 All right, welcome back. Time to look at all the papers I've seen this morning. Of course, we have a legal practitioner, Tunde Kolo, standing by. And he will bring his wealth of experience to bear as far as this segment is concerned, where we look at what the papers are saying. Mr. Kolo, good morning. Thank you very much for your time. Good morning. Thanks for welcoming me. Well, Kolo, we'd like to set off with the leadership newspaper this morning. And it talks about the removal of fuel subsidy. The conversation is still with us. 68 days to hand over removal fuel subsidy before you go. The United States tells President Mohammad Abouhari, and you want to ask what is really the interest in this conversation. President Take Stock says, I have addressed insecurity, separatism, agitation and all thefts. These are riders you find underneath the board caption. No manipulation can overturn our results in Abia. Alex O.T. is quoted to say, terrorism, federal government rearranged negotiators, a move on 10-count charge. Again, you find narrow scarcity by Tata as MPC increases interest rate to 18%. I'm really shocked shortly after the directive. One would expect that the narrow should be overflowing at this point in time. But a lot of Nigerians are complaining about the unavailability. I can't wait to share the thoughts of Kola Wale on this one. The PDP wins Taraba Zamfra polls. Dari Shox, Matawale. APC wins Niger state and Tinnable Flays. The issue of ethnicity and violence is still right here on the pages. Now Ramadan Muslims look out for the new moon today. Today being the 22nd of March. And just before we move away 21 days after, Tiku OB file petition against presidential elections. Benway Governor-elect says, I don't need First Lady to govern as experts explain why Matawale or more Gege and Abu Bakar orders last. I don't need First Lady to govern. Well, I'll sit this morning on the leadership newspaper. You know the picture of, like we say in this part of the world, Fada is quite handsome on that front page. So intrigued to know what kind of governor he will be. Very quickly, let's go to the nation newspaper. I'll take just a few because some stories are repeated amongst all the papers. President-elect election is over. It's time for healing. Tinnable decries ethnic politics. Violence. Washington Post rates polls high in spite of hitches. Declare me winner. Or cancel election will be urgent tribunal LP files. Three grounds petition. Some of the headlines on the front page. Is Kake, before linking him to linking Ainak chair to him? Well, we move our attention from the nation and we quickly look at the punch. It says protest rock, abya Nasad-Ewar over poll resolved, and Adebutu Kahnue, PC, Kahnzeid, asks Ainak to declare elections in conclusive. Labour, group, one, Tabea, Enugu, logium resolved as Oshun or your tribunals get at the four petitions. I did not interfere in polls. Result reflected Nigerian's choice as president, Mohammad Bawari, that a lot of Nigerians think differently. Attiku will be two others ask tribunal to nullify Tunibus victory. U.S. hails, INAQ and threatens visa ban over violence and intimidation over the elections that have been conducted for the past weeks. Economists fault NPC over 18% lending rate. Anugun X, Permanent Secretary, Y, found dead in Lagos home. Looks like we've seen the story before, like a deja vu. Federal government loses suit to recover 70 trillionaire loot. These are some of the headlines on the punch. All right, we'll quickly move over to the next newspaper, which is Nature News, and take a few headlines for what of time. COP28, Abdullahi joins other world leaders for climate ministerial meeting in Denmark. Experts collaborate to reduce emissions in Nigeria boosted economy. Sometimes I wonder if these things are just a mere talk or they actually mean what they say, because we don't see the same thing on the ground. Tunikolaoli, thank you very much for your time. Let's look at the situation in Ogunstata with a punch in East Ripper, Abia State and Nassarua State over the election results. I would like to believe you looked at it, you sort of filmed the footage of those protests in Ogunstata with the governorship candidate leading his supporters to the gates of Vainek, asking him to be allowed to submit a further petition following the first one that they found. And what he's saying is if you are, you know, organizing rerun elections in other states because of some inconclusive elections, why don't you do the same in Ogunstata? It's what they're asking, simply asking. And we had some of the protesters, the PDP supporters, I think, shouting, Aynek, ole, Aynek, ole. I even had one saying, Ayneki, ole. Tunikolaoli, your thoughts, please. That Aynek was even able to conduct a election in the southeast of Nigeria. In my own opinion, with the plus, a credit for them, you are now quite conscious of the mayhem that has dominated the whole, or permitted the whole environment in that place. The Aynek officials that went in there, I am sure, would have gone in there with a trepidation, fear of being attacked. So many Aynek officers were burned all