 Nigerians react as Brigadier General Zama Zirkusu and four other soldiers lose their lives at the battlefront in Bulguma, a few kilometers from Askira Uba, local government in Burnham State. Niger railway workers spoke out as they issued a three-day warning industrial action, bill to commence on Thursday, November 18, 2021. They said that the safety of passengers who use the train is in the hands of workers who receive less than 30,000 hours. And as always, we will be reviewing the papers on off-the-press this morning with our guests and sharing with you some of the major stories making headlines across Nigeria this Monday morning. With a few minutes gone after 7 a.m., we'll say good morning and thanks for joining us on Plus TV Africa this Monday morning, the 15th of November, 2021. I am Osau Gye, Ogbama. Welcome to the breakfast. And I am Merciable. It's good to have you join us this beautiful Monday morning. We hope you had a very brilliant weekend. We're of course going to be starting up the conversations this morning with talking about the top trending stories, just two of them, that have of course created conversations across Nigeria over the weekend. For some people who didn't necessarily have a great weekend as good as Merci's, who we're starting of course with a person called Samuel Ogundipe, I hope I pronounced it right, who is of course a publisher of the People's Gazette. If you know that Media House is an online media platform that has been very, very popular in the last few years, mostly churning out media reports and investigative reports on the Nigerian government and beyond. But the story is a very dirty one for Samuel Ogundipe this morning. Of course, these are still allegations. It is said that he's currently on the run from the EFCC and the DSS after he is accused of trying to take some amount of money for a blackmail rather, a certain very popular person, Alan Uyema, the owner of Airpiece Airlines of $300,000. The story basically says that he had written a story on Airpiece Airlines on Alan Uyema and of course had called him. I reached out to him to tell him that there was a story that he was working on and he was going to go ahead to publish it, these are the allegations, except of course he got some money from Alan Uyema. And then it goes on to say that Alan tells him that this story is a false and that no part of it is actually true. But of course they eventually got to talking about how much money was required to end this conversation and Samuel Ogundipe allegedly then says $300,000. Alan Uyema offers $115,000, they come to an agreement and then he invites him. At this point, Alan Uyema then reaches out to the DSS and the EFCC who then ask him to continue with the conversation and then it goes on and he invites Samuel Ogundipe to his office to pick up the money in three tranches. Samuel then says that he's not in the country at the moment and he will send an assistant to pick up the first payment. And so he sends one of his staff I believe, a female, she goes to Uyema's office and then she's arrested by the EFCC and the DSS operatives and that's where the story wraps up. So it's basically a very, very dirty story. Normally when you see things like this, the first thing that will come to mind for a lot of people would be that it's simply just a way of the Nigerian government trying to bring down a media house, an online media platform that has been very, very vocal. Putting out anti-government stories or at least putting out some very, very damning investigative reports on the Nigerian government. But I've looked at it also and I would say that I don't want to just hold that narrative. There seems to be more of it or more connected to it because you wouldn't necessarily drag Alan Uyema into a messy situation like this. If there wasn't some element of truth here and there, might be 10% truth, might be 90%, nobody knows. No, but you know, I'm thinking that, first of all, if this is anything to go by because according to the law, he's innocent until he's been proven guilty by a court of competence jurisdiction and so therefore it is what it is. But if that story is something to go by on ethical, it's actually unprofessional of him to do that. So yes, it's possible that yes, there's an element of truth to the story that yes, Alan Uyema did XYZ according to that report. But the fact that he's actually telling him that if he gives him, he needs to take money not to publish a story, it doesn't make sense. So if you have a story, have a report and you're sure that everything is together, you're sure that all of your facts are correct, why not put out a story rather than wanting to blackmail. I think that's where the issue is. But like you rightly mentioned, fingers are going to be crossed until this is also another... We're going to clear the air because I think everything now falls on his table. It is left for him to now come out and say exactly what the situation is. If there truly was a story concerning Alan Uyema or Airpiece Airlines, if there truly was a conversation on $300,000 or some blackmail, if he acts for money or he was offered money, I mean there's a lot that needs to be unraveled here. But we cannot act like these things don't happen. We can't act like in Nigeria's journalism space today that there aren't reports that don't get put out simply because somebody was paid. I'm sure that those things happen. No, no, that's the story correct. You cannot point any direct fingers because you don't know who and who is involved in situations like this. Sadly, this is the people's gazette that a lot of people have trusted for a long time now, mostly in current administration because of the reports that they've put out. And so this might do some damage to their reputation and to the credibility of their reports and some of all of that. But, you know, once again, it's really dependent on what Sama Lo Gundipe is able to say from here because it's really left to him. He worked at premium times. I remember when he was at the premium times and it was also very popular at the premium time before then setting up the people's gazette. So everything really, the ball is in his court. It really does. And we're hoping that you remember it time over time. You constantly hear the fact that journalists have been accused of the Brown envelope and the fact that they heard the stories. And that's really not cool. We have talked about corruption over time and