 You're welcome back to the breakfast and plus TV Africa three days ago from a vice president at eco bubble car posted a thread of 27 tweets He was talking about the need for Nigerians to identify as Nigerians and not just as a northerner Sardinia Ebo house or Yoruba or any other tribe or religion he started with the words Nigeria is drifting and somewhere in between he preferred a solution That's a summit of national unity convened by governors our media consultant and a Tico's 2019 presidential campaign spokesman Shagun show me is joining us on the show this morning. Good morning, Mr. Show me Good morning plus TV. How are you guys doing? Well good good to have you as well? All right, so we know that Former vice president at eco bubble car has been speaking about national issues But this time around I want you to just hit straight to the heart of the matter and tell us what exactly is the key message I think is trying to put out there Well, I guess you know, I mean, it's it's a very different from that release Petrots must from time to time respond to what they see as probably present danger in the system You cannot really love this country at its level and be seen all of the country going in their separate ways Without offering something that looks like a suggestion or probably an admonition or even a way out What I think about car has done is to say that look Nigerians All of the things that we see is no reason for us to break up our country or to revert back to our ethnic lines Or tribal positions it started by saying that oh as far as this concern all he knows is describe is Nigeria Then he went to stepfather by say look It seems to be that the conversation around the country's National conference. Let's chat. Let's have a way to know what we want to do and then he said to the governor's You don't have to train the total just yet All of you as a bunch of leaders Managing the country at subnational level which are states divided into 36 and plus a budget You can come together You don't have to wait for just one person at the presidential villa or a president Whoever the president may be in this case is present worry Why don't you all come together and have this dialogue among yourselves? Raise the kinds of stakeholders you all need and promote and have this national conversation for national unity Driven not by the V line of which are but driven by the middle level authority Which are the governor so I think it's his own contribution to say I'm not keeping quiet I'm not just looking and you know taking any political capital from the crisis in the country I mean did demonstrating that every leader who is a statement was constantly Putting ideas that can unite us and get us where that's what the idea is. All right. Um, there's been some criticism Towards Take what book if you see if you look through there, you know most of the responses to that tweet or that thread There's people who have mentioned that he was silent at certain times And you know asking why he suddenly has found his voice now that the southern governor decided to meet And at other times when other northern governors had, you know come together, you know, he didn't You know have this ideas Also criticism for him not speaking out, you know, when there was you know conversations concerning the midst of Communications and digital economy is a pandemic. So how would you respond to to that? Let's say that we welcome the comments and the engagement when you make a statement at that level you want it to be again It's not engaged means nobody even ready When they're engaging it you take time to listen to what they're saying some of them You say okay, I can agree with this and we'll improve on it and some of them, you know, it's just mischievous in this Particular instance, I need to state that stated very clearly Nobody of article stature can ever be reduced to a talking parrot It's not his responsibility to speak on every issue and all issues and good job into every frame or even speaking a way that makes the situation All worse. Yeah, some issues require all the people to talk about Some issues require he speaks about and you must be fair to him Whatever you will say about that you cool. He has consistently acted like a statement bringing in ideas Communicating on his calling people to issues that require all of us to take pay attention to and it's very busy trade Now if you will say Why is it not talking when northern governors are talking? sometimes wonder When you state the two of yours, are you not just plain to the gala? Sometimes when the northern governor speak the issues already been engaged and there isn't any real Replact but when you have a station where southern governors for the first time come together not minding the party lines In one location you can see that the amalgamation of not a southern post sector it is already up for conversation When you add on top of that all of the ethnic jingoists and champions who are pulling from different set Then you know that we need to say something and if vice president the former vice president and our presence I can be a spoken. I think people should try to Limit themselves to what he has said asking him to to speak all the time asking him to talk on part timey asking him to speak even when somebody's dog is not eating well Asked him to speak when their wives don't get pregnant is unfair to someone who speaks all the time and when you look at the Twitter generation and that tell you that You engage them and you watch the way they behave and all of that You kind of like get the impression that we've lost it at some point in time in terms of national orientation. Why they're angry with everybody They're angry at everything. There's nobody that I spare. They have no Restrain is okay. Let's just leave the messenger for a second and take a look at the message And it does not indicate that we're developing Progressively of course, there's a lot of energy for young people and that energy must come out But I think that when leaders are