 Welcome back to the breakfast on Plastiv Africa. Now let's move into our conversations for this morning. They're mostly centered around the Ansar's Memorial and the question is what has changed since October 2020? We're speaking this morning with a couple of people. In studio we have a broadcaster and of course a journalist also, Trost, who's joined us. Good morning. Thanks for joining us. Hi, good morning. It's a pleasure being here. Trost was a part of the documentation of the events from last year and of course it was also involved with yesterday's events. We also have joining us VaZoom, the National Publicity Secretary, African Action Congress, Fermi Adeye. Morning, Ms Adeye. Thanks for joining us. Good morning. Thank you very much. Good morning, Nigerians. Thank you. Fair to have you. But just before we get into the conversation, we would of course play a quick report from what happened yesterday. So much of course that was covered by our cameras and by cameras of other reporters and in the process of some of all of that we also had one of our reporters almost injured in the process running from the tear gas canisters that were fired. We'll play a quick report for you and then we get into the conversation after this. At the Toge, the protest ground and surprisingly the whole place is filled up by protesters. Right behind me are security operatives guiding the protesters from coming further so that parcel buys and motorists will be able to ply the route without any hitches. There was a massive gathering this Wednesday morning at the Lekitogate. It looked like a transfer of aggression, of pain and anguish. The protesters rallied and fooled an illegal procession causing some gridlock earlier in the day. While the police were stationed at the Toge for security, liars for the answers movement and other activists advised the protesters to vacate the scene as they foresaw a situation where the process would be hijacked. The point is that we have made the point. They said don't come out and we came out. It is good time to leave. Is that good for we youth now to move out of Lekitogate because we can see now a lot of hoolions being sponsored by the politicians so they will not hijack the protest. The protesters were on the tad as they make their demands known. Let them feel the protestors, the protestors, wonder we need a bad government. The Nigerian government should swallow their pride and come out and apologize to the people. My friends at the Ukwebea island they choose me through my element, I'm a dispatcher. Look at me very well. There are still over 300 protesters in prison. Now, I'm calling them protesters but all of them are not even protesters. Some of them are just bystanders. Some of them are just going to work and after a year not one soldier has been put to work. Alas, gunshots could be heard. The police fired tear gas canisters at protesters in a bid to disperse the crowd. The commissioner of police, Hakim Udumusu, made an appearance. He explained the reason for his men's action. Some protesters were reportedly arrested as the police had warned that anyone sing at the toll gate without an ID card will be arrested. Destiny Momo for Plus TV Africa. The scene is from yesterday and all that took place. Of course, we still have other reporters who will be sharing with you as we have this conversation. I'm going to start the conversation from speaking with trust in Anze who is a journalist and a broadcaster also and was a part of the protest or part of documenting events from last year and of course yesterday also. Mr Anze, good morning. Good morning once again. Nigeria, Africa and beyond. The question really is what really has changed between last year and today. So let's start with from what you saw last year and what you experienced last year and of course yesterday also. Okay, so clearly and it is very revealing and in my memory it's really vivid because last year when I went to Syria over the protest immediately I stepped out and started shooting. So that incident in my head was more or less like, you know what what would have happened if I was still on ground actually, right? So moving on from there to now when I was in when I definitely was on ground again, like it all gets it's pathetic and it's really, really annoying to say that I don't think anything has changed. And this transcend into all our facets of our existence as Nigerians where we necessarily don't understand that we should learn from mistakes, right? Let it all get happened October 20 last year. This year October 20 again there is no lesson learned. It's more or less like the way of solving any issue for the police force and the government seems to be false. Once it's not forced they have no other negotiating chip to other to negotiate with the people and that tells the fact that the only negotiating chip that you can use for your citizenry in Nigeria and even in better climes are good governance and to the extent that negotiating chip can't be actualized through this government then they use the other means which is forced. I think personally that they're ready to adopt or employ the negotiating chip of good governance and all they still want to continue to do is brutal force which is definitely, definitely appalling. Okay. Let's get Femi Adea on. Femi Adea, can you hear me? Yes, Lili. Alright, so you were on ground yesterday I'd like that you share your experience with us what was it like being at the toll gate yesterday? Alright, I will start by saying what happened yesterday is a victory in itself. It's a victory for the Nigerian people in which there would never be a time when the Nigerian people would surrender their freedom will surrender their resistance or the altar of any intimidation or threats. That's why they threated by the police, by soldiers, DSS and other persons Nigerian people, the young people of this country came out to say see this is our rights, our rights to us, our rights to freely express ourselves without