corruption is not just limited in a particular space. Like I always say, you might not become the president. You might not become the governor tomorrow or a senator or chairman of your local government. But I'm saying in the sphere where you have control. What are you doing with that control? What are you doing, you know, at that little corner? So everyone in everywhere that we find ourselves, you know, little, you have control over something. And if we begin to shine our lights and begin to sound our spiritual now, well, if we begin to do the right thing, I'm saying, imagine that you do the right thing. Let's follow the procedures, the practice of what we ought to do. I remember a time where one of my relatives had to share an experience of, you know, getting to a hospital. And then you find out that the doctor is trying to play very smart on you, trying to tell you that you have XYZ. When you don't have it, you have some kidney failure. It could be, you know, all of that fear so that you could probably, that could charge you for more and treat you for what it actually is. Maybe you just have a fever or malaria, but then they constantly tell you, oh, it could be kidney failure. It could be some liver issue. It could be cancer. You know, you have this. It looks like this. And then you'll be scared, controlled to actually drop more money. And then they'll be treating you just for malaria. So yes, the corruption is in every area of our economy. And like I always say, that's not on the president now. That's not on the governor. And that's on you. Let's do the right thing, especially in this profession. Because, you know, when you talk about the judiciary, people constantly say the judiciary is the hope of the common man, as well as the media as well. I mean, we're there, you know, to be the watchdog of the people and for the people. And we cannot compromise, you know, the practice. I mean, I agree. You know, but once again, you know, these are still allegations. And that's what they would be until there is some truth, you know. And sadly, well, not sadly, actually. This is, you know, the level of information that we have concerning this. It doesn't mean that it's not true. There's a tendency that, yes, there's an element. It is true. Also on the other hand, it's also possible that it could also be government. Absolutely. It could also be that government is just the... And that's why we need to hear from the other side. So, you know, this is... Like I said, this is the amount of information we have on this story now. It is now left for Sama Lugundipe and the people's gazette to go ahead and share their own side of the story and let us know if all of this is false. If there was any interaction whatsoever, if there was any report whatsoever concerning Allen and Yemma, if there was any talk about money, if they have any conversations, you know, phone conversations that have been saved, if they have any text messages that have been saved, so that, you know, show that it's absolutely false. I mean, it's left to him. And I'm hoping, you know, that there is some clarity as quickly as possible. Hopefully. We'll definitely follow up. Also, talking money now, but not through blackmail. We're moving to talk about the CBN and, of course, certain financial institutions in Nigeria that have been called out on social media for closing or shutting down accounts of some of their customers. And this is with reactions to trading in cryptocurrency. I also got to see a report. And, of course, the focus mostly is on Kuda Bank and a few other, you know, banks in Nigeria. They've been called out bitterly by persons on social media and, you know, they've been accused of illegally shutting down accounts of their users for simply having transactions that they didn't necessarily verify where cryptocurrency transactions. This is in reaction, of course, to the CBN ban in the trading of cryptocurrency in the country. And, of course, the circular was sent out. I remember that I've also gotten to see a couple of other banks putting out their own internal memos, saying that, you know, because of the CBN's policy on cryptocurrency trading, you know, this is what needs to be done, you know, in order for them to save their heads and some of all of that. But Kuda Bank has been called out mostly because of the way and manner that it has carried out its own, you know, checks and balances with, you know, the cryptocurrency, you know, watch. The challenge with it mostly is that, you know, a lot of people have complained that even accounts that have no business with cryptocurrency have been closed because they seem to have fraudulent transactions. They seem to have more transactions than normal, more than is expected. But I'm going to share where I think the biggest challenge is because I understand the concerns of the points that people have made that this is illegal, that there is no law actually in Nigeria that says that gives, you know, any bank the right to close an account because it's not an actual law. The CBN doesn't make laws. But I think, you know, the argument for them would be that the CBN is the regulator. And, you know, these banks, the Kudas and the likes, can have their licenses withdrawn if they don't, you know, go through or follow through the policies that have been set by the regulator, which is a CBN. But I'm going to share something, and this is from one of the banks. It's compliance, advisory, and cryptocurrency dealings and transactions. And this is where I think the challenge is coming from. The fact that a lot of these banks do not do enough to verify exactly, you know, what these transactions are about. They do not, there is some level of stereotyping with, you know, the way that they are carrying out their activities. And that is where the challenge is coming from. It says here, and the topic here is the lead of the story says compliance, advisory, and cryptocurrency dealings and transactions. This is from a particular bank, one of those that was mentioned. It says, further to the email below, we wish to reiterate that the Central Bank of Nigeria is strictly monitoring noncompliance with the directive enclosure of all accounts involved in cryptocurrency for high impact regulatory sanction. In view of the above, all staff are hereby advised to again identify persons, entities, transacting or operating cryptocurrency exchanges within their systems and ensure that such accounts