 East is fast becoming up north. Many years ago I had journeyed to the Yamada Bello University's area during my days of, you know, trying to get admission into the university. I had the most peaceful time ever. I still remember it. It feels like yesterday. North was so beautiful, lovely and safe. I moved freely without worrying about anything. The North and us were so kind and welcoming. Today the case is totally different. Up north is plagued with high level insecurity and it keeps getting worse by the day. While still battling with, you know, the incidents of up north, we now have the eastern part of Nigeria to deal with. How this escalated so quickly is still very surprising to me. It started with the regular Monday seat at home and now it's credited into cold blood murdering from supposedly unknown gunmen. It's actually getting scarier if you think about it. What is unclear to me is the identity of the supposedly unknown gunmen. I'm even more appalled that one man is sitting somewhere and dishing out irrational instructions to some set of individuals in the name of fighting for a just cause. I don't know if Ipob has done more harm than good for the easterners. Going to the east now is a dangerous adventure. You won't believe it. On the other hand we're now seeing consecutive kidnappings successfully being executed and it's almost like we're helpless. What is the government doing to return normalcy here? For me it's either of two things. The government created these insecurities or the government is totally clueless about what to do. It feels like Nigeria has become a comedy skit. And guess what? The joke is on the masses. During my time of NYC, I had the privilege of traveling upnotes too. Several times I've been to not only nice people, I ate their food, I enjoyed their food. And then when I was traveling on nature too, I traveled to other parts of the south east. I enjoyed their food too. I'm a kind of person that I like traveling. I like traveling especially at night. It's so cold and peaceful. But since I finished my NYC, since that year I ran out of my NYC in 2018, I don't think I can boldly travel as before without being scared or worried. It's quite unfortunate. Now the issue of IPOP, I think young people are misguided. Some young individuals, some young Nigerian individuals unfortunately are misguided and being deceived by perpetrators of evil who want to profit from evil and disturbing the peace. And telling these people they are freedom fighters, they are not freedom fighters. They said BRFRA is an ideology. I don't have a problem with that. But same with Odu Dua, it's an ideology, right? Odu Dua Republic, same with Harywa. It's not wrong to identify. Everybody has a right to a same determination. But it becomes a problem when your own idea begins to cause problems. Do you know that the south is the center of business? Have you been to the Niger main market before? They say crazy there. Business activities are going on top notch. Go to other markets. Now because of sitar tone, businessmen cannot conduct business effectively. Do you know what this woman gave me a concern? This second Niger bridge that they just opened, you saw the news that they opened the second Niger bridge. So people can access traffic easily from coming from Asaba route, right? You don't have to go through the Onitsha Head Bridge. You go to that side and divert to East traffic. How many people willing to even travel on that road? Are there no security there? People travel all the way. The last time I traveled to a remote state for a conference I was invited by a friend. And by the way, he is not an Indian of Imustits. He is not a resident of Imustits. But he wanted to have a conference, a leadership conference. He decided to use Imustits because he loved the police. And we traveled all for a different part of Nigeria. We converged there, I think, some days to Christmas. Guess what? We enjoyed the food there and everything. But now we can't do that kind of thing. We are scared of insecurity, disruptions, kidnapping. It's not supposed to be so. We have our Ibu brothers traveling down from Germany and some other part of the world, Europe. They are coming down for holiday, Christmas holiday. Many of them would not like to come with their children if they must come. So you see this thing. I think the problem is not Ibu problem, or Southeast problem, or just Biafran problem. No. This is just some selfish individuals perpetrating Ibu. Trying to use young people against the government for their own selfish scheme. So I just implore everybody. Everybody stay cool. There are Orhanis in Ibu. Please try and talk to your youth. Tell them not to be involved or be used for criminal activities. Something that are not Ibu brothers. Please, the traditional institutions are not to work with the government to see how they can work with community leaders to educate and enlighten young people so that they will meaningful and engage, not to be involved with banditry. Thank you. Let's quickly go to Hussien, who is in Turkey. So Hussien, what do you think about, you know, I mean, like I said earlier, many years ago, it's very much you can travel with ease and you're not worried about anything, right? What do you think with what's happening right now? I mean, the E-pop in the East, the Nungan men, right? What are your thoughts particularly about it? So my thought has always been simple. I think it still boils down to ideology. So today I've been privileged to actually travel across the country, to the far north, to the far east, to, you know, Middle-Bet