intimidation and you know any of your violence repression would have to be there and that was what was going to victory in itself. But then it's just to tell us that nothing actually has changed in the operation of the Nigerian police because the way they address issues nothing has changed. You would see how journalists were being harassed beating, people were being beaten thrown into vans and all of that. In fact, what I consider very, very shameful in the 21st century democracy is that a journalist would come to a protest ground with helmets and bulletproof vests and see if you're covering a war zone. It's very... I don't think even during the military it was this bad as you can see in the video you're playing. There's a journalist putting on the bulletproof and a helmet zone. You're not covering a war zone in Syria. And you can also tell from how the police officers are showing force and everything. It shows that nothing actually has changed and we are not surprised at the African National Congress. We are not surprised because it has always been our position that until you pull down a system that continues to bridge and you know produce brave oxygen to all forms of brutality, we are going nowhere. When we are done with police brutality, we will pick military brutality. When we are done with that we will pick air city brutality. In fact, what I call a common brutality is also without all forms of brutality we will not leave until we have turned that system that is producing all of these brutality and that is the work for every young person who is listening to this, who is also part of the ENSAS movement. It sounds like a lot of work that needs to be done and obviously may not be achieved in a few weeks or in a few months. Those who have said the best way to achieve this change is through the electoral process but hopefully we get to that angle before we wrap up. At King or Lowry, we have spoken with you yesterday you were on the ground at the protest at the memorial yesterday share with us exactly how it played out and your feelings seeing the events from yesterday. Good morning, thanks for having me. There is quite a remarkable outing yesterday by many young Nigerians. A few of us had figured out that leading up to the experiences from last October, I was actually talking witness shootings spent the last few months helping a lot of the survivors through the judicial panel in Leckie and really working with the lawyers and making sure that we kept the state government as well as the federal government on its toes we had an outcome for justice meeting on the panel from the report Leckie is a key thing every Nigerian should make sure this government fulfills ultimately. Yesterday's outing by young Nigerians showed that again they are not misguided they are not hoodlums, they are not out to destroy a city and a country that did love what you saw with the full display of patriotism I don't think in the history of this country you have ever seen Nigerians display that much patriotism while expressing grief so from an event that really kept a lot of people in a very dark mental state I guess it is, I think for the police force I would not go out on a limb and criticize 100% I think there was some level of restraint that was shown however we have to utilize opportunities like this to really coach and mentor our police force in understanding how to deal with the public in issues of protest. So again a few experiences expressed that made me feel somewhat disheartened and disappointed but I think overall people were very, very restrained people were well behaved for the most part it was supposed to be an 8 to 10 auto rally where we protest drop flowers drop flags to memorialize the lives of those that were lost and I think it was successful. In addition to that we also had in Lagos on the panel at the Saransuke Summit two mothers of deceased protesters that went on camera faces not blurred and really spoke about the grief and sorrow of losing children at the toke one of them picked her son in the morning in wee hours and had him buried another mother is looking for the body of her deceased son if you recollect the video of the kid with the flag and was being prayed for I had the mother here in Lagos so again we're not just only memorializing those that were killed who were equally asking the state government we need you to stand up, show accountability and produce the corpses of the young kids that were killed last October Alright let's get back to Tross Sean who's still here with us in the studio now you are a journalist that's a good thing that you were out you know during the first time I mean in 2020 trying to document all that happened now we have constantly seen journalists being harassed and manhandled in the cost of discharging their duties how does this make you feel as a journalist? It makes me feel terrible because I was also harassed yesterday I didn't like it at all yet right in my car at the company's car at the point where they said like throwing people of course we ran into our car and we had to rescue about one or two people inside our own car and that was when the police came and dragged me into the van and I'm like chill you can see my vest my vest clearly marks my company and I showed him my ID card I've got a lot of drag before you let me go and that goes to show you that these individuals are not ready to change and this is me a little bit disagreeing with I think as Mr. Akin said there was a little bit of restraint from the police I said that can be that can be dubbed as restraint the only restraint we witnessed yesterday was not use of gun not use of bullets and as far as I'm concerned you see the Uber driver that was badly beaten and battered I saw that personally I saw a lady who did nothing that I still managed to go out of the van I saw all of these beating and battered of people I saw the police officers take people out from the road these are people that don't even protest us and