 Five panellists, five topical issues, no holds barred. For me it's not knowledge that's lacking, it's that greed, it's that mentality where you feel you deserve to take your own and take it infinitely and let everybody else just manage however they want. We're almost becoming hardwired to try and cheat. I would, you know, suggest that we begin to hold our leaders accountable. There was a time in this country when things actually work. I don't think that any organisation should be above the law. And I think one of the challenges we have in this country is about governance across the board. What I'm saying is that it doesn't really affect us in Nigeria. It doesn't! I don't know what we can do if the system is already corrupted. We've been warned as a continent of the influx of the Chinese. If you don't repay your debt, they will just to colonise you. Welcome to The Advocate, your Sunday reminder that important conversations are among the necessary tools for a Sena society. Today I'm talking about myths and realities of Nigerian politics. Samson is speaking on the links between faith, culture and the Nigerian politics. And Debo, who makes his debut today, isn't asking us to put our account number here, I wish he was. But rather he's talking about how our humanity is being politicised. And Raymond is asking who is listening to understand as history beckons. Today expect a mix of seriousness, laughter, jabs and we are here after this break. Welcome again to The Advocate. The myth and reality of politics in Nigeria. The Nigerian who served on the highest decision-making body of a political party, which is the National Executive Council, has run for the highest legislative office in the land. And I lead one of Nigeria's most ingenious civil service organisations, the Electoral College Nigeria. We can't undermine the myths in politics and governance in our democratic space. And here are a few to run by. Political parties are bad. The first one. Now, political parties are bad is usually a situation in which most of us tend to post our voter apathy towards. We understand what goes on in the American primaries and we're never concerned with what goes on in Nigerian primaries. Distance, which we distance ourselves away from political parties, of course ensures the fact that we are thrown a selection and we do not participate in an election. The next one will be another myth. A vote for a small party is a waste of your vote. Now, this is funny and very hypocritical because this comes from big parties that tell you this, but still at the end go ahead and pay for your votes or pay for thugs to stop you from voting, which means that is also a myth. The next myth I'll be visiting is the Constitution is Bad. Most people that say the Constitution is bad are people that I'm sorry to say have not read the Constitution in an entirety. Of course, every Constitution is not a perfect book. The inaction of the legislative arm of government, which is supposed to amend the Constitution continuously and rigorously from 1999 till now are the failures in which we criticize our Constitution for. The state has kidnapped the local government. The handshake of any democracy is the local government. And the local government is non-functional. As we can see, it's not even a democracy because the fact the local government is being put in a corner by the state as regards its autonomy, its jurisdiction limits the amount or the dividends of democracy the electorate feels. There is another myth that grassroots circumvent democracy. Now, most people say grassroots circumvent democracy. Are you aware that according to our voters register, the highest voting comes from women, farmers, and people at the grassroots? The truth is the middle class actually circumvent democracy. Of course, there's the argument that the grassroots takes to mark infrastructure. Who delivers it? The question is, you never see any of the big politicians carrying money to the grassroots. So the conduit is more guilty, which is the middle class. I will proceed to the realities of politics on ground. Participation is key. As long as we do not participate and we tend to think that only voting is our way forward to changing democracy, we will not get anywhere. There are two other parts that are just as important and this is holding people in governance accountable and the next being participating within political parties. The next reality is that the president is not always to blame. Government is like an ocean in which the state governments are like streams and then the ponds behind us are local governments, government, chairman, and counselors. They are supposed to be our first point of call to criticize the issues we have with power, which is transformed on your street, or poor public transportation, which is under the purview of the local government. The next reality I would like to make clear to our viewers is that the legislative is the most powerful arm of the government. The basic democracy was founded in Greece and the basis of that was the representative government. Only the legislative offers full representation of all the peoples of Nigeria, but they have never been criticized to the point or held accountable for their inaction. The legislature has focused on things like constituency projects which are done nowhere else in the world and is a direct trample on the executive function of LG chairman. And this has made them the most docile part of governance while being the most powerful. The next reality I would like to visit is most politicians do not understand their jurisdiction of office. You see senators, counselors, either cross referencing with legislative and executive functions for getting what exactly their own jurisdictions of office are. Sometimes even the president goes as far as making mistakes or pushing himself towards a legislative promise than an executive action. The next thing I want to make clear, a recall is easier than waiting for a tenure to lapse. If we have someone in governance within legislative arm, it is harder to wait for his inactions, his or her inactions in government, while we wait for the next year to vote him out. A recall takes only 50% plus one. It might look hard, but