and what have you. But one thing I keep telling people is you keep condemning or working on tribal sentiments or condemning one tribe or religion to another because you don't actually have the exposure of, you know, traveling from one place to another and see the reality yourself. What I can say is when money, you know, what I see in the E-pop, the East and the South South is a typical statement when they say money is the root of all evil. That's what I will just conclude into. So if we are not actually changing that mindset, I will try and simplify it. I've been in Asaba for a while. I drive, I drive, you know, I drive, I drive down to Asaba and I can see a lot of things along the road. In the area of the money, I woke up, I see guys standing up as early as 7.30, 8 a.m. setting up tables, putting drinks on the table. And like, what happened? Are these people not going to the work or sell their wives, their ladies go to the farm? I was like, what? What the hell is this, you know? And the same thing goes back to the E-pop, indigenous people of Biafra. Yeah, there is a course of mechanization and stuff like that. But you have this ability, you have representation in the House of Assembly, in the House of Web, in the Senate to push a bill, right? But because people already understand that, oh, I have shelf. I was in the protocol of recent this year. I went to Waterside or something like that. In the evening, meanwhile, I went for an event where the commissioner of police said, if you are not used to this environment, please go back to your hotel. But I need to people something on that side. Before you know it, I just heard a gunshot. What happened? People just started, you know. And when you look at it critically, it's about money because you feel, OK, shells are there, you know, some petroleum companies are there that you feel entitled to, that you must collect your own share. The same tom polo that things like it's working against the government, the same tom polo that is working to support the government to discover all concrete. You know, the reality is this. Everything is all about money. And on government and stuff like that, if you don't put the interest and get money, it's just about money on the high side. People are just thinking about money, how do I make money? How do I, you know, this selfish big greedy about money. It's all about money. But if you want to curb this insecurity, I tell you, let everybody be included. And not doing that included. If you are getting hold of this, let their senator on their homes push a bill to say, for every oil block within this vicinity, social percentage to go to the environment, to the society, to develop the society. You know, with that, there won't be all this marginalization. You have the power. Push a bill, get a support and make it work, make it a law, so that you get entitlement, not like you feel entitled. A norm becomes not a privilege, but a right. You get. So when you go to the north, and people talk about the north and stuff like that, that is a case of the national resources that people are fighting for from the south side and from south side mentally, I can say, the east are actually trying to hide under that as well. When you go to the north, you have people who are farming, but their life cycle is going to define, you know, come back home, return back to the farm and what are they are selling. Now, you have a lot of them that are not, they are semi-educated. You see the animal jewellery, they are vulnerable. And there are some of the leaders who will be, hand, you know, make fortune from them not being educated. And by the time they get to know that this person is actually trying to oppress them, they go away with like, individual, like people who get angry and say, no, this thing was him today. That's the level of anger that you can see there. And aside that, you see a situation where they don't have a working system in Nigeria. You see a soldier who have gone to some piece of forest to fight. And he doesn't have a basic amenities, basic welfare. His children have been chased out of school. He's fighting for the interests of the country, but he's not getting the necessary support to even support his own children or common children. Now, what do you express, soldiers like that? You're like, okay, enemy. Okay, I have rifle, I have this, I want to decal. Give me money so that I can use it to support my family at all. You know, you have corruption everywhere. You also have a situation where people who are vulnerable, vulnerable children. Okay, if you would wrap up, yeah. Yes, I'm actually wrapping up. So, like, you have vulnerable children moving around. That $2,000, $5,000 can be enticed. You can use it to entice them and you can use it to flood these kids because these people can say, okay, go and do this and stuff like that. So I think we need to take responsibility and now focus on what we need to do beyond greed and sentiment. Thank you. Thank you so much, Hussien, for that. All right, the end always seems to come too soon on The Advocate. However, The Advocate continues on our social media platforms on Facebook plus TV Africa with the hashtag The Advocate Angie and on Twitter and Instagram at Plus TV Africa with the hashtag The Advocate Angie. To catch up with some of our previous broadcasts, please go to plustvafrica.com for slash The Advocate Angie. And do not forget, very important, to subscribe to our YouTube channel Plus TV Africa. See you next week. Same time on this station. Let us keep advocating for a better society. It's bye for now.