 Well, I'll come back is the Friday flex edition of the breakfast and plus TV Africa and it's time for us to find out what the headlines are saying on major head and newspapers across the country and we're starting with the Daily independent newspaper the front page there leads with to noble a PC opposed INEC staff testifying in a tickus petition the rider there or b6 order to question INEC on ICT experts used in pole and above the must-have you have to know who signs bill raising retirement age of judges Any good governor about meet to new boo Precious what now the Kano's release and going down a bit lower You have PDP vows to deploy strength maximally in national assembly leadership election Once a PC INEC the railing democracy Well, that's much to be taken from the daily independent Okay, we move from daily independent to business day business day leads with headline oh Sorry Subsidy removal buys breathing space for debt-ridden Nigeria That's what business day leads with Gold export heats 78 billion Naira highest on record That's also their smaller headline on business day Anger trails over SARS indigent Bay indigent buyers property law comments I Man sees private investment CNG lowering petrol price That can be seen on page two of business day more commuters switch to BRT on high transport cost That is on page 35 Nigeria misses out on Canada's visa-free travel list We can also find that story the full story on page 35 as well We take edge you'd see better life than parents That is a story that starts on page one and continues on page two Those are the headlines from business day will take All right from there. We move to the punch newspaper And the punch newspaper this morning is leading with to no booze meeting with lawmakers Failed to resolve zone in crisis. That's over the National Assembly leadership To no booze meeting with lawmakers fails to resolve zone in crisis Above the mast head you have rep stepped down judgment debt payment You also have president sign a bill on judges retirement age and Ogun community residents stranded as flawed overruns Link road Well, that's the much you'll be taking from the punch newspaper Okay From punch newspaper we go to the next Friday leadership Friday, that's what we'll be looking at now leadership Friday It leads with tinobu sticks with a pub you a bus lobbies lawmakers and the writers are Says is about Nigeria's project Accuses Gojia liory wama co of stalling progress Yari Kalu Jim Ibrahim was a better absent opposition will spring surprises on Tuesday PDP boasts We also have 45,000 Nigerians may miss Hajj over visa hitches Transactions suffer as federal government restricts MDA's accounts Cano demolition police are in 106 suspects for theft break-in and Obesity Tribunals not to a question INEC on ICT experts and government kill Catholic priest in a do state That's an unfortunate one and another unfortunate one No longer news now dark communication founder dr. C for burial June 22 Okay, those are the headlines from a leadership Friday and eventually the final newspaper That we're taking for this morning All right, and we have been joined on off the press by G. D. Johnson chief lecturer Nigerian Institute of Journalism Legos. Good morning, Mr. Johnson G. D. Johnson, can you hear me? I can good morning to you and happy Friday It's a pleasure to be with you this morning. It is always a pleasure to be with you. Now, let's look at this President signing the bill on judges retirement age. How how did he hit you when you saw that? And we're taking that from the front page of the punch newspaper Well, I Expiration of boys at the situation and some of these some of the inside sources really I Got I was able to gain from from the press the font model in general of the federation I've got a lot of me advising They present a body not to sign it. So it was talking to me To learn that presently who signed this in this particular bill into an act and for me Like what I said when he made the promises concerning doing judicial reform For me, I think that the president has called an own goal here in signing this particular this particular bill I think what you have been done is for this be to be presented before the 10th assembly Because the 10th assembly is the assembly for its presidency and not to deny it assembly However, some will argue that government is a continuum And that government does not exist in Baku But from a ticket point of view, I don't think that the president ought to sign this bill into an act But there's nobody has done as we come below the nation. I will wait and see how it goes because if Bwari Did not sign it the question you ask is why would why should you know who signed it? Okay, well, maybe some people will also argue that he had good information and Bwari had wanted him to have something to do when he comes it begins with that Like like like Junotan for instance did a conference That he felt the next administration that is that of Bwari should come and revisit and then sign into law The national conference that was hard. Unfortunately when Bwari came it didn't sign it into law so it is a good thing for for For presidents or for people who are handing over the baton to the next person to believe that the government is a continuum So I don't know why did you really or why do you really have those misgivings that he shouldn't have signed it into law Apart from the fact that is it was not done during his tenure That there is a lot of mitigation to surrounding the 2023 election and a key component part In deciding the outcome of the cases it It's is the judiciary and then here is the judiciary They've been been been rewarded quote-unquote with an extension to their retirement age like I said from legal point of view from a Administrative point of view. That's not wrong with the president signing this but from medical point of view And we just talking from medical point of view Because you have litigations here and there and then here you have people that will that will take That would take decision with respect to the outcome of 2023 elections being rewarded Be rewarded with an extension with an extension of five years to their retirement age So as far as I'm concerned