 Governors of the Southeast to join Arnaz Indigo, traditional and religious leaders this week, to discuss solutions to rising insecurity in the region. And mayhem unleashed on the industrial town of New Year's week just yesterday, the two presidents killed, a teaching hospital attacked, a DSSV who burnt, and the home of a political critic of the IPOV raised. Also coming up is today's Off the Press, where we have a review of the major stories in today's newspaper. Good morning and welcome to the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. I am Osaogi Ogbanwan, welcoming you to a new week. And of course, more days in the month of October, we hope that we have a very interesting run for the rest of the month. Good morning once again, we hope that you had a great weekend also. Let's start with some of the top trending stories. Yesterday, of course, over the weekend, it was not one of the best times for, well, you know, political analyst and also a special advisor to the Lagos State government on drainage and water resources, Joe Igboque, after his home was raised by suspected IPOV members in Newey. There were videos and pictures released, you know, that showed the damage that was done to his home. It's popularly called country home in Newey. And of course, you know, it raised a lot of conversations as to what exactly is going on in the Southeast. You know, a lot of people haven't healed from the, you know, killing and the death of Chike Kunili. And many others who have also suffered from the insecurity challenges that the Southeast is currently witnessing. And so this, you know, brought back those conversations and also, you know, made people question whether this truly was an attack on Joe Igboque himself by the IPOV or by the unknown gunmen in the Southeast or the Eastern security network or those who might be masquerading as IPOV. You know, there have been different angles. And of course, Joe Igboque himself put out statements on the social media page showing CCTV footage of persons unloading what he called or what he, you know, said was a petrol from a vehicle, a Sienna vehicle in his compound just before the fire incident. And so he, according to Joe Igboque, you know, said that these are IPOV members and, you know, they are to blame. The IPOV has not released a statement yet. And of course, you know, the conversations have continued to go left and right. If you remember, not long ago, a couple of days ago, I believe Joe Igboque was in the news, you know, after he addressed the press conference calling for a state of emergency in the Southeast to address the security challenges that Southeast is currently dealing with after the killing of Dr. Chike Kunili. I think that was a trigger, you know, that of course led Joe Igboque to call for a state of emergency in the Southeast. I got to see some of the response, you know, to that. You know, there's people who said, well, you know, we haven't heard him call for a state of emergency in other parts of the country where, you know, the in-scare challenges have been worse. You know, but I would always say, you know, to people like that, you know, a person would most likely always start from home and it is where they are most concerned that they would speak on, you know, and there's people and leaders and political analysts and voices in the North, you know, that should call for a state of emergency they need, it's led Joe Igboque to call for a state of emergency in the Southeast if he believes that that's where it is currently needed. He can't necessarily, you know, speak for the whole country. But anyway, it was, you know, a couple of days ago that he made those statements and, you know, over the weekend had his home attacked. And of course, all fingers and all eyes point towards the IPOB and, you know, whoever it is that have continued to wreak havoc and cause security challenges in the Southeast. Mostly because the IPOB themselves have not been able to outrightly point out, you know, that they are not responsible for some of these things. And that includes the killing of Chikaya Kunjili when they put out a statement saying that, you know, they're not responsible and they don't know Chikaya Kunjili and they have no business with him. Yes, that might seem like the reasonable statement to put out, but until they're able to also point out, you know, and prove that some of these elements that are running wild in the Southeast are maybe just mere criminals and people who have taken advantage of the weak security infrastructure in the Southeast or maybe, and of course, you might see every now and then people say that these acts are committed by the DSS to try to paint the IPOB bad and some, you know, other conspiracy theory like that. But it's still up to the IPOB to ensure that, you know, that they prove to the people that these are not their members because they will continue to be blamed. And, you know, no one is gonna be shocked when they hear that, oh, the IPOB has done this or done that. Sometime last week I had seen a video on social media where maybe about eight or 10 of them fully armed in about three vehicles were, you know, driving somewhere around the Southeast. I'm not sure what state that was. It was in Anambrao, it was in, you know, I'm not sure what state it was, you know, but they were holding weapons to, you know, releasing shots into the air and there were a couple