 You're welcome back. It's still the season of political Olympics, as I like to call it all the time. And today we're looking at the impact of some of the policies that have just been made on the forthcoming election. We're being joined by Mr. Kinn Olaue to discuss the impact of CBN policies on the 2023 electoral process and every other thing surrounding the electoral process. Welcome to the program, Mr. Kinn. Thanks for having me. Let's begin with the preparation for the election 2023. Do you think Nigeria is ready? We're talking about INEC, we're talking about security and every other thing that should lead to a free, fair and credible election. So looking at where we are as a nation, I believe our democracy is improving gradually. I think for many of us who push the electoral act amendment, seeing the president sign it, we can see we're somewhat impressed. However, it's up to the agencies to implement and execute all of the deliverables as needed to say that we have a successful elections in February. Obviously, looking at the calendar is about 17 days from today. Security, I think, continues to be a concern for many Nigerians. Electoral violence, how do we again see that election is not war, vote, not fight? And I think for many young people who are really excited about this process, there is the expectation that the government, through the security agencies, will live up to its mandates now. You're talking about, you know, the electoral landscape and how young people, many in the last three years have become really energized, turned out en masse to get PVCs, going out to get the PVCs, and then a lot of the frustration that they had to undergo with getting their hands on the PVCs. And even many who've been disenfranchised and the inability to obtain those PVCs, it's not been perfect. I'm hoping we'll see improvements. As a matter of fact, some CSOs, including enough is enough filed, wrote a statement. I think there will be some engagement with INEC this week. We've seen how we can actually possibly get people who've not been able to get their PVCs, obtain it in probably another few days, lead up to the elections. If that comes to fruition, I don't know, but we're hoping as many Nigerians that can get PVCs, it only makes our democracy a lot stronger. For a party like, for instance, Labour Party, which I understand you're a member of, the strength is more on the youths that just registered now, because they are the ones that will be permitted to use the word, I grieve so much that they want to make a change in the polity. But if you're talking about people who are disenfranchised, we're talking about disenfranchised people who have just registered, even though INEC said that the bulk of the PVCs that have not been collected came from 2015 and before then. So how do you think a party that depends on votes coming from a demographic that may be disenfranchised because of the collection process of PVCs stand in the scheme of things leading to 2023 elections? So I think, yes, you can argue that the overwhelming excitement you find in the youth base going to 2023 can be attributed and perhaps allocated to Labour Party. The other young people that have chosen other parties, I wouldn't again rob anyone of the right to choice, but when you focus on this electorate, again, if you're looking at regions in the south-west, primarily Lagos, you're talking about the Sorosoke crowd, a lot of young people who came out voiced a lot of their concerns in the NSAS protests. You're going to the south-eastern part of the country, a lot of people who feel disenfranchised, feel disconnected from gaining the full merits of good governance. You're going to the northwest where you've seen insecurity and economic policies basically make young people feel like they don't have a stake in this nation. It creates this atmosphere of what I call legitimate grievance. And I would say that because a lot of young people are getting frustrated with not being able to obtain PVCs, there are lots of older and middle-aged Nigerians who are equally suffering from the same effects of bad governance. When you start looking at the demography or doing your research, you find that from a retiree to a new secondary school graduate, everyone is feeling the pinch. So I would only say young people are the ones who are following the Labour Party's popularity. You equally have a lot of people who have not participated in politics since 2011 to 2019. Two electoral cycles, we had about 30% turnout in our elections. We had the 70% PVC holders. And what we've been telling people as part of Labour Party's message, as part of the Obidati message, was saying to Nigerians, how do we turn this country around? There are a lot of people that felt like, you know, my votes don't count. But you're looking at the Electoral Act amendments saying, if you come to the polling unit with your PVC in hand, you go to the biometric verification, the beavers does what it's supposed to do, the INEC official at the polling unit in, again, collaboration with the party agents who are there to make sure that the process is observed, and you, the citizen, the office of the citizen, equally becoming a stakeholder at the polls on Election Day, we would then see an improved outcome with our electoral results. And you would equally look at the fact that Oshoom Ikiti and some of the other states that have utilized this new Electoral Act amendment saw a lot of success. Now, what I think is we can curb at the polling on Election Day, we're talking about vote buying, we're talking about rigging, we're talking about, again, perhaps institutional violence and disenfranchisement. You start looking at communities where you may have hosts, you know, being somewhat hosts to the immigrant population. And when I say immigrant, I'm talking about settlers from different parts of the region. How do we again all behave as Nigerians, understanding that if I'm a Yoruba man in Abia or I'm a Southeasterner in Alaba, I should be offered the same rights at the polls on Election Day, and again, not be disenfranchised from