sometimes the cost of inaction in the legislative office can ruin a country. Of course time will not allow us to exhaust all opportunities to expand rigorously on this point, but as we go along some of the points will be further elaborated by the panel. Thank you. One of the things I want to bring out, this is a very clear expression that you have had here and something is very striking the fact that majority of people who talk about constitution have not even read, don't even know what is contained in the constitution. And it's a national problem because the way we tell people to read your Bible, read your Quran, read your these, I think there should be a system where people are also pushed that way to try and understand what is really guiding us. Most people come out and they talk about constitution, this constitution that and they don't know what is inside and you can't change what you don't even know what the content is about. I know that in the past weeks Joyce has been talking about constitution and constitution and all those things, but as much as we keep saying constitution is bad and we don't even know what is even bad, what do you know about the constitution that is bad? A lot of people are coming out on the road to shout is bad. Now come and change it, you can't change what you don't know about. And then the second thing I also want to point out is the fact the part of cross-referencing of political office holders is not just about their jurisdiction. Most of them don't even know why they are there in political offices. Some of them are just there maybe because situations or events orchestrated they have been in that political office. They are not there because they have any clear map out vision for the people. And that's why you can see someone who is actually in the political office and you are looking over the window to see what the other person is not doing right. Instead of you doing what you're supposed to do and you said it about the president saying he's doing something against action. He was supposed to make legislative promise against executive action. So it's not really about being a political office holder but much more about knowing why you are there and focusing on the things you map out your manifesto and then taking those actions. Those are just the two points I want to point out the constitution and also the point of knowing exactly why you are a politician and focusing on why you are in office and not cross-referencing with other people. I would like to add that while we always say yes we can't blame government all the time for certain situations that we find ourselves in the country. I think it is also important to ask some very good questions. Now we're talking about the constitution. Mr. Cooley had mentioned that most of the voters that we have in this country are characterized by women and farmers. How many of these people even have access to the constitution? How many of these people even understand the constitution? So basically the bulk of responsibility falls back where? How many people are educated? We are sitting down here and we are having this discussion because we have an idea and because we have made one or two. So it boils down to the fact that the people at the grassroot level that at the end of the day is perceived because there are some things that personally I don't believe but I would not like to really say. But at the grassroot level it's perceived that they are the ones that make these decisions. What do they actually know about the constitution? Let's get to the opinion of Mr. Samson or guests from the Zoom. Mr. Samson or Dr. Yahya? Alright. Fantastic views, notable presentation. But the concern I have with all you have to mention is the fact that in Nigeria one thing we don't do well is information dissemination. Sadly a lot of Nigerians do not even know what their rights are or what their limitations are or what is even, how easy is it to assess the constitution of Nigeria? Yes, it's available on the internet but what we do on a daily basis is this in compliance with the constitution of Nigeria and information accessibility is also very, very difficult. When we talk about assessing basic information that attains to or released to Nigerians, how are they available a day? For example, there was an issue on the internet where you have information about how the Nigerian passport of the value of funds that Nigerian customs service actually collects or the cost of Nigerian passports. When you go to their website, what you see is different from what you find in reality. So when you begin to have these kinds of views, you have a lot of Nigerians losing hope in the system and it has got so bad that a lot of Nigerians do not reckon with what the government says. They don't really care anymore because they've been beaten, battered to a point where people are actually not spoke to. Yeah, a lot of people do not want to participate in politics because they felt either way, they're not going to win. Either way, it's not about the people. Most of the people that go into politics today are actually about their interests and we see it play out every now and then. Why are people killing one another because of political positions when you're actually going there to serve the people? So sometimes when you look at all these things, it actually takes interest of some of us who are actually keen about participation. But yes, I agree. If we say we are moving away from participation, automatically we are giving the party to those that will make things much, much difficult for Nigerians. And that's what we are seeing because I'm sorry, but if we had as much as people that are better in the country, knowledgeable in the country, I'm not so sure that Nigeria, participating in politics, actively participating in politics, and their interests are better, I'm not sure Nigeria will win this today. We have always had the disadvantage of selecting the worst amongst us to rule us, to govern us. And that's why Nigeria is here today. So for me, I can't be Nigerians, but I won't even call you Nigerians to participate in politics. The system becomes better. Okay. For me, I love the submissions you guys put in, but we must