 Good morning and you're welcome to the breakfast on Plus TV Africa. My name is Romit Paulsen. And my name is Nyamgul Agadje. We're glad to welcome you to another edition of the program. We do hope that you'll have a wonderful time and that you have arrived where you need to be at this moment because traffic is thinning and everything is getting better, I think. Well, today we're going to be looking at very important issues as always and the first one is NNPCL pledges to produce 2 million barrels of crude oil daily. That's our first hot topic for the day. Well, and our second hot topic is Tinibu Mitz with Fubara Odili, others in Afso Rock. So that's talking about the saga in Potahakot right now. The political war, it seems to have some... I was going to say crisis, but then I was like let me see saga. Okay, it's going to be a very interesting discussion later on. We do hope that you're going to stay put wherever you are and get to watch that and hear what is really happening in the river state. Will the resolutions be taken or not? That's a question that we're going to ask. Yes, you come out with the communique, you come out with decisions. You have decided that XYZ is going to be done and all that, so many questions that are begging for answers. So when it gets to that time, we do hope that the person who is going to be talking with us who is eventually a former CPS to the deputy governor of river state will have the insights to whatever the story is. Yes, anyways, it's the 19th of December and as usual we're counting down to Christmas. So we hope you're caring of doing all of your shopping, making sure you're spreading love in this season, sharing kindness and just being married because that's what Christmas is all about. Yes, just prepare the hampers for us because we will be in the studio trying to talk with you and present this program as well. So Christmas to us will not be the same as yours that you'll be having with family and friends, but we're glad that you are part of our own family and we hope that we are part of yours as well. Think of the hampers you are going to send to us in the studio. Yes, so always glad to serve you here on the breakfast. Anyways, we're going to move over to our top training stories this morning and this one says the Court of Appeals sitting in Abuja has affirmed the election of Adam Awa State Governor Amadou Umar of Finteri. The panel of three judges on Monday dismissed the appeal filed by Aisha to Dahiro Ahmed Binani and affirmed the decision of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal delivering the judgment the presiding judge Justice Tunde Oye Bamiji awarded 500,000 Nara in favour of each of the three respondents. Binani, a candidate of the All Progressive Congress APC earlier challenged the election of Governor Finteri People's Democratic Party at the Election Petitions Tribunal alleging several irregularities and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act. She hinged her case on the accreditation, improper accreditation and over-voting non-accredition actually over-voting violence and snatching of election materials among other irregularities. She argued that Finteri's election could not stand because there were multiple declarations of winners and returns made according to her. She was earlier declared the winner by the resident Electoral Commissioner Houdu Yunusa Ari. In her search, she maintained the election had two different declarations of a winner, so that is coming from Adamawa State. When we were in secondary school in GSS too, someone came up with a word which has no relationship with the dictionary at all. They will ask you, who gave you the order of murder? They gave you the guts to do what you're doing right now and then they were afraid of us. 365 days is not an easy thing. On a serious note now, how could Binani even go to court to say there were multiple declarations of winners? Because even the resident Electoral Commissioner still has a case still now because of what he did. It was very illegal. It was something that he needed to be arrested for and prosecuted and they went after him. I don't know how that case has reached now, but he still has that case. So there was no official declaration at all. So how is it that she even still went to court? Saying that she was the cleverness. Even she was a suspect. That kind of a thing have happened. So in other climes maybe, she could also have been answering why did you do this. It's possible that he bribed the person and all that. And now she went to court and said that there were multiple declarations. And irregularities. I saw this story developed during the election period and I'm just like, okay. What can be more irregular? Even the election has not finished. You're still claiming that you're supposed to be the legitimate winner. Definitions in Nigeria are just something else. We don't know how. Some words that we thought we knew the definitions in Nigeria, the definitions change. But that just tells you, at least for me I think it shows you how many psychophants go around people because they must be urging her on. You're the winner. She will think that these people have her best interest at heart. They have my back. I have people, you know, governising this whole thing. At the end of the day, she is the one who will still spend the money. Yes, because when you go to court, your legal fear is done. At the end of the day, there's every possibility that you're still not going to be declared the winner. Yes, so many other things that were awarded against her. I think the 500,000 or so awarded against her. And then she's still lost and so many other things. Sometimes I wonder, why do people go into all of these legal battles knowingfully well that you might not win? Is it that maybe there's a pat on the back or you earn stripes to say, oh yes, I've done this, you know, I was a candidate for governorship or presidency and then, even though I did not win, but it's already in my CV, I want to understand it. Like is there like a portfolio thing that makes you feel, you need that in your portfolio. And then you go ahead to all of these legal battles. Sometimes it's just to save face. You want to blame someone else that it is the court that awarded it to the next person. You won't accept the fact that you lost at the polls, which you did. So if we get to that point where we begin to see that losing is not a thing. You're not a thing because you lost at the polls. Then we will begin to understand that there's absolutely no reason to be going to court. But the second reason, like I said earlier, is the people around you. They will tell you, you have a very good case and the lawyers are not helping. Of course, they want to make their money. You have a very good case. Then go and go to the court of appeal, go