of people, you know, who were making those videos and who were cheering them on, people walking by and cheering them on and saying, you know, you know, you are doing well and some, you know, nonsense like that, which was really, really heartbreaking. You know, and I've also gotten to see people, you know, point out that, yes, you might look at them, you know, because this is mostly the way that little militant groups here and there across the world start. You might look at them, you know, because that's the narrative that has been sold, that they're here to save you and they're here to rescue the Southeast and they're here to, you know, do some of all of that, you know, Robin Hood, you know, narrative. But eventually, you know, the people of the Southeast will continue to bear the brunt of the high-handedness of these criminals, because that's exactly what they are and that's what they've turned out to be, criminals. And it's important, very likely, I think sometime today or this week, there's gonna be a meeting of the Southeast governors and traditional rulers and O'Hanez and Igbo. Conversations need to be had as to what must be done to curtail what is seeming to be a new terrorist group brewing in the Southeast. And that is mostly just because of lack of control. I don't think, and of course, my opinion may not be very valid, but I don't think it's necessarily been sponsored by anybody to try to start up some insurrection. I think it's really just persons who have taken advantage of the weak security infrastructure and they've taken advantage of, you know, the fact that, yes, there's a couple of them who are angry with the way Nigeria has been run in the last couple of years and so they've continued to run wild. But whatever the narrative is, there would always and they would continue to be victims of these persons that are not even necessarily, you know, the people that they are upset with. People of the Southeast will be victims. On Monday, I'm sure that today, there's still gonna be people, places in the Southeast that would be shot down because they fear the IPOB's, you know, reaction to them on being on the streets when there's meant to be a sit at home. All of these conversations are very, very important and they will continue to be victims. Two weeks ago, I started saying, do not let Nigeria happen to you, regardless of how much you believe in the country and how much you love the country, do not let Nigeria happen to you. Joey Bokwe, unfortunately, is one of those who has had to suffer what Nigeria is in the Southeast because you would expect that after a situation like this, there would be CCTV footage. There would be possibility of identifying these arsonists and these people who have caused destruction to his home. There would be security efforts to ensure that these people are arrested. But what is the likelihood of these persons being arrested if we are looking at what has happened in the last one year and seeing other incidents? And that includes finding out the killers of Chike Akunili. What is the likelihood that the Nigerian security apparatus would be able to identify these persons and ensure that justice is served? It's a really, really sad situation and regardless of who it is that it happens to, it is still a crime, whether it is a pro-IPOB person or an anti-IPOB person, pro-South, anti-South, regardless of who it is, these are still crimes that must stop. The high-handedness, the recklessness, the destruction that are being caused by these elements that the IPOB continues to put out these weak statements in denying, the high-handedness of these persons must be checkmated. And I hope that whatever conversations that the Southeast Governors and Oaneze and traditional rulership in the Southeast have are geared towards finding ways with which these things must be addressed. If you remember not long ago, we had a conversation with one of the leaders of the IPOB, Oaneze, worldwide, sorry. And he eventually hung up on us because I was trying to find out from him who exactly is in charge of the Southeast. Is it currently the IPOB? Is it the governors? Is it the traditional rulers, Zohaneze and Digbo? Who exactly would be able to rein in these little pockets of violence here and there that are affecting people of the Southeast? We hope that these conversations are had and there are some answers. Moving away from Joey Bocque's house being burnt over the weekend, a groom's man was sent out of church, allegedly sent out of church for wearing earrings. And this is one of the things that trended the most over the weekend. He posted pictures online and of course stated that he went of course for his friend's wedding. He was a groom's man at his friend's wedding and he was asked to leave for simply wearing earring. And he goes on to say, I got out of the Nigerian Christianity and hope they are fine dining restaurants in hell and to the team, do it for your friend. The friend escorted me out while we laughed about it. His snap pictures and I posted it and says, see you at the reception and some of all of that that he posted. He basically created a narrative that said that the Nigerian Christian community is very, very judgmental and they refuse him being in the church for wearing earrings. At first, of course, this started with those who joined in the bandwagon of those who say, well, it's very, very wrong and there's no part