 Tunibu in his Democracy Day speech says those who cannot accept defeat do not deserve the joy of victory. And tonight we discuss education financing as a tool in nation building. This is plus politics, I am messy eboko. President Bola Tunibu on Monday said those who cannot endure and accept the pain of defeat in elections do not deserve the joy of victory when it is their turn to triumph. Tunibu set these in an address to Nigerians while commemorating this year's Democracy Day. Now Tunibu defeated Atik Wababaka, Petalbi of the People's Democratic Party and Labour Party respectively. Many have understood the statement to be directed towards those who he defeated in the last election. So joining us to discuss these is Benga Uluru Kwame, a public relations consultant and APC member. And also we have Ambassador Ugaga Ogyene Ogyene O'Yole who is a member of the People's Democratic Party. Thank you so much gentlemen for joining us. Thank you for having me here. Alright then let me start with you, Ugaga Ogyene, I'd like you to, for the sake of recap or more like rephrasing that, let's quickly look at the thoughts. This particular quote is part of the speech of the President. He said the beauty of democracy is that those who win today can lose tomorrow and those who lose today can win tomorrow. And those who cannot endure and accept the pains of defeating an election today do not deserve the joy of victory tomorrow. How would you describe this quote or part of the speech by the President in comparison to the 2023 elections? Okay, thank you very much. So I would like to quickly say that coming from a President, it came with a mis-feeling because I think there should be a level of balance in why what he's saying is not so bad. Why what he has said is not so out of place. I think as a President he should be more interested in conversations or statements that will unite us as a people. But for me, I think that yes, why we need a democracy to grow, judiciary is part of the process that depends on democracy because if some persons feel that they are rigged out or that they were taken advantage of, they have every right to approach the court. That does not mean that they don't have the courage or strength to accept defeat. It's just to test the, you test the law, you test the law. A lot of people feel that they were robbed or they are not robbed. It is now for the law to decide. Where you can begin to make this statement is probably when the law has a position, the court has a position on an issue and you go on to say you want to form a parallel government or that. It's not out of place in a democracy. That is what I actually think. And I think the President should now focus on governance and begin to talk as a President of Nigeria and not a candidate of a political party. All right, Manga, some people believe that the last part of his speech or quotation was totally unnecessary, especially looking at our political climate. And I know that you're an APC member, but how would you describe the speech of the President? So I think it's a bit, St. Juniors, to look at just a section of what I consider our best speeches that are very delivered by anybody in the last few years on our political journey. It was a speech that was designed to take Nigerians back to understand exactly how precious this democracy that we have is. It took us on the money lane, the issues that had to do with the apported 1993 election that brought in the, that should have brought in, should have brought in this country. He mentioned that, look, this democracy costs Nigerians blood. It costs Nigerians sweat and that we should take it more seriously than we do because I think there's a generation of people who don't understand exactly how much this democracy costs. So it was a message not only to Nigerians of that era, but younger Nigerians who don't even know what this democracy costs. So, and that part where he was talking about people who don't, who don't, when he mentioned what you said, I think that if you look at that part in my exhibition, then you missed the entire essence of that speech. Because in the last speech was also the place where he said that when you don't agree with the result of an election or the process, there is provision for you to go to courts and to stick regions. You know, so it was a complete speech and it's like when you want to look at an entire meal of fish and you take it with you and say, oh, this fish is, doesn't take, it's nice because you only have the, the, the fame of the fish. And then you take that as, as, you know, as something of the whole. So, nature in those parts will not do justice. That, that speech was a complete one. It took us back into memory lane, showed us exactly what we can do if we get democracy right and put us in the picture for the future. So I think that looking at that portion of the speech alone will be disingenuous. And I think we should look at the entire speech. Okay, so we'll see how we're going to, we're going to, some people, like I rightly mentioned, believe that, you know, that part of the speech was totally unnecessary, especially when you look at our political climate, where you have those who actually contested for the elections, especially the presidential elections, another election still, you know, in court. And then, you know, that statement is being made. Do you agree with them that, you know, that that speech is, or was unnecessary? Or the particular part of that speech was unnecessary? Like I said earlier, the president is no longer a candidate of a political party. We are inherited a, a nation that is partly divided politically religiously and also on ethnic lines. And so a president should be wary of some kind of statements. We still have that election, the Nigerian citizenry has been contesting that outcome of that election. A lot of people feel it was massively reaped in the favor of the sitting president. Why I feel that everybody should approach the court or do a secret redress, rightly, the president should focus on statements that we united or statements that