this was a situation where the protesters had gone and you're still picking up people that were just walking through the streets through the tour gates I don't think that was restraint I think that is still the height of of at I'm trying to mind the adjective to be perfectly honest but as a journalist someone who always will continue to put himself on the line for the people reporting the people the only joy I got yesterday was the appreciation I got for people from passersby and from listeners and for everyone that I was there to cover the protests and put my life on the line it's so pathetic that when I want to go and cover a protest I'm thinking of it as me putting my life on the line for Nigeria we saw the yellow vest in France we even saw the black light movement in the United States we saw protests about the field like in the UK we don't see the journalists thinking of protest as their life been in danger and we deserve to be that bridge between the people and the government and if they want us to discharge that duty that is to show that they need to understand that they can't continue to brutalize journalists when doing their jobs I don't think anyone is safe from a person who decides to use maximum force for whatsoever reason they imagine if I'm here today I want to come back to you to share also what you think must be done from the events yesterday and from the things that we've also seen not very much has changed with the attitude of the police towards the Nigerian citizen we also saw staff of the Lagos state neighborhood watch that's what they are called involved with the harassment of people who are passing people who are arrested for simply carrying the Nigerian flags I saw earlier this month as much as 30 people had to be released on bail late last night for reasons I really don't know so what would you say must be done if we want to actually see the difference alright I think it should not mean to work at all when giving the Nigerian police a heavy knock what happened yesterday is still brutality it wasn't any restraint or any soft hand was brutality another thing I need to add before I talk about what needs to be done is that you cannot beat a child and then want to determine how the child would cry it is only in this part of the world you beat a child and then you cover the child's mouth if I hear him African parents do that and that is what the Nigerian police and the Nigerian states after beating the child you tell the child not to cry then you tell the child where to cry and just stay in your cars and that was what happened yesterday it turned out to be a very good strategy but we must not fall into that trap when we allow the states to determine where we cry when to cry because I heard Mr. Akinilawie saying 8 to 10 and then everybody should disperse and we all have the moral duty to disobey any unjust law and all that is being said and so on what should be done you see where I come from and the kind of background the ideology background I come from we understand we look at things from the roots of the problem you see what I have said even on my Facebook post recently is that we do not have police officers in Nigeria we have police investors that is the truth I will give you an example to that from the recruitment look at the recruitment to the remuneration to how they are being posted to promotion and everything you can see that we do not have people who are solely interested in protecting the people I have on good accounts the amount some of these police officers pay so that they can be posted to SAS units or where they call juicy places so in the police officer phase I as 500,000 Naira to be posted to a juicy place what do they call juicy places where you have young people where they can do all sorts of things so that person is not a police officer anymore he is an investor because if he has paid 500,000 Naira as an investment he must recoup his investment you go into a DPO's office and you find out that he is the one who got his desk he got the air condition he got his office he got to make his money back and how will he make it back he would have to rate he would have to beat up people he would have to lie against innocent people so it is a systemic issue and until we face the roots of all of these problems we will keep psychomabulating we will come back here next year we will talk about brutality for example like I said earlier if you leave police brutality because of the brutality we have also been paid on young people in this part of the world we must understand how to build institutions institutions that even if we have the worst people in those institutions the laws guiding those institutions we have thrown them to sanity but if we do not go to the roots of all of these problems we will just keep scratching the face see you cannot continue doing painting a house in a house that has a bad foundation and until we pull down that system that continues to build all of these brutalities we would not have a conclusive end we would always come back to the streets to protest to protest and then we would have we would always have when people are harassed you have compensation you start going to a panel and you need us for what happens we put a panel anyways this is another another one in front of us I'm not saying we should discount it that's what's happening in the panel I was part of the panel discussion I always attended the panel and I would also they've done a very good job in listening to petitions the work is just so enormous and what we are waiting for is that there must be a conclusive end especially to the Neki massacre reports and no Nigerians should go to sleep because it's ours can I comment? hold on before we come to you but we would like to take a look at this particular response from the minister of information saying that the peasants were killed the massacre is fake news and nothing really happened let's just take a look at this response from the minister the military