also critically understand that information is key and the government has been very, very slow in disseminating information. But that does not mean that we should also sell our country. We only have one country and we must take this country with the strength of our hands. I'm not anyone, most people look at me and say, Kumler is a politician. But I didn't get here because I come from a rich family or I'm someone different. I just chose to participate, decided to infiltrate the system, and now I'm giving back based on what I've learned. Well, Samson is next after this break. Stay with us. My faith, my culture, and the Nigerian politics. Faith, culture, and politics are inextricably linked. Karl Marx, a popular scholar, elucidated the relationship between the superstructure and the economic structural base in this model of society. He had defined the base as the way society produces what is needed to survive. Marx maintained that substructure determines superstructure. But the noendo of Marx's post-nationary view that faith, culture, and politics are vehicles of exploitation. In the last 200 years, Christianity, Islam, and chauvinism were doctrines that govern and direct their fears of men. These doctrines created beliefs that have promoted belligerent faiths and nationalism known today as fundamentalism and parochialism. Against cospitalism, the culture of impunity embedded in capitalism and religious jingoism has destroyed the communalism in culture that African societies were known for. It is pertinent to say that religion was used as an instrument of subjugation and economic slavery. Slash colonization, colonizing, to subdue Africans who were known to be warriors, commoner and traditionalist, wielding supernatural powers. These are forefathers. This is not to demonize any religious faiths, but are realities where the bachanization of a geographical positioning and position of a communal life. The displacement of our culture and beliefs with borrowed faith has introduced a societal opium that is known today as dying and smiling, which is like sweat is invisible in the rain. A popular phrase coined by Professor Tony Bagram. As a result of this, the culture of accountability, poverty, engagement, and confrontation that African people were known for have been relegated to the background. Because of phrases like Biblical injunction of Romans 13 verse 1 that says, let everyone subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. Religion has so polluted our culture and political responsibility to a point it has led to political apathy, as well as many ambiguous and eccentric decrees that are giving room to governments against the total back and forth with policies and actions that have impoverished us the more. Why phrases like touching on my anointed or a child of God does not fight. We forgot that even religion was taken out of the world through war. How come we expect our freedom to be achieved through peace. Today, our worship centers deemed sacred have been turned to campaign grounds for politicians that are willing to support the work of God. Below are questions playing in my head. I'm hoping I will find some comfort in the minds of my co-discussing during the debate. What stops us from having the Nigerian version of English like Pigeon that everyone can understand. Either they went to regular school or not. Why are we afraid to discuss the divisibility or indivisibility of Nigeria as of today? What is the priority of Nigeria as a nation? What religion or cultural beliefs? How did we lose history so fast and why did we allow our religious and political elites to relight our history? In closing, I believe in the superiority of rational thoughts over emotions as well as the ability of technology and science in solving women problems. What are cultural and traditional must be brought here in resetting our national priorities? Let us feel our freedom be a subject of emotion. Great paper put in by Samson and I think it's very intelligent. I think one of the core problems we've always had is that I think when the Europeans came into Africa, they used religion as a weapon. And what's most funny is that they got religion and education from Africa, but they weaponized it and used it against us. And it's very, very funny to even note that women used to be highly respected in Africa. We had the Queen Aminas, we had people close to the only of ife, women that were very strong and worked with the only closely. So we've always respected gender in Africa, though we were thought to think that we do not understand it. For me, Nigeria must create its own identity and forge forward thinking properly and redirecting based on our own principle. I'm one of those that's a proponent of saying, well, we must end payments for pilgrimages if we're not paying a cross for everybody. Plus if our worshipers are cool because we're a secular state, not a biracial state. Second, paging can unify Nigeria. We need an identity. Exactly. I actually mapped that out about language, basically unification of the country by language. Because I know, for instance, a country like Rwanda where they have only one language that is very, very predominant, the Kenyarwanda language. So even where you come, there is nothing that divides people. You just get to identify people based on only one thing. So there is nothing like you are Yoruba. And when we actually identify people based on a particular divide, psychologically it shapes how we begin to deal with them from that very minute. So this person says, I'm from a foreign state. Even if you don't know unconsciously, you just find yourself relating to this person in a particular way and another person in a particular way. I really think that the paging language, if it is actually, of course, again, it's the actionable part that is actually the problem. But then it's a very, very vital point that you mentioned. And then they touched not my anointed part. It was very, very funny. Everybody was, even Mr. Makarone was like, ah, touched not my anointed part. Yeah, it's true because that's the fear. That's how they have been able to silence people and check those of us that would rather have different opinions. When you say that someone, when