participating in my nation's politics. Okay, you just touched on a topic, an Electoral Act that has given so much confidence to Nigerians. Everybody wants to go out and vote because they feel the Electoral Act is a game changer. The 2022 Electoral Act is a game changer. Yet we've seen some outcomes from the Electoral Act. For instance, if you go up not, there is the Senate president who has now clinched the ticket for the Senate candidacy of his constituency, even when some things were spelled out in the Electoral Act and all that. So do you still have that kind of fate on the Electoral Act that is going to be a game changer? Knowing that in Nigeria we might have a lot of good laws, but the implementation just spoils everything. So I think we are now in an era of what I call chronic judicial rascality. And I'm saying this because you look at the precedents, you know, the last two elections, and I want to take us back to Oshun where the tribunal, that's a flash point. A lot of Nigerians ought to be worried. Is it judiciary or for sale? Do we have judges who are basically again looking at the law, looking at the letters of the law and making sure there's fairness, equity, and basically choosing to turn a blind eye? You now look at this, former Senate presidents, you know, situation. You're asking yourself, how did we arrive at this point? The Electoral Act amendment says you cannot participate in two primaries within an electoral cycle. You can't run for president and the same thing, have your name on the ballot to run for Senate. You have to pick one. And I think this horse trading, you know, this what I call political deceit we've seen in previous electoral cycles is why again, a lot of people who belong to the establishment can get their way. I run for president if it doesn't work, have a house of reps ticket within, have a gubernatorial ticket within, and whichever one carries my rise, I go for it. And I think as we begin to see a country where we uphold the laws, I'll give you another instance. You look at the serving ministers on the federal executive council. The Electoral Act amendment states you cannot be a serving cabinet member and run for office. So what did you have? You had the likes of a matrix stepping. You had the likes of the former minister of education stepping down. And what did that give you? It gave you equal playing field. So I'm not using the weight and the might of my office to basically carry votes from my party members. And I think you could see that again, depending on who your candidate was in the APC, you can see how it altered the state of things. And that type of democracy is what we're really hoping to achieve. So you're seeing the judgment from the Supreme Court. You're asking yourself, the Supreme Court is the last domicile of hope for the Nigerians. So if the Supreme Court would do what it has done, what precedence does it set for future elections? So do you think the Electoral Act may not be a game changer? It is a game changer. But then again, if the judiciary is failing to uphold and leave up this mandate, then what hope is there for the common man? And perhaps it's about time we start looking at ways to checkmate things that we believe are not within our control. Nigerians ought to speak up because again, the office of the citizen is the highest office in the land. I would like to repeat that because again, we become very docile as a country and perhaps my generation, a lot of young people post-ensors or perhaps post-world subsidy who come out, speak up, raise their voices are saying we've had enough. You look at ASUS track that went on unfettered for eight months, young people feeling hopeless. You look at the medical economy in Nigeria, doctors fleeing the JAPA syndrome. You have bankers who are trained professionals in IT operations, leaving the country and then leaving the bank networks to flutter and then many of us have to suffer the artifacts we're seeing. At what point would it take Nigerians really understanding that we can demand better? But perhaps you can only do that legally and lawfully through the ballot. That's why 2023, 25th, you will find Nigerians coming out en masse saying we want to checkmate the powers to be. We want to right the wrongs of the older generation who perhaps failed to stand up to live up to my generation. Many times I talk to my dad and I say, why didn't you do XYZ? And he looked at me and said, oh, you know, the problems in Nigeria are irredeemable. Oh, Nigeria just keep praying. I said no, we've gone beyond praying. That's why you're seeing for the first time in 2023, a very high enthusiasm of the voting energy that you will find at the polls. Okay. Well, I'm concentrating on Labour Party because you are a chieftain. I think you are part of the PCC. Yes. Very good. Okay. That's why I'm asking you this. I know that you'd like to comment generally, but let's take this opportunity and ask you the questions. Okay. Now, we know they give she-she. I like that. But even at that, a lot of politicians, a lot of people have cried that the new CBN policy is going to affect the forthcoming general elections. Well, depending on where you stand, it is going to affect it positively or negatively. Where does Labour Party stand in this? I know that your principal said something about being patient with CBN and all that, but where does Labour Party stand and how do you think it will affect parties like the Labour Party that has not really been the... What is the Nigerian word now? The Timber and Calibur of politics before now. So we need to do away with that Timber and Calibur of politics. And I think in my generation to write a story of a Labour Party and a Peter Obie and a Dati emerging eight months to the elections is unfathomable. You could not write this up in a Nollywood script. And I'm saying this because Nigerians have chosen to be different. Every society writes its rules. I don't care where you borrow the laws from. If you say, oh, one man, one wife, one man, eight wives, eight women, one husband, every society writes its rules. And this generation