saying don't let us destroy the country We must be happy to say, okay, we've heard this and you know, you never even know some of these things are trolls Some of these things are sponsored. Some of these things are political You know issues, but I always say and I say all the time When you are a public figure of the nature of article you must be ready to accept some amnesty version Amnesty version means a natural level of criticism that comes with being in public space. And so in that bread Okay, we take it I think we understand you have taken some of their comment It will speak some more where some more issues come up. You will talk about it But this particular one you have said it in the absolute interest of national unity I young child will not know the potential of the crisis before it comes Experience makes it another limit know that what another limit can still see said sometimes children cannot even see They're climbing on the tallest mountain I'll quickly also just ask if you can quickly share on this one is his ideas of you know governors all coming together, you know across 36 states Regardless of party lines and religious leanings Does that in any way mean taking away the responsibility from the president or Does it mean? Yeah, that doesn't mean accepting that the president at this time may not be capable of really put Nigeria under in the right direction I Think that it's consistent with our own idea of the pollution of authority and power and responsibility We cannot always insist that the one office of the one president Is where all ideas must come from is where all solutions must come from he was trying to say that look We've seen what the southern leaders have done. They've come together to have a conversation Why don't you stretch it a little further? Pull yourself together. You have a very wonderful platform called the Nigerian governor's forum Lock yourself in and read the modalities to assure that more Nigerians can participate in the conversation and driving Why must change or? Substantial issues of this nation. Why must it come from just the president? And I'm not sure that at this time I would say he's saying the president doesn't know and that's not it There's time for politics and there's time for national build what he was talking about and what he was trying to say that gentlemen governors Don't feel so helpless You are the ones that are in charge of your environment You know your stakeholders if you want to have a conference to discuss and engage Why not do it together shooting with champion? Some one Nigeria everybody in the country is not going to be a successionist and Definitely, I think we never subscribe to an idea of a country that is as magnificent and as glorious as Nigeria breaking up So I'm glad that earlier in your message you mentioned that you know You welcome criticism and that that's important as well You know when you take that because some of the comments we've seen you know Response to this message has been poking at the motive behind what Attiku said So could you clarify what you know might have driven Attiku to post that message on Twitter? It's the same day that Made Attiku speak when COVID was coming Before COVID hit the country Attiku was the first person to say let's close the airport. Let's close the airport There's no motive there when we started when COVID finally landed Attiku was the first person to say let's gather together And raise some money private sector. That's who he is It's unfortunate Sometimes I wish it was not a politician, but at last he is so when he speaks There's always not tendency to think that there's a political capital or political opportunity to take from it But you must measure the language that Attiku picks Any politician who wants to pick take value from the crisis now will not be speaking unity That person will probably be pumping the same hate and probably be blaming the president and probably be saying That's not what I think we're saying so leave politics aside Some leaders still believe that this country is worth salvaging So so if you say there's no political motive Can you confirm to me that Attiku has no plan to run for presidency in 2023 I don't understand how I don't understand how whether I think we will run for president or I think we will not run For president. I don't know what got got to do with speaking to national issues at this time And on that question of article running for president, let me put it this way Attiku is not a type of leader who doesn't research Listen shortly to what is going on in the country Examine his own soul to be sure that he can you know put it together and Contribute and all of these things that will come and help article to take a decision on running or not running He would take that decision in his own time No one should say that there's a gag on Attiku just because he ran for election in the past We know people in this country who just overheat the quality when things don't go their way We are members of this country when people are safe baboon and all of that will be dipped in blood You have never I repeat never found Attiku once say anything that is Indecorous about this country and if this generation Cannot say okay. We see a good man here Perhaps the future generation a historian would take a look at all things and say okay That was a Democrat. He really meant to offer his country. All right quickly speak also on his views concerning restructuring How much believe does he have in the fact that Nigeria needs to be restructured and you know explain also if you can What type of restructuring he might be leaning towards I Think that first of all you have to know that people come from the North East Sometimes we are we're quick to lump the knot together as though there are no underpinning issues that bother on Restructuring even in the north you cannot say to me that people of Benway who you call North Central would be happy with the process That doesn't give them enough opportunity to show themselves as egalitarian