if Bwari did not sign that Bwari signed a lot of a lot of bill into law based on the amendment of the of the night assembly So the question is why did he not sign this and this is critical and then you have the format on in general Counseling the then president. Why are you not to not to append it? Hello, Mr. Johnson The 10th assembly and then the 10th assembly will look at it and then it will be the first point of call for the 10th assembly And then are you saying mr. Johnson always done Sorry, are you saying that um It is possible signing into law of this bill Will affect the outcome of the tribunal Because What I'm saying in effect is is is that it is subject to various interpretation Now you you be playing into the hands of of of critic if the outcome of the The the the various decisions are the various tribunal across the state not even a lot of people are focusing on the presidential Tribunal you have you have cases across board from house of assembly to national assembly national assembly to state governor so Essentially, if it does not favor the opposition in the long run I'm just saying that you have just given some balls to the opposition to to to fire at you At criticizing you that's just what what what what I meant with with that in any case There's nothing there's no lot that stops him from signing I'm just saying from ethical point of view and that This should only be the first bill he apparently signature to because we still have some Some serious and then I think is this is to these are 90 days that he has to do that. So well, um Everything is subject to very interpretation But my own interpretation is that this particular bill should have been stepped down represented As an executive bill before the 10th assembly and the 10th assembly will look into it and then once the 10th assembly passed it Then if you would He will sign and apply the signature to it Okay, let's remain with the courts there. Um tinobu apc oppose iron x staff testifying in artico's Petition we've seen this playing out a lot in this tribunal in these cases that are going on Um Something will come And lawyers have a certified true copy presented in the court the same iron egg that That yes offered that or that gave out issued that certified true copy will now oppose it The apc will oppose it they the president will oppose it and everybody that is that is not on the side of The people who are presenting this will oppose it and it seems as if we are dragging our feet Or the the judiciary is dragging its feet in getting things done So when you saw this headline tinobu's Yes, tinobu apc oppose iron x staff testifying in artico's position Granted that we've seen this opposition to documents and witnesses being called by by the apc by tinobu's lawyers By iron egg itself What does it tell you how does it strike you right? What if you do surprise you the the Defender that you want to maintain the status quo ante and the petitioner want to obtain um the status quo ante so Basically you should the do you expect that? The council for iron egg that conducted the election or the council for apc And tinobu sherry team are that are beneficiary of the outcome of the election to support whatever evidence Evidences that the petitioners are bringing Into court no they will surely oppose it But the key thing there is that you see that despite the opposition by the first second third fourth And fifth respondent to the to the petition the court seems to be admitting Those evidences so that's what if the court refused if the court had refused to admit these evidences Then that's these documents as evidence That's when we should have if you are grace of my bruce But the court is doing what they are supposed to do and that's the beauty of of it all the The the the the respondent we oppose the petitioner will present soon And it's left for the panel to accept or to reject but as far as the proceedings are going The the the the panel is accepting these as evidence and they said we respond to their written addresses I'm sure that in the history of Nigeria. There has never been any election petition Tribunal at the national level that has generated this type of public interest In in but actually everybody has become has become a lawyer But by by by default because we need to see how Nigerians follow What is going on and I think that it was a great disservice to this nation for them not to have allowed At least to for our jurisprudence at least for for the for the strengthening of our democracy for them not to have allowed cameras into the In in into the court for Nigerians to have an opportunity To even learn from what is going on for INEC to learn for the parties to learn Because there are things that we need to reform when it comes to our electoral electoral processes So that we can have a deepened democracy The courts are doing what they're doing. I just remembered Something that made headlines a few days ago that someone who brought a petition to the courts Saying the the president elect then should not be sworn in and gave the reasons that the way Petitioning was slammed 10 million Naira per individual that was like up to 30 million or 40 million For someone bringing a petition. Why not just strike it out? And you're giving they called it frivolous and I was asking myself frivolous by whose definition Is that what the law says that you bring something? That's that's one of that's one of the things that That struck me with the kind of find that courts were imposing on On people that have gone to call to challenge the outcome to to to up to To explore the the the legal option and I see 40 million 50 million and then you begin to wonder How how did the court arrive at such such fines and libeling that as as as frivolous in the process You are trying to destroy the the people's confidence in the judicial process Are you trying to discourage people from coming that okay if you come to if you approve judiciary to seek justice and If justice does not cover your way and then you you'll be fine So in the process that will serve as a deterrent for people in future for them not to come I don't know how they came about the money, but you know once my lord rules They moved and