is saying we will define the blueprint for Nigerian politics looking into the future. Yes, it's problematic that votes buying is a chronic ailment plaguing our politics. This CBN's policy, look at it from all angles, I always use this analogy. If you would need to chase mosquitoes out of a room, you have to flee pesticide, correct? But in the short window that you have that pesticide, there will be inconvenience. And it's a lot of what you're finding with, again, perhaps inaccessibility of Naira at the banks. Equally, bankers are culpable so we need to prosecute and make sure that we criminally drive these people into courtrooms because, again, if you don't put your feet down and drop the hammer, people exploit this opportunity. Now, coming back to the vote buying and the CBN's policies, as a young party, which our life is called Labour Party, and as a party with a very youthful demography, we're willing to wade out the frustrations but equally expecting that CBN leaves up his ideals with making sure that the money flows into the banks but the banks equally have to be very, very responsible in making sure that they are loading their ATM machines, they are sticking to the limits and they are perhaps eliminating the middleman in the currency market. I'll give an example. If you walk into the average party or event that's going on, on a Saturday in Lagos, you will find people with huge bundles of cash but if I walk out to the nearest ATM to that building, I have 500 Nigerians in line standing to withdraw 2009. So you're telling me that the billionaire or the big man or his daughter that is getting married can have money changers stack the hall with 20 million in raw cash but the average Nigerian, the hard-working poor, the laborer cannot find $20,000 to buy in the middleman or feed the student, you now have a society that has its priorities misplaced. And I'm saying those middlemen ought to be eliminated from this currency market and it's the banks that are basically aiding and abetting this. So whether CBN coming, whether the judiciary coming, they have a police force that's actually cracking down on people, I think everybody should be all hands on deck. So yes, the CBN policy on the surface might look like, oh, it's created to inconvenience the average Nigerian. No, the banks and all of the institutions that have been mandated to do their job actually execute properly. We won't have this issue. And then let's get back to the topic at hand. Politicians need cash for elections. You need to buy paper for printer. You need to print material for rallies. You need to buy face caps, t-shirts. I hear you. But you can do transfer to that vendor that print the t-shirt. You want to mobilize people. You want to rent a bus, transfer to the bus operator. When people come to your rally, you want to feed them. You can pay the food vendor. Now, let's look at election day. And these dates that we're all arguing about, do we extend it beyond the 17th, beyond 25th? We need to co-boot buying in Nigeria. We need to give shishi, as you know it. My principal said, I would say, I was part of a rally on Admiralty Way, like if it was one yesterday, we're handing out flyers and cash stickers. And oh, anything for the boys, we need to give shishi. Now, the Labour Party t-shirt I wear many times even saves me a lot of money as a Nigerian. When people are at their desk, any salaries would want to ask for bribe or a tip. Guess what? I tell them, oh god, you have a nice salary. I can only do transfer. Oh, my bank network is not even working. So guess what? It has reduced expectations. I flew through the airport. I posted on Twitter the other day. From my door of my car to the plane seat, I would typically pay $70,000 to $10,000 a year. $1,000 a year, $2,000 a year. I went last week Friday. $0,000 a year from my door to my plane seat. And from plane seat to baggage claim, $0,000 a year. It says, I am going to be able to save money with the CBN policy now. I'm not saying people should become true girls or perhaps eliminate the need to reward others where they may have worked or where they deserve it, but what I'm simply saying, as a nation, where we know that there's extreme poverty caused by this administration, in the past 78 years, we can only expect that Nigerians who, if I'm right now in a community like Sokoto or 2009 in Niger or on those states, or perhaps Rume Grouchy, Portacott, $5,000 may go a long way. It would influence people's choices. We want a democracy where people are voting candidates based on their conscience, based on their track record, based on their character. And eliminating money from our politics on election day where cash, cash is that means of legal tender, I think for us we ought to take this seriously and support the CBN wholeheartedly, the Obidati campaign, support the CBN, and whatever it will do, whatever they need to do with making sure we can again prosecute those children to buy votes on election day, we should go as far as doing that. Okay, the issue of vote buying is a big issue for me because of definitions, you know. You could choose to buy votes on election day. You could choose to buy votes before election day. You could choose to buy votes even without having to pay money. But that's an issue for another time. Now, INEC had an election, a mock election that will show the workability, if I may, of the BVAS. Yes. How much fate did you get out of that? If you observed it, how much did that tell you of what is coming on the 25th of February? Yes, thank you very much. So I actually worked with a few of our BDNs to participate in the BVAS process. Unfortunately, my ward, LGA, the location they picked was somewhere in Takwabe. So I had to, you know, get on the boat to go observe. But we found people in Inugu, people here in Lagos, that were part of it. I saw videos, and I can say this, knock on wood, the BVAS works. I've got an engine and background. I do management consulting, technology. Again, zero input, zero output. You can't, again, perhaps, as people say, rig using this new process. What you saw with the