will not infuriate the people. On statements that will not make the people feel like they are stupid. This is not the first time he's making that kind of statement. During his acceptance speech, he said, you know, that some people are not happy now that he stands where they can't. We have Oga Gao, can I connect with us? But we still have Mr. Gbinga. Gbinga, if you can hear me. So. Very please. Do you think that if it were the reverse, because a lot of people are also saying that if the case was a different case entirely, let's assume that he was on the other side of the divide, where he had to go to court, do you think he would have accepted the outcome? I think what we're doing is we're trying to force a conversation where I don't think there's a competition to be had. This is the president who, from day one, has reached out to the other side. I just see that this man has met as many opposition leaders as he's met members of his party, since he became president. Every speech he has made has been one of unity. I even saw a video of a member of the local party, a then House of Representatives elect saying that he didn't know exactly how smart this man, he didn't know how smart this man was until he met him, and that it appealed to him, sense of empathy. So here we are trying to force a conversation about the question of this speech, when we should look at the entirety of this speech and the entirety of this domino and how he has carried on things in one direction. This was sworn in. This is a man who I believe is very prepared for the job. He signed three groundbreaking laws. He got into office and all these laws are not targeted at a particular party. They are all Nigerians. So again, you want to take a portion of the speech that is easy to misunderstand if you have tried to be mysterious. That's right. But I know that Nigerians are saying that, okay, we probably didn't know where this man was. We didn't understand this man until the beginning. But now there are many Nigerians coming to say, you know what? I think we got it right. I think we picked a person who is prepared, who understands the system, who understands where the truth pinches every Nigerian, and he has from day one been attacking these issues front and center. Many Nigerians support some of the things he has done. I mean, one of the most popular things he's done is the issue with the CBN governor, and he has brought support for that because Nigerians do exactly how much pain they were in when this man ran the show. So again, if we want to be nitpicking, that's why. But again, Nigerians should look out and look at the entire picture and see that in President Bola met somebody who is prepared for the job, who has said repeatedly that, don't pity me. Who is risking it or say, don't pity me because I act for this job. And I will deliver. He was talking to somebody who said, we might not be able to get it 100 percent, but guess what? We cannot go 90 percent. And there's the manifesto there for everybody to refer to at every point. Everything he has done has come from the manifesto that he presented. So for me, I think that he delivered a wonderful speech and whoever wants to pick a paragraph. Well, I think that you have said this a couple of times, but it would also be important to know that that's not the essence. This conversation is not about trying to criticise the speech of the president or look for faults, but we're looking at it in a holistic manner. And we're saying that it actually happened on democracy. And we understand the fact that, yes, at some point in 2018, the president had declared that June 12th become the election of the democracy day as to May 29. And that's very different. And we also understood what happened 1993, the MK Oabiola election, which some people think it was the most credible election so far in the history of Nigeria. And we can also not forget that. And so it's very important that the statement that the president made, let's not forget that he's the president now. And we haven't recovered from the previous statement that he made that has put the country. You remember, you know what I'm talking about. Subsidy is gone and everywhere went almost crazy. But again, that's why we're talking about this, because the speech of the president is very important. And all that he has said, if you look at it now... In what kind of action? In what kind of action? This man has demonstrated over and over. But I'd like to take you on. Because we're talking about democracy now. We're talking about the elections. He's talked about defeat and those who have failed or who have been defeated. And we know how up until this moment, you have people in court at the tribune now. Again, one of the tenets of democracy is that you have an independent judiciary. You have a transparent electoral process. So I bring it back to you again. Do you think that those parties that are involved have a right to go to court, you know, to approach the court and say, hey, we think that this election was not fair, was not free. The body who settled with the responsibility of conducting the election was not credible enough. Do you think that they should have set defeat? Do you think that they should pack their bags and baggages and walk away from this? Contesting the election? No. Look, again, we can't take these things in isolation, right? President Butler Metsunubu was the first person who stuck who pushed for forensic evidence in the case of AKT election, where he believed at the time that his friend, Pyame of AKT State, was cheated out of an election. And they went to court and they won. This same man helped to ensure that although we tripped his mandate, or should we strip his mandate, and that has been his way of doing things. He understands that courts are important. I believe what he was saying is that after we have gone to court and the courts have declared one way or the other, if you still insist that you are not accepting of the judgment or of the standing at the time, yes, that's what he was referring to. He wasn't saying that, oh, don't