then you can only challenge their ruling by going to higher court And I'm not sure whether someone want to approach a higher court to seek address When you have already been fined 10 10 10 10 million 10 10 million for seeking Redress that okay. I you are one my approach you my lord to to give the interpretation to this matter What's this matter? Well the the matters were not They were just trunk out and you said this is frivolous Okay, well, let's move from the court to well Lego state Lego state the state house of assembly Business day has a headline there where anger trails or busses indigent biased property law comments Yes Yes, what what he just appealing to pure sentiment to to do that Giving the opportunity to set to to to set record to be the first person that won the speakership Three times for three consecutive time Lagos As far as I'm concerned such law cannot stand such law which are letting this is It is legal state is legal state People don't forget the special status of lego's because it was for the capital of of Nigeria And legal is the commercial commercial commercial Capital of Africa. So if we are stopping Nigerians from from from buying land in lego's then what happened to And then you are calling for foreign direct investment If the foreigner cannot come and invest in your economy How would your economy go the president traveled to france looking for foreign direct investment? And besides that such law will not stand. There's no law that stops any Nigerian from getting land anywhere The basic right you need to own the property Is is your citizenship as long as you're a citizen of Nigeria that you have every right to ride of food Assocation the right to own to all of the right are embedded in your fundamental right So he's just playing to the gallery. So as far as I'm concerned, how do you think that such law will stand instead of time? What do you think that you know to the supreme court? What do you think would be the judgment of the supreme court concerning such laws? And I don't know how these people think how backward they will be thinking in in their third pattern We will be thinking of such in the 21st century when you have Nigerians owning properties across a later breadth of the world when countries of the world Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Dubai grew its economy by calling on people to come and invest By calling on people to come and own property in their, in their, in their, because as we see lection He himself is a lection. Is he an integer? He's not an integer. A majority of them in the lection state as of us and we are not an integer They are not an integer of lecors He himself is from, he's from, he's from another good, he's from a good state. So is he a lection? Sometimes we just wonder what what goes on in the mind if you see when they express their fourth pattern It tells you the kind of person, it tells you the kind of It tells you the kind of person they are and it tells you the level of their intelligence and the level the level of their knowledge and You be sure that these are the people that have been given the responsibility to manage their affairs of the state Talking about Infantile thinking Talking about the level of the people the infantile thinking the the level of those who have been given such privileges It is very sad, isn't it that At this state in time of our existence as a people That we are at the state where we we seem to be going backwards And sadly too that the last election has thrown up these things More than ever before where Nigerians are beginning to be so polarized Along Ethnicism, you know tribe and ethnic and religion, isn't it? Very sad and It is also sad in the sense that the president today is from legacy He contested the election from legacy. So he's the president of Nigeria and on that is watch somebody who sit In the sacred throne of the state as of assembly of Lagos and who makes such horrendous statement Such horrendous statement that should be condemned by her I don't know whether the president receives ever as the president of Lagos or the president of Nigeria And he should not be coming from the stable of this from the state of the president I mean Is an insult to to to the totality of of his values of his principle and of his beliefs and of his leadership style As I'm concerned that's a condemnable act and I'm telling you he just came to regard We was just overwhelmed with with the success of the fact that There was an onslaught against his is becoming the speaker because he was almost consumed by the fact that We want an indignation to be the speaker of Lagos and in order to appeal and assuage the feelings of those that have reason to position against him So you have to see what he said. I just meant that that's just a political statement You do not see the light of the day you see the light of the day I can assure you that people will go to court and the court will rule over that matter I can assure you I can assure you on that that law will be declared null avoid and of no effect You can't stop a Nigerian from moving from there through the length and breadth of Nigeria You can't stop a Nigerian from owning property You can't stop a Nigerian from operating in business in Nigeria We are looking for foreign direct investment In Nigeria and in Lagos for that matter And they are passing obnoxious law that stops people from owning property Then how do you want to grow the economy? I just wonder the way these people think They think that when we talk about the commercial viability of Lagos when we talk about income revenue generation capacity of Lagos Did it come from the indigene? Or it comes from the residents When you go to america they give you residency permit If you have residency permit and you go to put in the rest of America Now talk about Nigeria All of them that are ministers, all of them Even him that is talking I'm sure You have property across the length and breadth of United States of America and Canada and the rest of it And you see their children will not be even in Nigeria Their children will be abroad and their children even have residency We also have property and I tell you it just tells you the mindset of