over the southeast of the country. Many police officers were killed, some were killed, including some other security officers. So when you look at these backgrounds, you want to give a little credit at least to Aynek for being able to conduct a election in those places. But again, even though we are being told that America has given Aynek and the Nigerian people a pass mark over that election, but could it be said that this is the best election we could have had? The answer is no. There are a lot of shortcomings all over the places, even outside India and Nuku and the southeast of the country. There are some later actual materials, some will be ethos of politicians and their supporters, and various logics is a problem. But with that, I think, one would have expected that if they decided to conduct a election in those places and were able to conduct it, they should equally have made sure that there is not security safety bars at the foot of Ghana. So make sure that the coalition is in each free. But before we are leaving with regards to happy and some of these places were not there, that they were overvoting in some places. And Aynek has decided to shift the claim from the jobs, maybe comparing what they have in their drivers, what was manually written and all that. And you need some due diligence, you need some patience, you need some time to be able to do that. That might be the reason why the result is being delayed. But it shouldn't be unnecessarily delayed. The area that announced the results, if there are places they want to cancel it, they cancel it directly. If that cancellation does not affect the number of votes, number of local governments the expected one is supposed to get, then the election results declared and then return certificates, even to whoever is on the election. You can't keep the people in limbo for too long. The more you keep them in limbo, the more restless they will become. Alright, Tunde Kola Wale, I'd like us to talk about what's on the leadership, the fact that the United States is urging the president to remove subsidy before he leaves office. And now, however, remember that this government has said that subsidy will be removed before the end of, you know, the current tenure or this government. But the Minister of Finance has also put out some excuse saying the reason for the delays because of the elections, the censors and what have you. I'd like you to share your thoughts on this. Well, that call coming from the U.S. is very strange to me. Strange in so many respects. You will remember, as far back as when General Murita Lam Muhammad was a military head of state, we had come to one of the OU conferences in a disaster. Where you read the speech or where you made the speech saying that Africa has come of age and that the world powers, America, US, USSR, you stop dictating the beautiful of Africa, the direction in which their lives should go. So America calling on President Muhammad Wali and the Nigerian people to remove subsidy, it's very, very strange and quite unexpected. And it is not supposed to be coming from that quarter. The truth is, there is hardly any country in the world that doesn't give subsidy to its people when we are judging. The subsidy could be in the area of agriculture, it could be in housing, it could be in transportation and knowledge. So if we are Nigerians, that God has blessed us with this oil and decided to lower the price for our people to be able to live a comfortable life compared to the way, I mean, and manner and the ways at which it's been sold in some other parts of the world, it is our responsibility. So long way to balance our account with discipline, with fugacity in some other area. After the COVID-19 happened, you have noticed that some of these countries gave their citizens certain privileges, money, monetary support and all that. So pushing the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic So it is the society I am all over, with the difficulties we have in our hands, with the unemployment we have in our hands, with the high rate of inflation, with the scarcity of goods and services that we have in our country today to again remove the subsidy. If we remove the subsidy, it could lead to a lot of crisis in the society in our country that might lead to massive, massive uprisings. That when compared with the themselves uprisings, it will be a child's play. But the data that it made, I also want to say that the subsidy issue is the excuse that the Nigeria within Nalaya has been giving for so many years for their non-performers, for their irresponsible behaviour while in government, for their inability to fix the different pressures of our life that are leaking education, health, infrastructure like roads and all that. So when you look at those excuses over the years and all that, sometimes you tend to say okay, let them remove the subsidy. So I'd like to ask you, I'd like you also to speak to the thoughts of the Minister of Finance attributing the delay of the removal of this subsidy to the 2023 general elections and the forthcoming national population censors. Do you think that there's any logic in