you use that phrase, when you say touched not my anointed, that means you cannot question the person. You cannot give opinions that are contrary to what the person is saying. So it puts that person in a position of whatever the person does goes. And we need to... I know that has been a problem because at some point we no longer question certain things, even if they are against our personal conviction and opinion because it's coming from this. So of course, Mr. Makarone, I would always say touched by account number. But every time the state has been in love with religion or religion has been interfaced with the state, what has happened has always been the crusades or something disastrous. You know, it's unifying state power with religious power. It's one of the most dangerous things that can ever happen. For me, if we are to move Nigeria forward, first, diverse that. Another thing that can save Nigeria have always been a proponent. End state of origin, state of residence. If we start state of residence, a chika can come from Kano. A musa can come from Lagos. A shagun can come from Enugu. And once that happens, they can also take political positions to diversify Nigeria. That's what America uses as its strength. Hillary Clinton was not born in New York, but she became a senator in New York because she's lived there most of her life. So I think we, being honest, we must learn to use our culture to whatever strength we can so that we can develop this country. There's nothing like Nigeria. More than 250 ethnic groups in one territorial boundary. But what we don't have is we have not created an ideology which drives the issue. I agree with you, Mr. Makarone. You want to say something on that? Yeah, it's pretty much what I said earlier. Religion, for me, is not the most powerful weapon, or should I say tool. You see, the hold that religious leaders have on their followers is very strong. You find people that cannot even, you find people engage with their religious leaders rather than people around them. If something happens to someone, you'll be shocked that some people, they won't talk to their husbands. They won't talk to their wives. They will go to their pastor. And when the religious leader says, this is what you should do, the person will do it. So imagine that type of platform, and then a political person, a governor, whatever it is, comes to that setting. And the religious leader is raising the hand of that person up and saying, this is the person that God has shown to me that will move the people. Even though he is not the will of the people. What do you expect? So now you religion and impose politics on the people. A particular church. I have doctors that attend that church. And I saw the doctors position on COVID. I was hurt. These are trained medical doctors. But they are a loud religion. For me, it feels like ignorance. And it's bad. Most people will say, ah, you're trying to stop God's work. I don't think it was God's intention to turn man into a robot. Because if you wanted to do that, you would have just kept all of us in one place and be giving others. But he's giving us free will. And he said, the defense between man and other animals is that he has given us free will. I don't think religion on any parameter, be it in Northern Nigeria or Southern Nigeria, should be a parameter to judge how man lives or man works. We've seen Arabian countries take themselves to the next level. And that is because they opened their borders beyond religious extremism. And the truth is, as much as Nigerians will say it's what we call one religion extremist, I believe another religion extremist is just that they wear suits while being extremist. Another thing that's also bad for me is that all the people in the politics space as it were are also all encapsulated inside this religious stuff. And so when you now begin to also look at how effective politics is working, you're now wondering what exactly are they learning from the religious space because most of all these politicians belong to one or two religious settings again. Of course now it is for the grassroots people. Now the poor man, the career for them. No, thankfully because they use them, those ones, you know, because they are less privileged. They would, whatever you say, they would accept. But these people from this religion, in their corners, they are all friends. They are all friends. Let me be honest. Politicians have found out one thing and this is a hard thing to say, but it's the truth. Politicians have found out one thing. If they delivered governance, nobody would go to church. I'm sure the church is even on this. Because if governance were fine, nobody would go to church almost. Because most of the people go to church almost. For financial gain, for promotion, or for desire or something. They want to advance. Things are not working so they need the miracle. The moment those so-called miracles are present, you will find out in about 80 years. They need the anointing to be touched. We were saying it before. I went to a state just last week and for every bus stop, I see a signpost. So a state is in the hands of God. I don't understand what that means. So the other state is in the hands of God. So that means the government in that state is saying anything that happens. You know a friend asked me that question two days ago about a particular state where there is a problem. Does he mean that this state is also in the hands of God at this point? Basically, I think if you look at it, religious leaders have more to do on this particular topic. So after the break, we're going to take a quick break now. And after the break, I'll be talking about how our humanity as a people is being politicized. Stay with us. Politicizing our humanity. You see, Nigeria today has become a den of unknown gunmen. And I say that because for every new report you see now, any news, anything, you see unknown gunmen kills 20. Unknown gunmen kidnaps 50. So any small thing is unknown gunmen and the level of insecurity in the country today has risen. So today we no longer ask whether our lives and properties are secured. We only ask who is next to be killed or kidnapped. We check and we say, OK, whose family is