to the Supreme Court, wherever it leads you, go there, you just might have the judgment that you want. People should be able to just own up to whatever happens. I mean, we saw one of our former presidents, good luck, Jonathan, he considered defeat. So I think that's the way to go for true democracy. If people are not going to vote for you at this time, it's okay to say, okay, you know what, I understand that you don't need me at this time. However, I might come at another time. We have Abraham Lincoln who tries so many times. So that can also happen. Don't say because you failed one time, that means you're a failure, that means you won't come back. And then even if you fail right now, just accept it. But okay, you want to come back stronger and better. Jonathan even had a case that he could have, he could have argued and reported all that, but he placed the interest of the nation above every other thing and he said, okay, you know what, let me concede. But some people don't even have a case. I feel like in this election cycle that we've had, his court case is flying up, down, left, right, everywhere. This one, who gave her the order? Okay. And the next trending topic is that NAFDAQ shots 240 shops over fake drugs beverages in Aba. No fewer than 240 shops in Cemetery Road Market, Aba in Abia State have been shot down over fake and counterfeit drugs by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAQ. The drugs and other products confiscated were worth more than 700 million naira according to the Director-General of NAFDAQ, Professor Moji Adeyea. Adeyea said the rate was carried out within the first two weeks of December 2023 and that many such rates had been going on in the country. Oh well, Cemetery Road, Aba, notorious spot, and then 240 people or illegal manufacturers and all that. Much as I condemn the fact that they were doing things that were illegal, especially like changing the dates, expiry dates into something else and all that, it gives me worry. Maybe I don't think street like the people in authority, but it gives me worry. People are there adulterating or producing fake hennessey, fake fore cousins, fake schnapps, fake whatever. Like whiskey, yeah. And then they're putting these things out in the market and the people who do not know, maybe from the labeling that they could identify these things, do not know the difference, you know where I'm going, which means these people possibly have the capacity to produce those, yes. But the Nigerian factor will not give them the market because you produce shoe in Aba, you write made in Italy. People are buying it like Italy made, but it's done in Aba and if you put made in Aba, they will not buy it. So that is on the one hand the Nigerian factor. The second thing is some of these people may be illegal because the process of having approval to operate what they do is so cumbersome that it's tedious. Was it on a program a few days ago when somebody was saying the process of getting goods out of Nigeria, let's say Yams, you know, will take like 75 days, which is like three months, but nearby, even Benny, it takes you five days. So the process might be so tedious that you don't want to go through that because you might spend all the capital that you want to invest in your business and all that. So some of these things, if we can address the root causes, we wouldn't get to where we are. Yes, it's bad, it's terrible that they will change expiry dates and all that, but there are some that are doing these same things in such a way that you can't tell the difference, except you're an expat, you know how the labeling is done, you have some serial numbers or something and all that, but you can't tell the difference from the taste. So why can't we domesticate the taste? I know. So here's my understanding about this thing. On one hand, you can make a case for them saying produce your stuff and the only reason why you're still putting Made in Italy or using these big brands is because you feel like, okay, the Nigerian factor, but have you tried? Because at the end of the day, if it's illegal, it's illegal, right? And if you're lying, you're lying, you're integrity. I'm condemning that. It is illegal. It's illegal, but when some things are illegal, you too have to think about this. Okay, why are people doing this? When you're talking about putting Italy and all that, remember what, okay, you asked the question of, you tried. We have car manufacturers in Nigeria and our legislators will tell you that, yeah, we need to buy a car from where there is a name. They have a name already. They trust those ones better because they've been in an industry for a while and it's ridiculous. So who's going to give you the backing if the... How do we even get revenue? We're saying that we want to grow our economy. How do we even do that if we're not going to patronize the products that we have here? We always want to import everything. So guess what? We always need forex. Is the process to getting things done that is so cumbersome that a lot of people caught corners? I know, like you said, what is illegal is illegal. And for me, one thing I cannot condone is when you know that a drug, especially something that the person is going to ingest. I can understand if it's like a fashion item, if it's something that, you know, is external, but when someone is going to actually ingest this thing and their health in that state, I know of someone, a very popular musician that died of, I think he was sick. He had malaria or something like that. And then he bought a drug that was fake and he died. So guess what? You're putting people's lives at risk. And for that, I think you should go to jail. There's nothing anyone's going to tell me. I think you should go to jail because it is... No, it's a no-brainer. You'll never go there. If you're saying, OK, we're producing snakeskin bags, come on, we have alligators, we have snakes, we have, you know, all of these things, we can produce this stuff. If you're producing that and you say you want to put it made in Italy, I don't have a problem, but still just know that your integrity is at stake. Illegal. Illegal. Yes. But you guess what? These companies or illegal people have existed for a very long time. And NAVDAC only did the rate now, which means there are people in authority that they are settling. Of course. No, no, no. That's definite now. That's definite. So, so many things come to play. In fact, there's a shop that I buy all of my groceries from in Lagos Island. So, I love to buy in bulk because that's the only way I can economize. And a lot of shops in Lagos Island, guess what? They have contraband. A lot of things were not supposed to be important into the country. Guess what? NAVDAC would go there, raid their shops, close it down maybe for like two, three