the people that we put in leadership position How may you pick out narrow minded? How bigoted they are in their thinking? It's unfortunate But that is what it is. Mr. Johnson, would you say because all of these we saw playing out during Their elections in March, would you say that the state executive? And indeed even president Tanubu Has done enough to address the situation. They have not done anything with respect to that. That act was not condemned Action was not condemned and then you showed that I was for example during the election I was I was asked I was intimidated. I knew what happened whether I was put in my foot down that way You know what you align everybody to cast their vote according to their conscience Let them vote according to where they want to vote You don't have to intimidate this you don't have to do that All of that was done with respect to other people that they think that have different political persuasion And I think that we didn't speak out enough and I think that the police did not prosecute people that That were led to have to have to have fermented Values during that during that that period and then people did not come and open it to speak and condemn such Ineos behavior on the and then once you begin once you allow criminality to Decide of criminality to so it's just a matter of time You begin to see you begin to harvest criminality across the length and breadth of Of the mission and of the country So as far as I am concerned that those acts were not were not were not condemned enough and then People that were accused were not were not were not arrested and prosecuted even we don't even know the state of domestication of such matters I I knew some of my students that were intimidated because by virtue of their looks They look like someone that is not from the southwestern part of the country Unfortunately for them they are from the southwest. Why do you have to why do you have to why? Why do you want that experience? Why discriminate you don't want the you don't want the you want that experience You know I had to I wrote an article that was published that before the one down Lagos The beauty of Lagos is is Lagos is the melting pot of Nigeria In in when we do research and then you want to limit your study You want to limit your study to Lagos one of the justifications you provide For it to be a national study sir And every family in Nigeria at least has to be sensitive in Lagos And that itself gives you you need to go and look at many many research that have been done by scholars across To justify the use of Lagos as as as as as as their population in order for them to extrapolate to Nigeria That this is what poly is the melting pot the pot poly is Is where you have the the melting pot of all culture and civilization in Nigeria What are you looking for in Nigeria that you now find in Lagos? That's the beauty of Lagos That's the beauty of cosmopolitan cities like New York And one begins to also wonder one begins to also wonder what threats the indigents of Lagos May feel they are facing that would require Some sort of law If you ask him if you ask the speaker who are the indigene of Lagos Try to define And then what is Lagos now when people talk about the indigene of Lagos are they talking about the indigene of Lagos island Are they talking about the indigene of Lagos state? There are a few things most people do not know that Lagos was a colony a colony that was limited to martial arts The the the boundary of Lagos was martial arts Martial artsy in eduro that has the boundary of between Lagos and western region And then when states were created in 1997 it extended it extended to the boundary between sun water Bega on these other axis And the rest of it so when people begin to talk about what they talk about because they don't have a sense of history But they are just fortunate to be in leadership position and because leadership has been trust on them And the they are the they are right in history. They play the role of revisionist They play the role of revisionist to so revisit the revisiting the street too for Lagos Lagos don't forget that the first time we had a Representative in the in the in the legislative council in 1922 under Clifford constitutional Which was an attempt to democratize the process of colonial administration Where Lagos were led to representative and Calaba were led to representative into the into the into the legislative council That Clifford constitution it was based on residency one-year residency and then an income of I think 100 100 pounds So it's always been based on residence so people people that don't have history of our our politic Our Nigeria evolved as a nation our Nigeria evolved as a political space And then I give you responsibility to be in charge of managing the affairs of the nation We tend to forget about the history and when we want to be a revisionist and they will take our measures to justify The epimaster as far as I'm concerned is an unserious minded and it's an unserious decision that should pay attention to Okay, uh, dear Johnson. Thank you so much. Right now. We've just seen Someone in position doing hate speech and I think it's high time the citizens the office of the citizen begins to Hold our people responsible. It's not when I say something it becomes hate speech And when someone in government says it he goes squad free We should start doing some things to tell them that they can't talk carelessly Whenever they want to address us But that story for another day and would like to thank you at this moment for Being a part of this program as always. It was a pleasure to have you. Thank you Okay, that was jiddy. Johnson. I don't know if he can still hear us jiddy. Johnson is a chief lecturer in the Nigeria Institute of journalism here in Lagos. He joined us for half the press Given his true one-on-one there to those who are still ignorant about certain things in Lagos He's still the breakfast on plus tv Africa will be coming back shortly with our very first hot topic One take a look at the mandate given by president to neck to find solutions to the unacceptable Poverty Nigerians are going through because of the removal of your subsidy. Stay with us