next? Which family is going to be thrown into mourning? So right now Nigerians are only waiting and we are waiting and saying whose turn is it going to be? The level of insecurity in the country has become extremely worrisome. The lapses created by government, by the inaction of government. You know, government had the opportunity to nip this insecurity in the board. You know, it was, when it started, you know, it started like play, play, play. It wasn't this bad. It wasn't this bad. But now because of government's inaction, we are caught up and it seems as if there's nothing that we can do about it again. So now it is even worse. It is worse that we as citizens are not making enough noise about the right things. We are concerned about some other things. Despite the worrisome state of our dear nation, the plague of politicizing every little thing. You know, we are quick to say, now this party, they run no more. Now this party, they do no more is because of this party. And so right now we are trivializing the problems and the challenges that we are facing as a nation. You know, so there are talks all over social media claiming that the violence and actions leading to the high level of insecurity, which now threatens our very existence, are sponsored. Members of the ruling and opposition parties have thrown all caution to the wind and the exchange blames. It is this party, it is that party rather than just actually recognizing terrorism for what terrorism is and taking actions to stop the incents and killings and kidnappings which is threatening the very existence of Nigerians. We must stand united or four divided. We must stand united. Nigeria is at the very brink. We are at the very brink of war. You know, and I don't think we are saying this enough. I think everyone is just looking at okay, maybe because they never touch me. They look at me and everyone is just playing with the situation. The situation has become so there and would worsen if we do not join voices and actions and implore the government to take decisive actions to protect the lives and properties of the people. We must educate and reorientate ourselves. We must advocate for peace and tolerance. Negative and irresponsible tribal comments. It has no other thing to do than to incite violence. So it breeds this intolerance that we have for ourselves. And this tribe will say, if these people come out we will go get peace and all those things. And then we wonder why some people are killing another tribe and why another tribe is killing another tribe. So I feel we must be able to preach peace and preach unity. You know, if at all we want to see the end of this insurrection. We... Okay, I have always said this and I think this is time to say it again. In terms of if we are talking about security, I think the time for decentralization is now. The power that the federal government wields as far as security is concerned is too much. And it would seem that even that power now is overwhelming. So such that they don't even know what to do with the power again. Assigned state governments with the task of security responsibilities. Yes, at federal government level there are some powers that you cannot just take away. But let the security apparatus in the police, security apparatus that you have, let them be responsible to state governments. Let state governments take charge. Let them take charge. A governor of a particular state will not be looking while the state is burning. And the governor is crying to federal government to come and help. So what then is the duty and what then is the work of the state government? You know, we had mentioned earlier, but I'm just going to chip in again that religious leaders have a role to play. You find religious leaders being totally irresponsible and reckless with the comments that they make. Knowing fully well the power that you wield as a religious leader. Knowing fully well the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people that listen to you and take your word as law. You need to be very careful. You need to be cautious of how you urge people on. Because comments that you make in ways incite violence against perhaps other religions. And then you have this religion attacking this religion. Oh, they attacked us first. Oh, they attacked us first. So I think it is now is the time for these are for religious leaders to come together and preach peace and tolerance is very important. So once again, I would say I am conclusively that I think we need the there's never been a time to call for peace and to call for tolerance. And to call for unity as now using our voices using our platforms to advocate for peace. Because at the end of the day, like I said, it's just turning and turning and turning. And Nigerians are just looking at who is the next person to fall victim. Brilliant. Thank you. Brilliant. But I'm still going to ask for a count number. Very brilliant. Very, very brilliant. And I think one of the core problems that Nigeria didn't look at is let's go back to the beginning. Sometime in 2008 or 2009, Nigeria was warned. I was within government apparatus then. Nigeria was warned that the fights and the instability going on in sub-Saharan Africa was going to affect Nigeria. Government was also warned that the deforestation of the upper north, Zamfara, Borno, Katina was going to affect, because man naturally moves towards water, was going to affect and put pressure on the middle belt. 2008, 2009. Nothing was done. This is how many years later, say 12 years later, we are paying the prices of not listening to what should have done. There's influx of a lot of people. I would also say because of political advantages, we brought some of them in. We are paying the price for that now. Nobody wants to stay this. And whether we like it or not, I'm bold enough to say that also hearing from some reports between communal clashes, between Intra-Nigeria and local governments within a state, we borrowed fighters from Chad and Niger to use against our own brothers within the local government. Guess what? They never went back. And now the whole melting pot is in Nigeria. We can't handle things, we can't do anything. We must also add the complacency of our