Detail the people in Southern Canada and also let's go easy on lumping Everybody that has a Muslim name from the North has been Comfortable with this arrangement. I've said Attiku believes that for you to have a great federation Especially now that you have a lot of young people in the population in bubbling and too much energy I think we believe you are not aligning to grow well If you strive for it by insisting that you want to take all the power in the center I think we believe that the powers that we put in the center are a way way way too much They're not the person who's sitting there is not going to be able to do it There's no jack of all three and I think we believe that we can begin to devolve power to the constraint path so that those parts can feel on Hinched one of the areas where I think was very strong one is that I think I've never been able to understand why we're not able to have Multimodern multi-layer policemen Policing that it allows the states to have police local government and all of that and don't forget them I think who came from a system and a generation where they knew how local government works And in their own times some of them were able sent us, you know scholarship by local government So they have seen a system that work. These are a this is a generation that saw the civil war This is a generation that saw all of our premiums And this is a generation that has also seen the military system and the unit system and the flaunt federalism were running now And before anybody would tell me that oh, why didn't that he could do it when he was vice president? Hello The kind of country we run the different between the president and the vice president is like a different between Heaven and earth unless the president keys into an agenda Sometimes it's difficult for any other person to push it the vice president truly is a spare tire Some responsibility is created But please do not hold article fully responsible for what vice presidents can do after all Or she but you who is a son of the whole family is in the villa now How come he's not been able to influence them to do a national conference It is the limitation of the kind of structure we want so article believes a restructuring He has always believed the restructuring is written a lot of book in restaurant restructuring is champion restructuring is the cost system We're structuring and I do not know if he decides he wants to run the Nigerians given opportunity You'll be sure that article will restructure almost immediately. Okay, so we understand, you know, this restructuring calls and One of the tweets here from article reads I call on Nigerian governors to stop waiting on Abuja To make changes and instead convene a national unity summit of all Nigerian governors to iron out the thorny issues affecting the destiny of our nation and figure out a way to resolve them, you know, that's basically what he's saying So I think one of the important questions here is who will build the cats which governor? Do you think right now will stand up to begin to make these conversations and leave? Well, they have a very they have a strong structure that works They have a governor's forum. There's a chairman of governor's forum. They have a south south or not It's out in a southern governor's forum. They have chairman of this guy, you know, the constituents say, you know Six you political as in governor's forum. Are you getting what I'm trying to say? They have a secretary up on the Nigerian governor's form. They have more than enough capacity ability All that is required is the political will and are you telling me that you can have a meeting of Governors in Nigeria If you can have them go to each other's wedding ceremony attend things to their children, you can have them meet a jerk You can have them meet on other issues Why can't they meet on an issue that seems to be very loud in the light in the hearts of their people? There's hardly any section of the country that is not talking about this matter Some of them are for it. Some of them are not for it We have tilted it to a level where quite a lot of noise is coming on on succession is that means people are even Actually asking to leave the country to leave the union. You can't have all of that and then not say to them Oh gentlemen, yes, we could wait for a good job. We want but in the meantime while a good guy is making up his mind Why don't you go nuts? Take the lead Well, yes, you just mentioned key stakeholders, you know when I asked who will build the cat and he said Political will is a challenge But I mean the minister of state for petroleum just yesterday saying said Categorically that the government does not lack political will So if the government does not lack political will you mentioned people to do it Like so when should we be expecting this national unity conference or something? The minister of state for petroleum, they need to know how that works Those are appendages of the presidency They can sit down there and wait for their leader to give them the north Governors, if only they know their powers are Separate respected independent entity living their own states Therefore, if the governor's forum platform will be used to convey a meeting of governors And I can imagine them now I bring the framework what can be discussed what kind of a discourse I can imagine them now saying how many representatives will come from each of the states or how many are they want to pick it up And I can imagine them saying, okay, we'll have that meeting. Maybe luck or just say, okay Yeah below our this is where look what that is. We used to be a capital here It's one of our ancient capital is the conflicted you can you if you can be chairman of the Committee to do the validation your Mars will provide us with an opportunity to have it there And if they don't want luck or just they can go to Calabar if they don't want Calabar They can go anywhere in the country the Nigerian landmass. We know where our borders are We can pick a budget we can pick