sports. Well, the cost of appreciation for sports cash has rejected the bead of two Nigerian-American players, female basketball players to play for Nigeria at the Tokyo Games. So the reason given is that they have played for the US national team for a long time. And the names are Nneka Ogumike and Elizabeth Williams. So they argued that this is unfair, that they have dual citizenship. They are Nigerian and the American, but they would love to play for their country. But the sad thing is that, according to the rules, once you've gotten to age 17, once you turn 17, and you're already playing for the US basketball team in the US, you will not be allowed to play for any other country. So that's just a challenge they have in now. They've appealed this, but their appeal was denied. But I don't know, what do you think impact this would be regarding the Olympic Games? The fact that there'll be no Nigerian, I think that's a story I saw, that it would actually be no Nigerian competing for that and that actually no African nation has won a game in the Olympics since Nigeria went in 1-5 in Athens in 2004. Well, I think I'll probably just stick with the basketball angle. It's interesting times with regards to Nigerian sports. For a very, very long time, we've not really had any focus on basketball until currently. This is the first time in maybe a decade that we've had any major focus and expectations with the Nigerian basketball team, both the male and the female contingent. So I'm happy about that, first of all. I'm excited that we at least have something to look forward to. We may not win it. We may not win any of the medals, but at least it would be a good thing that Nigerians can look at basketball. We can focus our attention on basketball and cheer them on and say how far we can go. Sadly, two of them that you mentioned that will not be able to play for Nigeria. I'm hoping that there's certain replacements that will be able to take over their positions and do exceptionally well also. Also, the rules are the rules. If you have played for a different country, you cannot change the nationality and decide that you're going to play for a different country two years later. What if happens if the Nigerian basketball team doesn't do well? You're going to go back to the USA team? I'm not sure. So loyalty is a big factor here then. Most importantly, the rules are the rules. You really can't do much about it. They can't bend the rules simply because of one particular person. Same thing happened with the athlete who got disqualified for doping for marijuana. No matter how many people felt bad about it and cried and wailed, the rules are the rules and that's the way it works. So hopefully the Nigerian basketball team will be able to find very, very competent replacements and they will be able to do very, very well. I feel like and I wish, and I hope that Nigerians across the whole country and in diaspora will fully support their basketball teams 100% this time and let's see how far they can really, really go and make Nigeria proud. I think the good thing. I've not given us that level of excitement in a very, very long time. So let's see what a basketball might be better. Yeah, I think one good news regarding replacements is that Nekas younger sister Chini Ogumike has been permitted to actually play for Nigeria. So good one. We're looking forward to it. Absolutely. We absolutely wish them the best and I want to see where this leads. If we can now maybe now, you know, put in more effort, more funding, more support in every single direction towards basketball. I mean it might just be, you know, the next big thing in Nigeria and also help us remember that, you know, our football seems to be fading. But regarding the Tokyo games, I'm really looking forward to seeing what the organizers would say because you know that an athlete tested positive for COVID-19, an American teenager competing in the Tokyo games. This was confirmed yesterday. So we still don't know if they will hold off and what steps, you know, the organizing committee of the Tokyo Olympics would do to prevent further spread to other athletes in the games village. But that's it for you today on Top Trending. Thank you very much for starting your beautiful Tuesday morning with us. We'll take a break here and return with Of The Press.