security forces. How do you expect 400,000 policemen, sorry, about 510,000 policemen right now, 510,000 policemen to police 200 million people? Of which half now with VIP? That's exactly what I was going to say. And UN stipulates 1 to 10, at least policemen. And we are 200 million people, 250,000 about policing 200,000, it's not possible. I think this issue of security is something that we really need to, they both said something earlier. We are not really making so much noise about the right things. We are majoring so much on minor issues and then the major issues, we are not even minoring on them, we're just not talking about them. And this issue of security, I think it has to be the number one, the major priority of any government. Because at the end of the day, it's only someone who is alive that can actually fulfill proposals that can do a lot of things. Look at what's happening right now. Before, they both said something that is very, very critical. You know, we have this culture, if it is not happening to you, you just say it is happening to them. Before now, everybody was thinking that this was about the north. It was about the north east, it's in Medugri, it's very far, I can't go there, nothing is taking me there. And gradually it started coming down and we could see it's just here in Benwe. Somebody was like, okay, Benwe, it is not here. Are you negating the actions in Ekitia? It's already here. I'm just saying that gradually it started coming down. And right now, even southeast, it's not even, you can't even spare. The other day, we heard that a sitting governor, a sitting governor's house was burnt. Now I asked myself a question. If a sitting governor, now this is the chief security officer of a state, if his house could be burnt, who is safe? Who exactly is safe? The number one man who is supposed to secure the lives of millions of other persons, he cannot even secure himself. So what are we even talking about? I think we really need to come out and start really decentralizing this security because if we have a situation where everybody in the community knows everybody, if a stranger gets into a community, everybody knows that this person is not one of us. And they also know what everybody does. Once you start going out, I mean, you can't be a palm wine tupper, and then all of a sudden when certain activity starts happening around, they quickly understand that this is not part of our culture, and they can either call it to bear. And if they also go down to decentralizing security, what also happens is that the laws and the rules and regulations of that particular community will be reinforced. So it's like in my place, there was a time that there was this rule that when people commit offense, they bring them out in the public and they flock them. Now you cannot wait for somebody in Abuja to come and flock somebody who committed an offense in my community. Because before you even know, you even say Jack, the person has already been punished. And when he's punished outrightly, it sends a message to everyone that sees nobody is exempted from this. Because that's also another thing. In Nigeria, I strongly believe that there are no consequences for actions. For actions, yes. There are no consequences for actions. And because there are no consequences for actions, nobody has been made a scapegoat. Things will continue to recycle around. Even right there in the security system, people are not, okay, look at all the whole thing that everybody is having. Nobody is sacked, nobody is sanctioned, nothing is happening, things just happen like that. But you know, I'd like to add this here. I remember when the president was summoned to come and visit the House of Rep. And the attorney general, Malami, said the House of Rep, based on the immunity of the president, cannot summon. Of course, there's also within the constitution, you will find the president too should brush his teeth at eight o'clock. But in the act, creating the National Assembly, he states that the National Assembly can summon any Nigerian. There's no limitation on that clause, any Nigerian. So except they are trying to say, it's the Bill of Sudan, which we know is not true. As long as it's a bona fide Nigerian citizen, whether you are in diaspora or in Nigeria, the National Assembly can summon you. I would like to add also that I've never been keen with state police. And here's the reason why four of you guys should be. The powers that the constitution grants governors is too high. I feel a simpler way is even going lower, LG police. If we had local government police, it would be so simple. And we had local government police that were indigenous to that community. If you watch movies now in America, you see sheriffs. Sheriffs are local and they are usually boys that grew up in the community. They know everybody. If you take a TV, a sheriff knows who did it. He doesn't need to ask. So if we are ready to police in that manner, bringing it down to the local government, which is basic flat life, not just state, the basic flat line, I think we might be able to solve a lot of our problems. I think we should even do one first. I think we should do one first. It has come to a point where governors are crying. Governors are coming and they are crying that we are helpless. Help us. So I want to buttress on this point again where you mentioned that there are zero consequences for actions. And that is one of the things fighting with us in this country. Look at when this thing started to play like this, especially the kidnappings. It started and then all of us were saying, ah, the kidnapped is... Now look at it today. Almost every day now, someone is being kidnapped. Even now, it is resulting into deaths. The kidnapper, they kill a number. Well now, kidnappers are even getting cheaper. My friend was telling me that off Bwari, which is about when you are entering Abuja, they can kidnap you for just $10,000. Just money to do. So when we felt that the government should do something, it looked as if some people were troublesome, but they were not able to arrest that situation. You know the government as usual. They will hide behind his PDP of 60 years to dodge. No, they said it is that we are