Lego if you come to I'm sure my government will be willing to do it There is more than enough Space for us to have this dialogue We are not in want of a space what we need or what I think we suggest in is you guys as governors Take the lead take the time Convey this conversation first have it among yourselves and then set up a framework to have it I'm even if you give the presidency was to come for a conference now The president is not the only one that's going to generate the list of what we would have there Some of these things have to come from governors some of these things have to come from all of these I you know the ethnic groups are very very I call blah blah and all of these people are not Invisible to governors. That's what he's saying. All right. What would you say are some of the Factors that might make this convergence difficult or you know has stalled it from happening for a long time And how can we defeat some of these factors? Because you know, there is obviously I believe some governors who may not be interested in this, you know Uniting of the Nigerian governor's forum So is that maybe one of the factors and also how effective will they be being able to Implement the resolutions that they come up with as a Nigerian governor's forum Okay, very good. One thing you have first is first When we when we encourage governors to take the lead we're actually devolving power and responsibilities to them If only they can think properly the second thing you need to understand is that I doubt if there's any governor who says I'm aware of what the issues in the country is Why has it been difficult for the people at the presidency the previous one and even this one to do it? Because it's about removing power from the president Now it's not good. I'm gonna go to excitingly be willing to sit on the conference and say oh Take some of my powers take some of my past take some of my power The people were hoping would take that power at the governor's because we're not going to restructure until we restructure into our Individual houses or in our individual opinions No, we're going to be restructuring in a manner that devolve more power more responsibility to governor's Let us hope that if that finally happens a whole lot of them be more responsible Dear for you can you know influence things from the middle of the pyramid It doesn't have to be at the base all the time and it doesn't have to be at the apex all the time So I think that if the idea has been put on the table if they will not insist that oh If an idea comes from I think we they cannot take it or they would take it Only when it is clear and sitting them in the face that it was the best idea of the table then I think they could Consider it I think what has no path to force them neither does they have any ability to compel them What he can do is what you can do even you you can come up with the paper and call it the suggestion for way forward At least it shows that he's thinking about the problem and even man is thinking about the problem And he's also articulating this position on it. He doesn't have to be 100% correct. No one individual has all knowledge. No one individual has no idol That's why we are asking for this some of people are asking for this dialogue and hopefully even if we had a conference Don't forget that they are still roots. It must go through if you still need these governors It has to go through all the time 16 times of assemblies. That's how this thing works That's how we structure it so there's no any how you flip it these governors are critical to the peace prosperity safety and unity of this country and finally I want you to speak on the Nigeria is drifting Quote and If you still believe and if I took a book I still believes that Nigeria can be saved If you know action is taken critical action is taken or have we drifted too far off to be saved Well, there's a you know what I say when the English master is teaching time You've heard it before like a student. Time saves night. The idea of a sitting time shift nine is that time makes things better and Time destroys things if if something is decaying and you don't quickly attend to it There's gonna come in time where okay is beyond being used and Detroit away But if there's something is getting bad and quickly getting to read this article of pressure remove the bad But speak on all of that then you can save it. That's precisely what this is all about How there is the country drifting we cannot be in denial It's to be very austere like to say. Oh, we're not hearing all of the look non-state actors Are taking hold of the space you have you would go home in the south You have a iPod man in the south is you have all sorts of characters Non-state actors who are now beginning to hijack the emotions of the people are pushing them in all sorts of direction Some of the agitations are legitimate Some of the means and ways they're going about it is totally unacceptable, but there are we still have governors We have president we have local government chairman when you have the governors You are as good as think you have the local government chairman on board and the governors are not they're not so unschooled in Management that they are not able to figure out what to do. And you know, sometimes they will get idea by inspiration Perhaps now that I think was inspired to put this out there It's up to the governors who are in charge today to take it or if they think it's not good enough for them Probably leave it. All right. I'm not going to say anything other. Thank you. Well done. We see you We appreciate your effort for anybody that is talking Check on show me. Thank you so much for joining us on the breakfast this morning interesting conversation looking forward to speaking with you again Yes, thank you All right. Thank you guys. Have a nice day. You too, sir All right, so we'll take a break here and next up we're speaking with a you by Wabba NLC president in Nigeria Here's the wanted man as a Rufi has declared him in just a minute