this excuse? No, there is. You see, when you look, the petroleum, it's the oil with which the Nigerian are shamed. It's erotic. Once you remove the subsidy and know that, if you have a multiplier effect on all the other pressures of our life, on goods, on services, on housing and all that, ability to move around very cheaply and efficiently and timely, it will have an effect on it. And if it has an effect on those areas and all that, the possibilities are that the Nigerian people may become restless and when they are restless and they begin agitation, all the ideas are surprising. It is likely to destabilize. Or it will have destabilized. They just concluded an election. And also it will also destabilize the censors that the government said they want to control before they leave their power. And these are very vital areas of our life that we cannot risk not in performance or carrying out. So to that extent, I would think that the Minister of Finance is correct to say that they have studied or they have delayed the withdrawal of subsidy so as to finish with the general election and then the censor that they have been on board. All right. Let's go over back to the Pan-Chinese paper to look at this story on the front page. And I think you give some reference to it. United States, U.S. hails, INEC threatens, visa ban over violence, intimidation. However, it's worthy to note the details of the United States Embassy statement because the headline may not really capture that. So I'll just read what the Pan-Chinese says very, very briefly and quickly. It says the United States has condemned voter intimidation, increased violence, that marked Saturday's governorship and state house of assembly elections in Nigeria. It says the rescheduled governorship and houses of assembly elections was held in 28 states in the United States. It says the U.S. Embassy in a statement on Tuesday said though the March 18 governorship and state assembly polls appear to have made or had significant operational improvements. And I think this is a combination to INEC calls, operational improvements. Significant ones are that however, commended stakeholders who spoke against violence and intimidation, visited on voters in part in the statement. Please permit me to read. And I quote, Nigeria carried out the second round of its electoral process with governational and state assembly elections on March 18. It continues, the United States is deeply troubled by the disturbing acts of violent voter intimidation and suppression that took place during those polls in Lagos, Cano and other states. It says members of the U.S. diplomatic mission, these diplomats observed the elections in Lagos and elsewhere and witnessed some of these incidents firsthand that they saw with their eyes. It said the use of ethnically charged rhetoric before, during and after the governational election in Lagos was particularly concerning. Your thoughts on this, please? What? I also read that maybe is the nation newspaper and which is also saying that that the United States are giving IEC and Nigeria a pass mark over the just concluded governational elections in Nigeria. What do you think now may be a different interpretation? I read except of the statement released by how to read the statement itself to give us an idea of what they are saying. I think frankly we might not want to even bring the nation into this conversation at this point for reasons I'm sure you're very well aware of. But I have to read except of the statement so we can give us a clearer picture. Some of the headlines doesn't capture the substance. That's right. What you're asking me to comment on? Yes, yes, absolutely. I have with regard to some of the Absolutely. Yes, yes, yes. Well honestly speaking I felt I felt bad I was thinking that in Nigeria who participated in which elections in 1979 seeing what happened in Lagos in Nagyogo and the southeast of the country and and I think also Kano who wants to weep for Nigeria for God's sake this is the 21st century and one would expect not just better conducts from the politicians but of restraint from their supporters. Why do I say this? We are in a need of enlightenment and given our experiences of the past it is little issues like all voter suppression ethnic categorization and then asking and mayhem but we saw in different places that precipitated some of the massive crisis that the country has had in the past and so to respect our people to have friends from some of these very very unknown actions that we saw especially during the last election two of the matter is that politicians whether they be in the ATC the PDP Libos or whatever are the same all of them cannot or they cannot beat their test but it isn't possible in one way or another some of the challenges that we have in this last election if it is about religion you find that all the all the political parties are equally guilty of religion in the sense that wherever they are stronger where they have numerical superiority over the opponents and others they have always suppressed the opponents in those places and carried out all manners of religion the religion in