judgment in ocean state was equally a failed attempt at reducing the confidence people have in the BVAS. So when we get into the elections and perhaps results come out, the ruling party, again, with all of this political chicanery, as I call it, would find ways to douse, you know, expectations and say, well, perhaps, you know, they may have regained, they may have regained because what you saw with the tribunal in ocean state, where they took the data of the BVAS device, let me give you an example. And I think people need to understand this. You transfer $500,000 into my bank account at 9 a.m. and I begin spending money. At the end of the day, you're not going to ask me if I have $500,000. You're going to go back to the end of day's report and print my balance. That was not done as part of the tribunal judgment in ocean state. I believe the parties involved have had an appeal. I let it to be very specific, needs equally, make sure that confidence is increased. I want to talk of BVAS and the accreditation process. On election day, the polling unit has 1,500 registered voters who, again, INEC has communicated to the public, exist. On election day, the ballot papers will not exceed the total number of registered voters at that polling unit. Accreditation would happen, making sure one man to a PVC and at the point accreditation is done, ballot papers can be issued to match. So if you have 1,500 registered voters and 900 people accredited, you cannot issue more than 900 ballot papers. Yes, some people might saw the ballot paper, so there's often opportunity for extras, but that's managed properly at the polls. You cannot have more than 900 votes. Get loaded into the device and transmit it because guess what? If your bank balance is $500,000, you cannot transfer $700,000. So people need to understand it from that perspective. In very simple layman's terms, the Bevers works were very, very confident in INEC and we're just hoping the powers that be, political players and perhaps our jobbers, as you call them, do not get their hands muddy in this water where INEC then has a reduced level of confidence in the public. Okay, let me just take this. Maybe it's a final one, because the time has really gone. We heard two things. First, that there's going to be a Labour Party rally this weekend. We also heard everything, most things are rumours and all that. We also heard that it may not hold. Tell us what will happen on Saturday. Will it or will it not hold and where will it hold? So Lagos is Obidati country. I would like to declare that again, looking at the youthful population in Lagos, looking at the demography and the excitement. If you take a poll, check the energy or the temperature, whichever yardstick works for you, you will find that again, a lot of the energy is concentrated out of Lagos. And Lagos basically is the heartbeat of the youth movement in Nigeria. We are often proud ourselves with being the ones to light the torch with any issues that perhaps requires civic change. If you go all the way back to the 50s or the 60s, Lagos would always be so Lagos has a history of again being that what I call heartbeat. Now the rally is going to hold on Saturday. Forget any rumours or perhaps attempts to water down the turnout. Many support groups who have been again being active, I believe you recollect the rallies we had in October are very much working behind the scenes. We have another successful outcome. We don't pay to mobilize people to stadiums or to rallies as part of what we have done because again, we have people that are passionate about seeing that we effect change through the ballot and for many of them participating either through grassroots mobilizing, volunteering, funding the candidates. Let me equally add that in the history of Nigeria, you've not had a time where someone who earns $50,000 a month to say, I will donate $2,000 a month to the candidate of my choice. That's the kind of politics we want to promote. I'm a retired school principal. I'm a former DPU in the community. I'm a clergyman and I may not have the arsenal or perhaps the wall chest to run for office where my community stand up and support me. That is what you are seeing with your bid at the moment. And that's why we are saying as a generation we will rewrite the blueprint of our politics. Gone are the days where Amala politics or Ghana must go politics is how we elect candidates who are saying if you stand tall with competency, if you have the character and the standard vision that's needed for your local community or for the nation we will support you. So yes, overwhelming support for the rally you find on Saturday is coming from average Nigerians who reside here in Lagos whether they are Yoruba speaking or they are part of the immigrant community we are saying we will give perhaps a turnout that will let people know that again we have the votes to truly win the elections come February 25th. I like the way politicians talk. All of them have faith. If our Christians and Muslims have half the faith politicians have, I think we will move mountains so much. But we wish you well, we wish you and your party well. At this point we cannot say we have a particular candidate. The candidate we have or the party that we belong to is the Nigerian party. Everything should be get towards making Nigeria better than today. Everything that is happening now is because of the choices we made whether consciously or unconsciously. So that the rally is holding is a good thing because now we are happy you have dispelled that rumor. May it happen and may it be safe for everybody that comes there. Well we have been talking with Mr. Akin Olaoye I would like to call you a public affairs commentator but you happen to be a member of the presidential campaign council of the Obidachi movement. Ok so that's why I concentrated most of my questions on that. I'd like to say thank you to you for coming on the program today. Thanks for having me and look forward to seeing all of you Legos at TBS Saturday 30 am. Thank you. Ok the program will continue after a moment. Stay with us.