of the Bible that states that a man should not wear earrings on some of all of that. And there's also those who pointed out the fact that Christ had always preached that people are welcome, come to me regardless of how you are. You've been invited prostitutes into the temple, some of all of that. But the Nigerian Christian doesn't seem to accommodate some of all of that and they are very, very judgmental. I remember a couple of years ago in Benin City there was a church called Church Unusual and became very, very popular, mostly because it didn't have a dress code and people could come exactly how they were. They could leave the club on Saturday night and come straight to church. They could wear mini skirts. They could wear revealing clothes and come to church and that's what made the church very, very popular in Benin City back then. I don't know where they are currently but it was one of the most popular churches many, many years ago, maybe about 10 years ago in Benin City. But of course that was their idea of welcoming everybody into the church. The reason this became controversial and most of the views concerning this were, like I've stated, does the Nigerian Christian, the Nigerian Christian, are they too judgmental? Do they do more than what Christ would have done? Do they immediately judge a person who doesn't fit into their narrative of what a Christian should look like? Do they create these pictures and these images mentally of what a Christian should look like? Don't wear earrings, don't have tattoos, don't dress shabbily or anything like that. You must wear a suit and you must dress responsibly for you to be seen and respected as a Christian. And I personally have always spoken about how people should have a personal relationship with their God regardless of what they wanna dress like or who they wanna look like but they should have a personal relationship with their God and not be judgmental. But the challenge here of course was how many other people see it. So there's many, many angles to this. There's those who also pointed out that places have rules. They're clubs in Nigeria and Lagos and Abuja that you go to that you can't wear slippers. You have to wear shoes. And when people go to these places, they respect these rules and of course before they enter they find a shoe and wear. If they're not dressed enough, a dress appropriately for that nightclub, they would go change clothes and dress more to fit into what the nightclub wants and nobody complains about that. There's restaurants who don't want you dressed in shabby here in Lagos and if you are dressed a little shabbily they would not let you wear entry. And of course people always add hair to those things. So why is it a problem? When a church says we wouldn't like to see a man wearing earrings in our church. Why can't we just add hair to those very simple rules? In a mosque of course you can't wear your shoes into a mosque. Nobody complains and if you know this same person I'm just basically sharing a lot of comments that I saw that if this same young man was to go to a mosque he will leave his shoes outside. Nobody needs to tell him that he needs to take off his shoes or take off his slippers before going in. And so why is the Nigerian Christian? Why is Nigeria's social media space always very antagonistic at Christianity and Christians and the rules that they have with the church? If you remember we've had many conversations about pastors buying cars or buying jets and some of all of that. People trying to dictate how a pastor should use his money and how he should spend his own money or the money that he earns from the church. Should he buy a private jet or not? And these are some of the things that have created many conversations before. Why is the Nigerian social media space so antagonistic towards the church? Why do they want to create their own rules to accommodate their own preferences for the Christian community and for the church? And someone also pointed out that one of the things, and I'm gonna go back to some of the statements that I made earlier. Someone also pointed out that one of the reasons why this was bad is because the same stereotyping that Nigerians have complained about with the police and with the EFCC and with whoever it is, security agents that sees someone with dreadlocks or with dyed hair or with tattoos or with earrings and they immediately profile you and call you a criminal. It's pretty much the same thing that the church had done according to this story. I would also quickly point out that there's people who also posted pictures to show that the young man's story was false and they were just searching for attention or clout. But that's a totally different conversation. Thanks very much once again for joining us. Regardless of how you see it, of course your views are always welcome. You can send us a message on our social media platforms as pretty simple at Plus TV Africa on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Save it on our YouTube channel and let us know what you think about the Nigerian Christian and how welcoming they are or they should be. And at the same time, do you think people should really just respect simple rules of being in an establishment? Stay with us when we come back. Tunde Kola will be joining us for Off the Press and where we get to have a quick review of the stories making headlines this morning.