did not issue any test at the Neki tour gate on October 25th, 2020 and there was no massacre at the tour gate the only massacre recorded was in the social media hence there were neither bodies nor blood two Amnesty International CNN and Rona Wendity and Rona Wendity and others like them should apologize for misleading warning that there was a massacre at the Neki tour gate and for portrayed Nigerian military, police and other security agencies in bad night three CNN, RK unprofessionally by relying on verified and possibly doctorate social media deals as well as other open source information to conclude that the massacre took place at the tour gate just to share with you the minister of information and of course his thoughts towards the October 2020 you know, happenings we are now going to bring back Akin or Laoyi I want you to start your response from there the minister still says that nothing and there was no massacre probably nobody was killed also CNN, DJ Switch and Amnesty International need to apologize to Nigerians Akin, what are your thoughts? we deserve a country in which we ought to understand that there is value to each and every Nigerian life and I say that with a lot of sense Akin, my previous comment about the pollution and restraint them just correct that, not to offend anyone watching I think what we saw yesterday in this what was this cable I was only speaking my experience as a whole and again using this opportunity for this a global view for someone takes my feedback and run after that but then I'm only saying we can see improvements and we need to see more the right to protest is an alien right and every Nigerian ought to be able to exercise back to what the minister said as I stated earlier I'm here in Lagos we have two mothers grieving one with a documented video with metadata timestamp putting the death of her son at the toll gate a second kid that was killed the mother picked up the corpse buried the kid the same morning of the shootings how you gonna help me sit here and listen to what the honorable minister is saying seriously let me start by mentioning names of deceased protestors Victor Victor about I can go on and on and on we have five known deceased protestors at the scene of the toll gate we have four bodies pictures taken of people who died we have recorded evidence at hospitals at gynecologists showing bodies brought to hospitals across Lagos the night of the shootings we have eight survivors but another 14 more with bullet wounds so if over 15 people sustained bullet injuries how many more were not fortunate to make it to a hospital and lay dead at the ground and then you say it was bloodless I mean please help me here I'm short of words we want to show your thoughts on that one trust will come to you yes definitely you see Nigerians have been so insulted over time and this minister continues to be the chief insulter of the intelligence of Nigerians first is that you are also in live video I do not know anywhere in the world where in live video is being video shot until when the case of Nigerian happened and then so many lies have been told in the course of this whole issue and these lies are always pointing to the truth I was at the Leci panel and when I met Tywo looking to represent the Nigerian army when he came he also agreed that they were at the Leci targets the governor said the soldiers because these are reports that everyone can pick up he said the soldiers were at the Leci targets the ACP forgotten his name was also there but at the end of the day he brought he came just to justify the kind of violence that happened at Leci targets he came with a particular video but when it was played it showed that the time stamp on that video was in November that video some guys didn't match it so when it was shown superior argument he said it was answers that gave rise to all of the other violence that were not happening across Lagos so just to tell you that all of these lies are pointing to the facts that that place on that day was blocked everything that happened in that place is just better imagined than you experiencing it some of them have been permanently injured some of them are still feeling pains in their body there was an operation that was done on the Seventh River and still has serious pains there so when a minister especially on a day like this were in a civilized country in the 21st century it's rather than sharing consolation and restitution you are coming to tell Nigerians that's nothing to distract the massacre as phantom I think Nigerians should, right now from this minute seek that this minister resigns from office I think that's the first thing we must do at this time we are telling like Mohammed that he should start putting together his resignation letter because you cannot continue to insult Nigerians with your media wounds it went if what's his name if like Mohammed is not insulting us today semi-additional is insulting us tomorrow if semi-additional is not insulting us this is something we also CNN came up with a particular report and then you are not even looking at that all you have to say is that and it comes from this arrogance of power which is also from the system we are talking about we call it a shot for these guys they would continue robbing all these other places okay trust you can also go ahead I think that it's like Mohammed surprised that it's never shocking when like Mohammed speaks not as ever surprising it just continues to solidify to the fact that most times in vast majority of instances the people we have in government are clowns, people who necessarily lack the intellectual capability to even lie in the first place right so the honest truth is you need some level of intellect to be able to lie you can't just come outside and insult people without tactics without knowledge, without experience and without intelligence and this clearly shows that these people are not tea for you to understand how clownish what he is saying is some