 The Yoruba Pan-Social Political Group by Fenniferre has criticized President Mohamed Buhari describing him as an unrepentant tribalist. Its Secretary-General, Shola Ebisei, in reaction to the President's interviews with a broadcast media organization said his engagement was full of lies, inconsistencies, contradictions and utter disrespect for the ethnic nationalities, including the elected governors. On the issue of open grazing, they said the President should be told that the Yoruba people are solidly behind the governors that not an inch of land in the southern region will be carved out for any grazing reserves or cattle colony. Well joining us to discuss this is Adiwale Justice and Ayodhili Adiwale, both public affairs analysts. Thank you very much, gentlemen, for joining us. Thank you for having me. Alright, so I'm going to try to start with you, Ayodhili. The issue of Mr. President's interview yesterday, of course, it has many parts. A lot of people have criticized Mr. President's response to a lot of things, but let's look at Fenniferre's perspective in terms of the fact that the President seems to be someone who segregates against certain parts of this country. We know that there are several ethnic tensions right now across the country based off of the fact that the President, according to them, had not dealt with the issue of insecurity when he started and now it's a full blown problem that we all in different parts of the country have to deal with. Do you share the same opinion with Fenniferre and if you don't, why? Well, first and foremost, I think the time has come and people need to also try to look at the issues behind the surface and all of that. Fenniferre is very right to say that the heirs should have their ranch, is a private business, as I saw, a private business shouldn't have to entrench in the right path of order to realize their property is being lost. The President also is very right to say that the security system of former government and the local government, because they are the first in line when it comes to such matters, before the matter is brought to an end, I remember when I was chairman of local government, we used to have a monthly security council that had the military, as I said, the Army, the Navy, the DSS, the police, the NSCBC, the immigration, the traditional awareness, of course the various faiths that exist within my local government and the community leaders. But are those people able to give, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, but are those people capable of calling the shots? Because yes, you are security officers or chief security officers in your domain on paper, but in reality you do have to work with security agencies, can you call the shots for them, can you tell them when to jump and when to move? If we look at the case as it is now, if I go beyond the state government and the local government, I've given a narrative how it should be and how if those structures have been activated very well, we will not get to the states where we find ourselves now. But we have found ourselves here, and I think the best we can do, just like the legacy government does, is in the ministry of agriculture. I know there are agriculture settlements, there are agriculture lands that the legacy government do readily lease out to farmers who are interested in such buildings and all of that. And I think we should also take the method of the understate government and the former governor of the state as controversial as some of his programs were, but he was able to also make a statement and of course, a fund and make the issue at the initial and not allow it to go out of process or out of way. The thousands of governments, the media, they are the initial mode and they have to move forward to a first thought. And I don't think this issue and beyond what each of the states can handle. And look at what the legacy government did recently to have empowered the police within the immigration law by providing some level of support. And I think with technological equipment also, like drones and all of these things, things can still be very handled. I'm going to come back to you on the legacy government and what it's done in terms of its security, because there's a lot to deal with. But let me go to, I'm going to come to Adewale. I don't know if he's still on the phone. Is he still on the phone? Yeah, I can do it. I can do anything I can say. Okay, but let me stay with you because I think Adewale, Mr. Justice is not on the phone right now. You're talking about what legacy government has done every single day for the past few days. There has been reports of broad daylight robbery. So I'm trying to look at the reality, how realistic what the legacy government has done on paper. The effect it has on the daily lives of people, legacy used to be one of those states where you have hope that, you know, we're safe. But unfortunately, that's not the case. In fact, I think last month we also had reports of people being kidnapped while they're going for ronds in Lagos, of all places. So when you say that the government of Lagos State has done something in dealing with the insecurity that we're facing, how well has that worked out? Well, what I mean is that looking at what they did yesterday is provided more support to the police to also reinforce them and to help them to combat crime. What you see or what they are seeing is an outfall of the hijack of the entire protest, of the hijack particularly, and the police morale has been dampened, broken, and it