are closed immediately. I'm not going to go further with it, but there are certain things that they've pointed out as red flags. The first one here says, I'm going to take maybe like two. Number one says, accounts receiving high daily inflows from a huge number of multiple payees from all over the country. Staff responsibility is engage customer further and involve and inform compliance. So this one for me doesn't really make a lot of sense, but it's really not enough reason for you to be shutting down an account simply because the person is receiving inflow from different parts of the country. You remember the time where the EFCC, at the time where you had the chairman, Abdur Shik Power saying that banks gave the instruction that banks should investigate the source of incomes of your customer before accounts can be opened. It's more like one of the same thing that we're talking about right now. First of all, we begin to ask the question, what are the banks created? The banks are created for us to, you know, put our valuables, keep valuables and keep monies. And that's it. I don't know if the banks were created for, I mean, they were meant to audit, you know, the income of people. So it just makes it very confusing, not very confusing but totally embarrassing because it feels like we do not know what we're doing at this point in time as a country. Yes, you think you want to check out, you know, financial crimes and all of that, but should the banks be the one auditing and all of that? And I'm thinking that right now, he would actually pave way for cryptocurrency, you know, to be practiced. If you have these banks telling right now, I mean, how do you now call on EFCC on me that you found XYZ amount of money? I don't understand. It's completely madness. And, you know, it continues to look like Nigeria, the Nigerian government is fighting cryptocurrency or fighting innovation that they just don't want to thrive. But then we actually have the E-line. Well, E-line is not necessarily cryptocurrency. It's really just an online. E-line is like Kudabank. My point really is, it continues to look like the Nigerian government is trying to choke on people who are thriving somehow, some way. I understand, you know, that these banks fear the CBN. They don't need to wait for any directive or any court of law to give orders. Immediately the CBN sneezes, they catch a cold. Which shouldn't be so, because we live under democracy. But they shouldn't understand the essence that they were created. It's like you were created for a particular purpose. And when someone begins to ask you to do XYZ, that's not the way, that's not why they were created. I don't see any reason why the banks should be sneezing or should be freezing at the sneeze of CBN. But it really is because of the country that we currently are. And that's the same thing with telcos. When the Nigerian government said that Twitter should be shut down, there was no argument. They didn't need to wait for any court. They didn't need to wait for anybody. I mean, there was no legal directive with regards to that policy or that directive. And they all complied. So it seems like they are also living in fear. The banks, the telecom companies, and every other person seems to be living in that same fear of, oh, if we don't obey, we will have our license withdrawn or we'll be punished or something like that. They don't need to wait for any court of law for any court ruling on any of these things. And that's where the huge challenge is, why one person who heads a certain agency in the country can give a directive and nobody argues. Nobody points at that, oh no, we shouldn't do this. Some other thing. And I'm going to share some other thing with you. Number 20 on this list says accounts such as this, this, this, savings account, business savings account, whatever, a couple of accounts that they listed here. With high volume, listen, with high volume transactions operated by individuals between the eight brackets of 18 and 30. What is going on? Can you just imagine that? Between the eight brackets of 18 and 30 years are signatory. So you're saying that in the current Nigeria in 2021, a person between 18 and 30 is already seen as a criminal if they have multiple inflows into their accounts. It doesn't matter if they run POS businesses at the side of the road at the junction. It doesn't matter if they run food businesses and they have a lot of people ordering food every day. It doesn't matter if their makeup... It doesn't matter. It's pretty much the same... Apologies, it's pretty much the same way the Nigerian police would stereotype and criminalize a person that they see that is young and has a car or has a laptop. It's the same thing. You know the stereotypes? It also goes to the short, long way. A young lady pretty dressed up like myself right now and you've been tagged, you've been given all of those names and all of that. But it's quite worrisome. You begin to live in... It looks as if we're without laws. It looks as if we don't know what we're doing and it constantly looks as if there's a way the government is just trying to make life very unbearable and uncomfortable for people. You just want to understand, you can't take out the fact that here you have financial crimes, right? So illicit activities going on and what have you. But that's not the way to handle the situation. You don't begin to ask banks and begin to audit since when did that happen? And then the banks themselves can come together. They can't come together to begin to ask questions. Why should we do... Is that your job? Was that why you were created? Is that the papers you were created for? Let the government do their job. They need to find ways and pattern of checking out all of these excesses if that's the one to do. And then like you rightly mentioned, how do you not begin to say that if you find someone between the age of 18 and all of that, they're not supposed to have money. Let's not forget that sometimes people go to school. You remember that as well. So you have kids who are in school and then you need to send them resources for school fees and what have you. It's really, really sad. It's ridiculous to be honest. To be honest. All right. Those are our top trending stories this morning. Stay with us. We'll take a short break. When we come back, off the press kicks off where we have a review of the stories, making headlines across Nigeria this Monday morning.