of the government of legal state agrees that they were shooting like Mohammed say there is no shooting now the question is is it some of you or like Mohammed like it's obvious then you say that oh it is for at times yeah it is really imperative and I think this is something government should be all about it's really imperative we understand that there are things we say so that we don't look stupid right you can't say this international public that hey an IG live will photoshop it is simple they ask you how then where was your schooling how then did you how then were you able to rise to power it's so annoying understanding that because before the protest yesterday a friend called me and was crying all through how she witnessed the protest and was really begging me not to go cover the protest and you then tell me that there was no massacre, no shooting nothing quick a police officer yesterday confirmed to me that police officer shot at Leckie yesterday and you didn't tell me there was no shooting or clownish all right let's get back to you now Mr. Akin Ola Oye now that the government is saying that there was no massacre this is all fake news it's fabricated what next we will keep demanding accountability there's something that this generation is well positioned for and talented at doing and that is documenting we've never seen in the history of this country where events unfold and within minutes or hours we're not putting out factual information to counter a narrative I will tell you something is happening and that's the fact that a lot of victims and their families are beginning to find courage to speak up we've seen that with two of the mothers yesterday I'll be glad to equally refer them to come on your program and talk about their experiences and equally demand from the government answers to the killings of their young ones I would equally tell you that a lot of young engineers are saying hey enough is enough we're going to keep pushing we will keep speaking true to power we are not the docile generation that will be silenced and I can tell you something anytime more than ever we've seen a lot of political consciousness and engagement watch the BBC registrations go up people are going to the polls and we will send a message on election day I don't care who the politician is people are now ready so you know what you make the wrong move we're going to hold you accountable and that's the attitude we need from top to bottom Femi I think same question to you what next and where is this all headed what can possibly be achieved by a continued agitation remember also Twitter is still suspended and the platforms for which these conversations can go on seem to be restricted alright I totally align my thoughts with Mr. Ken Laughey we cannot say because we tried something and then we got just political sanctions and then we are banned on it we must keep pushing and protests is just one out of the many political processes that must be employed if we want to have a free society where we all can call our country and that's actually as it has a movement of citizenship people tried to become citizens they showed but at the end of the day they were killed for that and so we must remember this in the context of what it is the answer to me is one of the biggest movement that showed our credibility and transparency and how government should be everywhere in the world at some point when Woodlands were sent we protected ourselves and that is what we call security we fed ourselves that's what we call welfare so government anywhere in the world but these are the things that are what's missing in Nigeria who will keep pushing actually and keep organizing ourselves talking to ourselves and making ourselves involved in all of the political processes not just the protests okay Sean is still here and I'm directing this question to you because you are a journalist and the fact that you know the media the press would always be here especially in a democratic dispensation and because we cannot flee the scene how then do we go about the job it's simple orientation of course Adiye and Mr. Akin have spoken very succinctly about electioneering and elections and for that to happen they have to be orientation and that's why I tell my colleagues like we all have a job go to the crossroads talk to people let them know that if a third of all your vote don't count and all of this stuff are actually lies let them know that no matter how much they rig once your number is much you out rig them so that is the orientation we need to do we need to start organizing town hall meetings start organizing seminars, conferences start organizing village village meetings and just in the city square start doing all of those grassroot meetings with people so that they can understand what needs to be done and how it's going to be done it's not enough for us to just sit and talk every time do you understand a lot but do you think this in any way would solve the problem of police brutality and harassment I'm talking now to the profession not to say that I mean in particular because even before the protests we constantly see that journalists then you know those in this profession have been harassed of course it's part of it right so when you say people when you talk to people about their future they begin to understand that for them to gain a future they have to be present and present now is the struggle unfortunately I don't see any of this ending anytime soon so we are presently in the struggle to achieve emancipation there is a stage for struggle and that is the stage we are presently we can't keep the stage of struggle to the stage of emancipation right so let's embrace this struggle let's embrace this process and let's realize as journalists that see we are here right now we give all we have for this and this is all we have right now so that we can achieve the greater good alright Mr. Olaori I'm back to you I want to know because you were out yesterday Mr. Makaroni