takes some detection time to build up that morale. And that means the police then must have to manage the world change by themselves. Because the legacy government has given adequate support. It might not be realistic, but at least adequate for the number of personnel that are needed to be deployed to be on the piece now to do that. Like I told you, not too long ago, but I used to be the chairman of a local government, and I know how I handle my local government. I was not solely living in the hands of the police, but of course working with the various additional police officers, I knew the black spots and I knew how to arrange men putting boots on the ground, at least 300 meters to 1,000 meters apart at some certain times we don't have to be there to put our presence and we don't any of the same situation. Okay, Mr Justice, I'd like to point out some of the things that Affenifera has said concerning Mr President's interview from yesterday. They had said that President's outburst was full of lies, inconsistencies, contradictions, total disrespect for ethnic nationalities including state governors. I remember the President saying that governors need to not just vie for offices and sit and wait for the federal government to do their jobs, and my question is, if power is at the center and we all know that the security chiefs, the forces and the detachments that are in different states wait for the federal governments, orders from the bosses at the center before anything can be done, can governors really be blamed? Again, on the issue of open grazing, governors of 17 out of 36 states of the federation have already put a ban out on open grazing, but the presidency has come out to say that he is in support of open grazing. Does this not bring some form of confusion as to how we deal with this issue of farmer-header crisis? Unfortunately, we will have to let Mr Justice go because his connection is very bad. But back to you, Ms Tadewale, I guess that you're going to be answering all of these questions. So let's talk about the issue of open grazing. 17 state governors out of 36 states, including the FCT have said, because, you know, again, you have said that governors have a job to do. They have decided that they want to make sure that they protect their lives and property of the people in their states, and they have taken this stand. But the president has come out ordering the AGF to go ahead and get land or acquire some land for open grazing routes, as opposed to the powers that the state governors have. Like somebody, I spoke to a few minutes ago, detailed us that the powers to all the right to land lies with states. So why would the federal government be putting out such a message? Well, I think you've just answered a question from your marine field. You said the president directed in general to lie to the state government in order to get some open grazing routes. If those routes are not enshrined on the right of all the people, like farmers and all of that, I think those routes can also be fenced, and it becomes the right and all of that. By the current state government, to provide a very big zero gap that they call it, and they also I'm sorry, there's a difference between a grazing route and a cattle ranch. I'm sorry, there's a difference between a grazing route and a cattle ranch. Now, if you must have a ranch, we all know the procedure. I know what I'm saying. I know what I'm saying. You said, you said, I'm quoting you. You said that the president directed, you are telling each other lie here with the state government to provide these routes, right? And I said, those routes can be combatted and arranged as long as it does not infringe on the right of orders, and those routes can be fenced off. You can't fenced off a route. If you've been to London before, you see the train tracks, you understand the British government fenced off their train tracks to prevent people from committing suicide and all of that. So if the federal government is liaising with the state government to preserve these grazing routes, it also means that the federal government must not fence off these grazing routes so that this cattle will not move out of these grazing routes. And it implies that the grazing route becomes a ranch. That's what I'm saying. This is not the first time that the idea of ranching has been thrown out there, but then, of course, these herders have said that they're nomadic in nature, and this is how it works. There has been a system that has been in place over time, and of course, this is how they have continued in that light. But now the state governors have decided that no more open grazing. If you want land, you have to pay for it. You have to, you know, there's a modus operandi. And so you're agreeing with me, obviously. You're saying that since the governors have taken this stand, no matter what the president says, it is the power lies with the state governors to decide whether they can get land. The constitution to write on is put in the hands of the state. So I'm very sure the president knows that. That's why they're still there to be general, according to that issue. Now, if the federal government still insists on the grazing routes, what I think the state government should put on the table is that the federal government should provide the funds to fence off these grazing routes, so that no cattle will move out of the route. And they must also put technology to make sure that these routes are also well protected from pastoral resources, you understand? And all of these