suffering from consequences of 1972 or something. That is what happens when you bring Betamax politicians into a 4D world. If you use Betamax videos, you will understand what I am saying. Leave it like that. Yeah, so I wish we had you there to continue to talk about it. And like we were saying earlier, the situation in the country, the challenges that we face will continue to the top, the top, the top. But I won't say we should pray. We don't do pray since. So now it's time to take action. We must not get tired of using every means available to us to advocate for good governance. It's the least that we deserve. So guys, please follow us on our social media platforms, on Facebook, plus TV Africa, hashtag the advocate NG, or on Twitter and Instagram, at plus TV Africa, hashtag advocate NG. To catch up with previous broadcasts, go to plus TV Africa dot com slash the advocate NG. We'll go on a quick break and we'll be right back. History beckons. Who is listening hard enough to understand? According to Edmund Bock, those who don't know their history are destined to repeat it. It is a clear truth that Nigeria we know as the most populous black nation in the universe was built by youths in their 20s and 30s. Over the years, this same nation flourished and then went from bad to worse and further down the drain as it is becoming more complicated to even explain. Today, over 60% of our population is made up of young people who have all it takes to identify, deploy, and sustain solutions to emerging global problems, as well as to compete at the peak of any endeavor anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, they have been denied every opportunity to be and show the best God has blessed our country with. Isn't it rather sad that we boost of zero results despite the intimidating potentials and enormous resources and abundant wealth that we are blessed with as a nation? Today, we prefer to celebrate our youths from the other side of the divide. How do we keep smiling face knowing that we import everything from toothpicks to even things we can source from our backyard? Anyways, history is filled with examples of individuals, groups, institutions, and nations around the world who have had to go through terrible experiences and situations that would have wiped their entire existence yet had to find ways to stay above failure. More interesting is how they have deployed principles and proven strategies repeatedly to achieve remarkable success. I have been around enough to know that any success or result can be duplicated, provided there is the willingness to learn and apply the same steps and strategies that brought about the results in the first place. Success leaves clues, and all proven principles of success are encoded in history and other people's results. But with all the recent happenings and events in Nigeria on daily basis, one will begin to wonder why it has been a difficult task to learn from history. History gives us the opportunity to learn from past mistakes. It helps us to understand the many reasons why people may behave the way they do. As a result, it helps us to become more compassionate as people and more impartial as decision makers. I remember my first trip outside Nigeria. I couldn't wait to come back to share and practice most of the things that I greatly admired in those countries, like obeying traffic signals. But it was dashed because there has been no good route to even practice what I saw in those countries. I looked forward to bragging about the best schools and world-class hospitals being situated in Nigeria, but alas, those are dreams and fantasies I am yet to wake up from. Having been to a couple of countries, seeing how these countries are putting visible systems that directly affect the well-being of the citizens, it is obvious that Nigeria has a generation of leaders who are heartless and completely insensitive to the plight of the people. But again, you wonder who is really listening when the call of history is sounding so loud. You know, we must always say, this is our Nigeria. We don't want to give people a chance. You can imagine, I ran for political position. I was about 40 at the time, in 2019. They called me a young politician. When am I going to start calling me an old politician? I see like 50-something years old saying, we're the youth. I watched something today and they were saying we're the youth. I was asking for a presidential candidate. I said, I know this guy now. I went to check his seat. It's like 56. Maybe he's 36. You know the way things used to change. Maybe he can be 36 at some point. I heard in legal states, 20 years automatically taking from him. Like you are 29 now. How do you say you are 29 now? And everybody is adding 9. So we refuse to pay attention to our history. Funny, I think there's a problem we have chosen not to face in Nigeria. And that is, we're actually not fighting the older generation. We are fighting our own generation, paid by the older generation. We're not fighting the older generation. That's the honest truth. So we're actually not fighting the older generation. If those people refuse to collect the peanuts that they are collecting. Because who is the INEC? No, it's not peanuts. It's buying housing. It's not peanuts. They are doing well. Even you cannot ask for their account number. They are doing very well. They are doing very well. So they are the ones that turn against us. And that has always been the problem of the youth in Nigeria. Now, if you go back into the 30s and 40s, the youth had a united front. And they stood for an idea. But now to pull that, they will say, go away Joe. Who is doing it? Which of you can do it? If a 40-year-old says he wants to be governor of Lagos State, I know what will happen now. His friends will laugh at him. In short, let me tell you, go and sleep that night. But we are hoping Mr. Makawe, you know you are popular now. I want to add, you see, I made a video. I think it was after the second this thing, the one where the police arrested me and when they beat me up and all. So I made a video. We saw about two to three, two to four youth talking. Oh, the government is this. The government is that. And one of the politicians comes and