days. They settle with like three million. Their shop is open again. So, there are people in these authorities that, you know, they just settle, give them some money and, you know, they're super under the carpet. Yeah. Well, still, while we are playing the devil's advocate for people to get it a little bit easy, like you go to the south side, you have both fire, the illegal refineries. We don't have fuel in this country. There are people who are refining it and nobody has complained that this fuel is not good enough. Which means we have the technological know-how but why are people still cutting corners? Some of them will say it's because to get a license to do that is very, very difficult and all that. But while we are playing the devil's advocate and asking the government to do better, what is illegal? Like Ruma said, it's illegal. So, go through all the... a business should not exist on its own. It's easier when you have a partnership. So, if you think your funds cannot take you through the process, partner with someone else. Two, three, four, five. That's why people buy shares. That's why people... Two good heads. I was going to say two heads are better than one, but two good heads. The heads have to be good. Two good heads are better than one. Okay, let's move over to the next top training story. And we have showing care condemns EFCC's unjust detention of Agun Lawyer demands immediate release. Nobel Laureates Professor Wally showing care has criticized the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over the unjust detention of a former Minister of Power, Dr. Olu Agun Lawyer, noting that it was in total contempt of sense and injustice. Shenkai in a release on Monday said that the arrest of Agun Lawyer over the Mambila Power Project by the Antigraphs Commission was questionable, adding that it was not the first time he would have to score the high-handed and illegal conduct of the EFCC. The elder statesman hence asked the EFCC to release all its prisoners or in the alternative equally arrest and detain all those involved in this mammoth scam of the Mambila Power Project. Shenkai wrote concerning governance there is never any moment too early, nor demand too drastic in calling for the overhaul of security agencies where their activities intrude on the fundamental rights of the citizens. The practice of the citizen, at the whim of either religious blackmail or secular irrigation demands curtailment at source, most especially when exercised in the defiance of the law and the pronouncement of its agencies. Anything less goes to remind us that anarchy remains a choice for citizens' recourse with unpredictable consequences. Shenkai also focused his statement on the basis of individual fundamental human rights of Mr. Agun Lawyer declaring the merits or demerits of the charges raised against him over a 16-year-old project that bears the name Mambila as the business of the courts of law. He further raised the question of how the detention of any form of public servant on the circumstances such as this serve public interest by the pursuit of justice through such arbitrary exercise of power. I mean, I agree with Shenkai. Let's not arrest one person and leave another one. Arrest everybody. Investigate everybody. The president is out. MFLA is the one facing the music for policies he made in his capacity as the CBN governor. We shouldn't make him get arrested anyway. But if he did still at that time, well, good. But there are the policies that he made that had the nod of the president at that time. So why will he be the fall guy? Everything now in Nigeria, they just look for a fall guy and then you are the one who gets arrested. Maybe they settle you in one way or the other and then every other person works free. We talk about the fuel subsidies come till now we've not seen anybody that has been arrested or indicted even for this come. There are a lot of people who are involved in this. Nobody is talking about it because you talk about one person is tamed another and all that. Maybe they are looking for a way to cover up. Then when the fall guy comes, someone can pinpoint and say you are the one who costs this. He goes to jail for everybody else. There are rumors of people funding Boko Haram for the longest time. And they are telling us they have the least. Yes. You are not hearing anything. You are not seeing anything. There is nobody that has been prosecuted. There is no investigation even that we know of. And I think we need to get to a place of when you say something is true and pure. Our democracy needs to be true and pure. Our system of government needs to be true and pure. You can't try to cut corners in some ways. You can't try to say oh I have connection with this person so therefore I would let this person off the hook and make sure that other people serve their time. Everyone. As long as you do wrong. You should answer for it. Yes. There are consequences to these things and you should face them. He is answering for whatever he did. Biden is answering even as the sitting president for the things. In fact they are thinking of impeaching him and all that. And then in Nigeria you just walk scot-free people. I think it is misplacement of priorities. For instance in Lagos here have you ever heard them talking about the fact that there have been reports upon reports year after year that in the next maybe 50 years Lagos might sink. And then they are saying this because if you begin to see things like this people begin to understand that okay there are some things that they don't need to do. You tell them don't throw waste into the gutters and all that. They don't even know the consequences. Okay if it floods there's going to be dry season one day and all that. But Lagos is the second ranked city marked for sinking by the early 21 00. So if that is the case and they say it is sinking by 0.3 inches every year. Nobody is talking about it. We are talking about things that are not even important. Eco-Atlantic and buying a conduit there. So right now we are reclaiming land in Lagos. Everywhere you go to where there is some kind of water and you pour sand on it and then we reclaim the land. Water finds its level no matter how you try to do it. Except you channel it well and I'm not sure there's any channeling here in Lagos. It's just to reclaim we are reclaiming from who. Water will come back on. Even that 50 years maybe too long for Lagos to sink we should start talking about this especially after we just concluded the COP28. We should be talking about these things. So maybe we will get an expert one day that will tell us what are the consequences and all that. We will go on a quick break after the press is up next. We will be looking at what the national daily is saying this morning. Let's look at the weather and stay with us.