go to court. He is a beneficiary of many court judgments. So why would he say that he shouldn't go to court? So I think that's where I think we're getting it wrong. He has never said that don't go to court. Even in his speech, in this same speech he was discussing, he did say that the courts are there for redress. But he doesn't necessarily have to say that they shouldn't go to court. Okay, a few questions that I would like to ask, based on what you have said. The question is, if you say he was saying it based on the fact that if courts have decided that people, and people are seeing his insistence, have court decided, we are in the tribune. Has anybody gone to block the rules or is anybody shooting God anywhere that he should not perform his duties? He has been inaugurated. Are we still in court? Yes. Why would he allow the process to go to court? No, you have been talking about taking a portion of the speech and leaving the whole. You can also not take the whole and leave a portion. Every portion, every part of the speech, every part of the speech. And we are saying he's the president. He should begin to act like a president and not like a party man. He shouldn't be acting like we are acting like a country. The president has a country to govern. He has people to manage. First, you cannot make progress. You don't have to be. And then we are in court. People are in court thinking we are in court. And you are making a statement about people who can have step defeats. Accepting defeat comes with conviction. And the people convince that they lost. They are in court. If they don't believe in the court, if they don't believe in Nigeria, if they don't want to accept defeat, they won't approach the court. The lawyer has to go there and defend his mandate. So I think that we need to have like a smooth conversation here. Before being defined, how to do with the judiciary. And he mentioned that the reforms are only just started because he doesn't want these issues where courts are giving judgements that are truncating democracy. So really, again, I think we are not speaking here. Iman has led from the very first day. And he has said it in that same speech that, look, you, when you don't feel cheated or you feel agreed, go to court. I think we will let's share the thoughts of Ogane now. Ogane, Menga, we'll come back to you quickly as we cross this conversation down. Let's just take a breather and allow Ogane to come in. Can you hear me? So what do you think this means for those who are in court in the tribunal, the president in his speech? He really didn't have to say directly that you shouldn't go to court, but he's saying, speaking in parables. And of course, you understand what that means. So what does this mean for those parties that are already in court or those people who are challenging the outcome of the 2023 elections? I think the president have been acting like a principal who is trying to whip his students into shape. You can, you, first issue, show respect to the people who contested with him. It shouldn't look like those people doesn't have the right to contest in the first place or to contest the outcome of the election. We all have evidences. Everybody, no Nigerian can come out and say, oh, we are completely satisfied with the process of elections. And people are in court. As a president, you should allow the process run. Let it not look like you are bullying everybody even in the court, to have it your way. You should, as a president, as a statement, if you had come out to say, oh, my colleagues are already, the people who contested with me are already in court, please let us allow the process and be peaceful, allow the court to determine the facts in this issue and make their verdict. And until then, I'm going to encourage my opponent to join us in the building of Nigeria. That would have been a better statement to make as a president. Not that you are saying those, you are beginning to make it look like a mockery, those who does not believe in, we have not gotten to a point where we can now say people have refused to accept defeat or not. Elections take processes. We have the pre-election issues. We have the elections proper. And we have a post-election issue. The election can completely draw to a close when all issues are surrounding the election have been resolved. And we are still in the process of resolving this issue. The question is, are they going about illegally? Yes. They have approached the tribunal. The case is ongoing. Are you going to now prejudice the court? No. The right thing to do is to allow the process, the process run every day you come out and you look like you want to whip other aspirants into other people who contested against you. Can you talk about this for one minute? No. Please, when you were talking about Nigeria, can we have a conversation? You can't be repeating about one paragraph. Only one statement from the president is enough to set this country free. And please, don't forget that it was just one statement that you made to write to 500 and something nearer. Just one statement in immigration. Oh, wow. Manga, we have to go. Gentlemen, at this point we have to... No, I am not... We have to go, gentlemen. Thank you so much for being part of the show. At a matter of fact, I support the removal of subsidy, but I want to also let you know that it was... Manga, or Lerukwemi, we have to go now. Manga, or Lerukwemi, we have to go now. And because his word carries power as president, we have to go. Gentlemen, thank you so much. At this point, we'll probably have this conversation some other time. Thank you very much. But of course, democracy, Nigeria belongs to all of us and we must ensure that, you know, the country becomes a country that we're proud of. Thank you so much, Mr. Manga or Lerukwemi, Public Relations Consultant, a member of the APC, and Ambassador Ugarga Organa Yole. Thank you so much, a member of the PDP as well for being part of the show. We'll take a short break and when we return we'll be discussing education, financing in Nigeria. Please stay with us.