 On the breakfast, as litmus tests for the 2023 general elections in the country, we take a look at the conduct of the Akiti state elections with Biodu Oyibangi as the winner. Also on the breakfast, Nigeria leads the world in a number of cases of sickle cell disease. According to reports with an estimated 150,000 babies are born annually in Nigeria with the SCD, a hereditary disorder, 70 to 90% die before age 5. What exactly is sickle cell and how can it be treated? Don't forget, we'll also be looking through today's papers analyzing the biggest stories on our national dailies. It's a beautiful Monday morning. Many thanks for joining us on the breakfast. I am Messi Bopu. Well, as always, on the breakfast, we set off with our top trending conversation. We're talking about conversations that have been generating reactions and people talking about it in different paths and in different spaces in our country. Now on top on the list for us is the APC's Biodu Oyibangi winning the ticket of the governorship elections in Akiti. Finally, the elections happened on the 18th of June 2022. The Akiti people have decided. Now, this election is very critical because it's been described as an election that is the closest to the 2023 elections. And some people would say that whatever happens in this election would just be what we should anticipate ahead of 2023. We still have the Ocean State elections coming through. However, INAC declared Biodu Oyibangi winner of the 2022 Akiti governorship elections with a total vote of 187,057 votes. Now, his closest challenge is, if you like to say, of the SDP and the PDP. Now, the SDP scored 82211 votes with the PDP having 67457 votes. It's called for a lot of questioning and reaction. Now, if you look at it, 16 candidates actually contested the elections. And the question about the thought force is still on the front bonnet. Now, our jurors are saying, hey, we're tired of having the dominant political parties in our space. But what happens? A lot of people will think that, you know, ahead of 2023. Now, our jurors will look away from the dominant political party and go for a different party entirely. Some persons are saying the thought force. But that's not necessarily the case. Now, all the persons are saying that our democracy is under threat where you have less than 200 people deciding who becomes a governor in the state. Now, what happens to the total registered numbers that we have? I mean, you have registered voters of 989,224 registered voters. And then you have, you know, 360,753 votes casted minus, you know, the votes that were nullified and other issues. That's a lot of questions. Definitely be a build-up, you know, to the conversation that would have in the course of our conversation as we move forward. But the question of apathy is number one on the table. Another issue, again, is the issue of, hey, are we going to follow the binary politics of having two dominant political parties? Of course, we'll always follow that. If you see, you know, the developed climes that always tilt towards the two, you know, party. You seem to have multi-party system, but the people always tilt towards, you know, certain political parties, and that's what it is. Now, others have said that it is dependent on the electorate who are very lazy and who have constantly acted differently and decided not to look away. Another issue that was very dominant is the issue of get your PVC, go out there and cast your vote. But on the other hand, you also find that there were reports of vote buying and we saw videos emerging where people were very, very proud to say, hey, I sought my vote, you know, with a little change that they have. Practically counted some of those notes that I saw, 2,000, if you want to say, 1,500. But you see, that's the reality of our politics. Away from that, we also look at another conversation that's around the 2023 elections. Of course, it's the eve of the election, you want to say. The possibility of having the NNPP and the Labour Party having a measure. Now, in 2015, in 2022 today, or however you want to put it, it's a combination of a thought force. Remember, now, opposition party, four of them came together and formed a party that actually challenged the good luck Jonathan administration in 2015. And at a time, we're talking about the PDP. Now, one thing that was very certain is the fact that there was no doubt whatsoever that the PDP didn't see that coming, that there will be a measure or a thought force that would definitely come through to challenge those in power. So, a lot of conversation is going, let's not forget that the Labour Party, you have Peter Albee, who is a former governor of Anambara State, who is actually the flag bearer. And this is the talks because we have that. I hope to bring that tweet the way it is or the way it's been quoted. Now, Nigerians will be happy with the outcome of the NNPP and Labour Party discussion according to Spokesman, the National Publicity Secretary of the New Nigerian People's Party, has said that the outcome of this party discussion with Labour Party would be satisfactory to Nigerians. Now, by the time we're done with the discussion between the NNPP hashtag and the LLP, Nigerians will be happy whichever way it turns out, and this is according to reports. So, there's a tendency and there's been a big question of having a thought force. This is the thought force that Nigerians are looking forward to. Is that possibility of having a thought force in 2023? It's also another question. How possible would that be? We're looking at two parties now. I mean, do they have the structure? You need to also understand that it takes a lot. But if that's the case, what happens? How come we have not seen the reflection of a thought force in the IKT State elections and in the Ocean State elections? Is there going to be the presence of a thought force? And that's it. But we move away from the second top trending. It's been generating several reactions in different spaces and we get to another interesting issue. We talked about security. Now, a presidential candidate, of course, of the all-progressive Congress we're talking about, former governor of Lagos State, Bola Akma Tunambu, his convoy was actually attacked. Now, if you get to the micro-blogging platform, there's been a lot of reactions. And people are saying that the hashtag there is hashtag staged. And so you see a lot of people saying this is actually staged and we think that, oh, this is just supposed to get sympathy. Let's not forget that this is politics and anything can actually happen. But also we cannot look away and we can also not take our eyes away from the real issue. The issue is that the country is plagued with insecurity. Insecurity is on top of the front bonnet. We see a lot of security threats. I mean, a lot's been going on in different parts of the country. And so should we rule out the fact that there are security challenges? Whether this is actually staged or not staged, I mean, this is what it is. You see broken glasses and you can see that on the screen. Some persons who have sustained injury. I mean, will anyone go to this extent to stage this? For what reason? Why? When you have lives being under threat and properties being destroyed. But it behoves on the security personnel. I mean, it behoves on the margin, please, and every other agency responsible because it is government's responsibility. It brings us back to the fact that, you know, this issues do not respect anyone. It doesn't really matter whether or not you are the governor or the president or an aspiring president or an aspiring governor or you're aspiring to become anything. Security is a major concern and that's why we keep saying that we need to be on top of the issue. We cannot sit back, fold our hands and hope that we do not do anything because you never can tell what it is. But we are hoping that the bodies that are settled with the responsibility would swing into action. We're hoping to get more reports. Investigation should be on this particular issue to find out who those who are behind this kind of acts. It's actually very dangerous. I mean, anything that opposes as a threat to national security should be a major issue and concern. Not necessarily because he's a presidential candidate or flag bearer, but the fact that he's a Nigerian and that's most important. And the fact that not just him, but you also have members of that convoy being attacked. I mean, you can actually see that the Lagos State Government's office. So, yes, the question here is that we're hoping that the police would wake up, rise up to her responsibility and investigate and bring those responsible to book. That's what it is. So, this are some of the conversations generating different reactions on different spaces. Also, within the week, we have the issue of having the mass barrel for the war massacre victims. Very, very sad. And it still reminds us that we need to take security very, very serious. Government needs to understand that security is top on the front burner of every government at different levels. That's it on the top trending this morning. We'll take a break when we return. This continues with our front pages. Stay with us. Good morning.