then says, ah, he calls one of them. I says they call me. I have 150 million and I'm not using. And then that one says, no, in front of everybody says no. The politician throws the card on the floor, leaves. The guys, they say, no, no, no, no. Everybody left. End frame, it picks up the card. I didn't show what it was going to do with the card or not. There is a curse. It's a money curse. I call it a money curse. And people are quick to sell their conscience. People are quick to sell their conscience such that it now is very difficult. When some of us are saying, we just want, we just want everyone to have a level playing ground. It's not too much to ask. It's not too much to ask. And you now continue to wonder whether why is there so much insecurity, so much unemployment. Is it that difficult for a country that is so blessed? It's not. But you find out that the youth are working against the youth. The youth are working against the youth for the, I don't know what to call them, for those that have spent all of their lives. Those that spend their youth. They are youths. Exactly. You know what I even find most painful? When you have programs or seminars that have been on or virtual seminars, and then they bring the people that have destroyed this country to come and teach us how to develop this country. Exactly. I don't know. I see some people. And again, that's also where you find some religious spaces where because somebody is now an acclaimed politician in court and then they are inviting us to say, he's a man of God. He's a man of God. He's a man of God. Because he can open Bible. See, that's what I was saying. He can now come and open Bible and then pray and all these things. The atrocities that they commit in the name of God in this country, I'm sure God will be like, It's insane because I know about a particular country in Africa where at some point they closed down 6,000 churches. Closed down 6,000 churches and focused on their ideology, on what makes them unique. They focused on it and while everybody in the world was like, nonsense, antichrist, blah, blah, blah, blah, today that country is one of the most developing countries in the continent. And they don't bloody care about you. So at that point they could not set rules and guidelines. You want to do, you play your church, you want to do anything. You have to align to the guidelines that they have set. The other day I was on Clubhouse and then somebody was giving an instance how their house where they were living, there's a mosque in front and there is a church by the side. So at some point the church guys came in later and then mounted very big speakers. Earlier on the mosque were just doing it quietly inside where they were going and they mounted very big speakers and it was facing the mosque and then the mosque eventually got their own money, raised their own speaker and it was facing them. Do you know what noise pollution does? In developed countries just play music and increase the volume in your room. A police will come and give you a ticket for noise pollution. So I really think that this country a lot needs to get in place religious sectors, all these people. Young people also need to understand that. Let me also point out that you see the answers is also something that I learned something that is very remarkable since I was born. That's the first time I saw young people unite together for the very first time it never mattered where you are from. It never mattered what religion you were coming from. It never mattered your ethnic group. It's all only mattered about one thing which is what Debo said, a level playing ground for everyone and right now they are forgetting. They are forgetting because you cannot see most of these young people who are agitating let's go to war, let's go to war, let's go to war and most of the people who are saying let's go to war don't really know what war is. I've always said this to people that always make the statement or people that are within the sectors or being paid by those that are bankrolled and I've always said this to them I say if you have 100 million and all your friends do not have money you have less than 20 million because you will help this one, help this one, help this one I say but if all of us in Nigeria have 20 million nobody needs to help anybody you are fine, it's greed, basic human greed and all of these inadequacies all of these poverty, these unemployment this lack of basic amenities is because they are weapons as well they are weapons used for the politicians used for the politicians to continue to control this fair look at that, there are some campaigns going on now against 2023 already going on that will provide food and what's the food? palaties from Covid so I mean why should that be a topic of discussion now that you will be providing food so you will provide food come that time why can't they have food now what happened that they've not had food before now so again this is a very important issue it's only somebody who is alive that will be alive to eat food in 2023 alright guys we thank you for your attention why the program lasted we hope our conversation resonated with you little drops of what I say make a mighty ocean don't forget the advocacy continues on our social media platforms on Facebook at plus TV Africa hashtag the advocate ng and on Twitter and Instagram at plus TV Africa hashtag the advocate ng to catch up with our previous broadcast go to plus TV Africa dot com four slash the advocate ng don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel plus TV Africa join us next week same time on this station let's keep advocating for a better society see you next time I would suggest that we begin to hold our leaders accountable I was inciting this country when things actually work I don't think that any organization should be above the law and I think one of the challenges we have in this country is about governance across the board what I'm saying is that it doesn't really affect us in Nigeria it doesn't affect us at all I don't know what we can do if the system is already corrupted we've been warned as a continent of the influx of the Chinese if you don't repay your debt they will just to colonize you