different manners and what have you look at the votes that have been turned out in the southeast in which of these is getting about 80-90% of some of those votes and look at what has also happened in the river state if you will recollect the parties used to be the permanent of the PDP in those days but they have performed very similarly at this time around so you have a situation in which they call the pot the pot is calling the kettle black if you are talking about ethnic profiling and whatever it's a thing that we should all describe and the constitution finds very similarly about profiling of people based on ethnicity based on the agenda and what have you in fact it will be described as a crime against humanity and you look at the situation in which you look around the world today the young people are engaging in mass movement from one part of the world to the other it is wherever they could find their daily bread live a comfortable life and they are guaranteed that they want to live and that is the way it's going to be for a long time to come so when we as Nigerians we as Yoruba's we as people another, go to some other places to settle we really want us to discriminate against all the answer is no a Yoruba lady recently contested to be pretty sure Prime Minister in Britain today the mayor of London is I think a Pakistani and then the Prime Minister is an Indian he also goes to a place like Italy and Spain and then the US a lot of our people are in the congresses in there they are mayors of Tanzan water so the kind of thing the suppression, the ethnic profiling and this mission that we saw totally legalism this last election about lives those kind of behaviours well I'm Tunde Kola Wale as we proceed with this conversation I'd like us to take a quick look at the punch once again it talks about the protest that you have rocking states like Ogun Abia Nassarowa over results or the polls of the results and so you know probably with that I'd like to ask if you think that this is you know the best way or this is actually the way you know to get any result do you think that this protest a lot of persons are planning protest I mean at some point we had the Labour Party saying we're going to have a nationwide protest some Nigerians are saying it should be limited to the states where they think that this has been unfairness or the results were not the expected outcome however it is but you are a legal practitioner do you think that this protest would yield any results or should be the way forward let me say very quickly that protest rally the opposition walk out strikes are part of the of the search for the rule of law and part and parcel of democracy you cannot beat a child and aside the child not to cry if I have all it advocated that we should encourage the people to protest encourage workers to strike when they feel agreed we should encourage the students to demonstrate that the state of education the country is not what it should be a protest culture is something that should be encouraged but it is with a caveat it must not be violent it must not lead to the social property it must not lead to killings of people and others people can demonstrate peacefully without any violence as we have seen in France today the French government changed the retirement age from 50 to 62 the workers in France are now protesting and they have been doing it for so many weeks now until two days ago it was very peaceful without any violence even the same violence one or two days ago now that is a civilized that is a civilized behavior so if it is not violent there is nothing wrong with that more importantly since most of these political parties are now going to the election president to ventilate their anger I would want to recommend that their supporters in the different parts of the country should seek this word of this demonstration so that it will not be seen that they are trying to tie the hands of the election president so of sway the election president's tribunal to give a valuable decision in respect of their candidates or what have you it is like to put pressure on the election president's tribunal to do their own beating where are you using P once people have submitted themselves to the tribunal they are supposed to I mean to take the status quo or whatever or a port of competent position give a decision on their grievances and not so if that is the same time we have to go now the musicians have this feeling after you have filed a petition I shouldn't be taking place anymore well thank you so much Kola Walee for being part of the process it's always a pleasure to listen to you show your thoughts on some of these issues we do appreciate you and that's the size of it this morning thank you so much for joining us we will return tomorrow of course with the headlines and then would have a different guest joining us but just before then we take a break and when we return we are looking at the issue of the fact that the Labour Party has decided to approach the court in asking for the nullification of the result of the victory of the president-elect we talk for that when we return please stay with us