I think you were driving with him Files was also there FK Abudu a couple other people who else would you say or what else needs to be done you know to boost the struggle and to boost the amount of pressure and the energy around this conversation do you need more celebrities do you need the church do you need the mosque do you need traditional rulers what else needs to come in to support this whole conversation sure as I just said everyone is a victim of bad governance I don't care what you say on the structure economically socially or academically some of the names you made you mentioned are people that have been committed to the struggle they've been there since they won they've taken a lot of criticism even when they wake up every day to you know do things I call selfless active citizenship and I think we just need to really understand that it takes all hands on deck but most importantly the average Nigerian walking the street is a key stakeholder that's needed to solve this problem and I think if we all understand that again as Nigerians in a constitution for a country such as ours as imperfect as it may be guarantees our certain rights and our ability to criticize those rights every single day we wake up leave our homes is something that should not be deprived from any one of us in terms of pushing forward and really seeing that again we have a larger tent bring more people again there are a lot of government officials that would leave office and then they see these problems that many of us haven't speaking to they don't need to take you coming out of that private jeep with police security to really understand what plays this country it's all around you right now Nigerians are living way below you know what word you call global standards for existence there's so much hunger and suffering in land but on top of that we have to deal with police brutality we have to deal with the harassment of citizens validation of human rights I'll say this everyone is needed in this struggle and I think until we get to that promise land we will stop fighting alright we still have Mr. Fermi Mr. Fermi do you think that this is a time where we should be talking about state police because I'm thinking how do we now address this issue at the end of the day arguments would be that government or state governors they don't really control the police in their state so should we be talking about state policing maybe that might help in reducing police brutality well add your thoughts or bring this into your thoughts also when you respond in all your state there was a protest yesterday but the energy was totally different there was pictures and videos they had their memorial they had their candlelight procession they were escorted by the police so Fermi share with us what this means and you know how you know all this really is different in different states alright this issue about police brutality we cannot discuss it in isolation that's from states to states because when you have like when you said state police it does not change the brutality you know we will just add in the end of the day you're just adding a particular adjective to the brutality then it becomes state police brutality it's as simple as that we we go to the roots of all of these things which is that then it's just a system that is making sure that all of these things do not work a system that places you know profits over people a system that does not see humanity as how it should be if you're talking about state police let me tell you there are eleven answers protestors who are still languishing in detention in all your states where you have the best governor Shayi Makinu that's happened since they were going you know he's the best governor right now but eleven protestors are still languishing in detention in Qiri Qiri you have 300 you know languishing in detention 300 people who were picked during the answers and post-ensors I mean when I mean post-ensors I mean 21st of October 2020 people will just buy standards and all of that so if you talk about state police if we make police closer to the governor the governor then determines who becomes the commissioner and all of that maybe police brutality will go no it will not go because the system that gives rise to all brutality is still very much around and that is something we also see about elections you see all that in elections there are two questions we must always ask ourselves who to change and what to change so who to change answers the question of personalities maybe if you change one very good guy for a bad guy or a bad guy for a good guy something will change no it's just a step that is the first question and that was what happened in 2014-2015 everybody wanted to change out to the PDP for the APC maybe let's change out you know Jonathan for Guari you know the disciplinary and the incorruptible and many many other colleagues that were even saying but till today we can now see you know what history has brought before us now it wants to change question is the system that we're on which is the economic system that places you know profit over people until we crush that system if you like bring the most incorruptible guy into that system the guy is going to mess up big time and that speaks to what you are saying about state police state police we have a we have another quick report to share with you and this is you know from our reporters in ground yesterday what they experienced and we'll talk about it right after this so quickly watch this I heard a sound I was like is this a gunshot what is this and people started running and then it became intense they continued I am a cameraman we started running we were crossing the road at the other side of Lake Itoh Gate where the cars were coming with so much speed we were crossing we didn't care and I was praying I saw some other people going through a barbed wire into the water the waterways where the water was around the Lake Itoh Gate and I looked at it I