things issue before or the state government can also assist the federal government at the request of the federal, and the federal also must meet with the terms and conditions of each state to provide huge lands that can be turned into a ranch and totally for the ranch. Let's talk about, finally, because we're going to wrap up, we're almost out of time, a fellow failure have claimed that the president has always been a tribalist. They point out the lopsidedness in his appointment. They claim that the president has no solution, but rather that his body language is more of a braggadocious person. In fact, they are saying that the president has continuously only said things that would be too sensitive and would cost, they said that the president apparently, I'm just trying to change the statement, they're saying that the president is making certain parts of this country, different ethnic nationalities feel less than others. But quickly, the president did say recently before this interview that he's done everything. In fact, he said he'd done his best in dealing with the issue of insecurity. And I can never forget that video because he did say, what else do we want him to do that he's done everything in his power to deal with this insecurity? If our president is saying that he's done everything in his power and yet we still have insecurity as at today, a hundred students have been kidnapped from a polytechnic again in Kaduna State. Does this mean the president is out of ideas? Does this mean that the president has failed? Is he telling us that we will continuously leave through this insecurity because he has done his best and maybe his best is not good enough? I'm not a spokesperson of the president, but I just want to speak like a realist now. We have separation of powers. We are states, we are local, and we are the president. I believe that in this separation of powers, each and every stricter of government must work together. The first thing in security is for you to have information. The president cannot get adequate information at the local level if there's no cooperation from the local level down to the state for the various security agencies to put into action and still make that data and all of that. We're looking at that quite frankly well. In terms of logistics and financing, the federal government will not deploy all of the resources to protect the state and of course protect the local. Each of them also has some level of resources to be deployed into effective security of their various territories. That is why I made an example from the legislative government that dipped its hands into their financial strength in order to support the federal government. I am an advocate of state police. I'm an advocate of local government police. Until we reach that end, I think the states and the local was moving more frontal to work with the communities. There are various communities to get information and they must form a synergy with the federal government in order to tackle all of these things. If we keep dumping everything to the federal government alone, we will not solve this problem. You can imagine you bringing a police officer earlier from Sokoto to come out of police somewhere in the legal states or in Delta states and all of that. It cannot work and we need to do that also. You take people down there, it cannot work. So we need to develop a strong synergy. But above all, we also need to restructure all of our constitution. Well, thank you very thank you so much. Thank you so much. To have state police and I am the local government police. We need to go. We need to go. We need to go. Adele Adele is a political analyst. Thank you very much for being part of this conversation. We appreciate your thoughts. Thank you. All right, well, we'll take a short break. And when we return, I will give you my take stay with us. Here's my take. For every time we expect and maybe feel that we're making a headway in this country, especially in the fight against insecurity, we come to realize that we've taken 10 steps back. It's not because we're a country filled with clueless people. No. It's because we're a country with leaders who know what to do, but rather than do it, we seem to politicize it and ultimately make it about ourselves all at the expense of the common man. Why? Why make us suffer when you promised us peace? Why let the bloodshed continue when you assured us of our safety? Why play ping pong with the future of our dear country because the aftermath doesn't affect you? It's really unfortunate that our leaders swing into action when calamity hits close to home. Only they fix the roads if, you know, their friends or their families leave on that street. They only work in their interests, but our collective interest seems to be of no value. And I ask, why? Because people are dying on a daily basis. People are being kidnapped by bandits, killed by terrorists, and all they do is talk tough, but we see no action. How many more Nigerians must fall at the hands of these killers for the Buhari administration to come to our aid and be alive to its responsibilities? Should we stop shouting and screaming because it seems like we're not being heard? Should we throw in the towel and maybe wait the next few years? What will we tell our children that we did not fight for the soul of our country? We must stop. I mean, we must keep pushing. We must keep fighting. We must keep talking until the right thing is done. We cannot give up. I'm Marianna Cole. Thank you for watching. Do have a good evening.