weighed it I viewed it and I saw that it was I might not be able to fit in to that barbed wire I said let's dig in sand as if I was swimming inside sand just to be able to pass through the barbed wire that will help me make way into the waterways and then people were like my camera I saw my camera on the ground I was like God as I was carrying the camera people were shouting leave the camera and run your life is more important leave the camera and run and other people were asking us not to pass through where the barbed wire because they were scared that the police would start coming and then they were driving us and I had to lie that I was pregnant because of my size they believed me before I edit I heard shooting teargas and all I don't know what they were shooting but I didn't know what they were saying sounds and everything so I picked up to my ways I was running with my camera I was running as well so as we were going what made me feel so bad was that these teargas were so so powerful it felt uncomfortable I was choking, I was crying what I was coming at my eyes was red I couldn't breathe very well it was like I was going to give up that's how I felt like I was going to go at that moment so as I was going my camera fell down I let my camera not because I didn't want to pick it up but my brother was leaving me already I was feeling weak already at that moment so I had to call my MD this is it, this is what happened at the moment I was still panting, I was feeling comfortable I was like where is Destiny and where are the other guys I said I don't even know where Destiny is at the moment and I left my camera at the same but my MD is a very lovely man he was like okay nobody come out am I okay, am I good after like 30 minutes I went back to the scene I had to check back to the scene this is not the first time I'm coming to protest but this one was so intense because of the tear gas it was going into my system I felt uncomfortable I was passing out totally so a little bit to God I'm still talking to you I'm still feeling uncomfortable I'm feeling funny in my system some people were harassed, me myself I was harassed by the Nigerian army because he almost took my phone from me and he said I should stop filming because at that time there were harassing some people in a bus they were destroying the Nigerian flag they pushed them, they tore their shirts and all that so I was trying to capture that moment when the Nigerian army came and almost took my phone from me so all I had to do at that time was to hibernate my phone at that time so they wouldn't even know I was filming just to get those moments and few minutes later they started shooting the tear gas on some people and with the time we have left I think we can just take final thoughts from all three of our guests and then it became final thoughts we just have to do better let's know we have to do better and as a journalist I want to speak more to journalists in Nigeria today unfortunately the executive had failed Nigerians the legislative has failed Nigerians the judiciary has failed Nigerians that's supposed to be the home of the common man we are supposed to be the fourth estate of the realm just journalists are we also going to fail Nigerians with maybe bribes and brown envelopes and all of this stuff we shouldn't let that happen let's be the person or the organization or the people that ensure that we bring the news accurately to Nigerians let's try, let's not fail this country and let's hope we have a better country moving forward alright Mr Day you can go ahead alright final thoughts is to all Nigerians especially the New York people who form the largest demographic so they understand that this country belongs to all of us we must all stand about this time and never should we fall into the trap of dropping our resistance for those who are present there should never be a time when we all become silent just by their traditional threats let's always make sure that we find strategies to always protest injustice there are times anyways when we get weary it's understandable when you wake up every morning and everything you see about Nigerians bad news and all of that and then this syndrome keeps coming alive every day but we should understand that those places were going to people's thoughts to make those societies the same and we must not leave our own society we must stay put here and make sure that we fix this country because it belongs to all of us I can allow you and just to add I appreciate all the great work many of you are doing even in the face of what I call tyranny and pushback from the government as relentless propaganda can only count on you all to keep doing this very difficult work being an active citizen does not make you an activist I think every Nigerians should wake up active every single day demanding more from this government demanding accountability speaking true to power making sure that until we have a country where I don't have to pick up my green passport to feel like I'm in a blessed environment I don't think we should rest and lastly to many young people out there this is the time to take control of your country we're not going to have the old generation write the rules for our generation every generation writes these rules from everything you've seen where they're clapping down on young people's ability to prosper, to succeed to really make the best out of themselves we have to own the future stay active stay engaged don't wait till it's your problem be part of the struggle, thank you alright, thank you so much gentlemen for being part of the conversation we really do appreciate your time and this is where we call it a wrap thank you so much for joining us as well we'll definitely continue tomorrow and to catch up on all of the conversation just in case you missed out do not forget to follow us on our Instagram page, Facebook and Instagram is at PLOS TV Africa and on YouTube is at PLOS TV Africa I am Messia Boko see you tomorrow