 On the show this morning, gender inequality in politics bane of development in Nigeria, according to Mohammed. And finding solutions to Nigeria's election issue with electronic voting. Those will be two of our very hot topics that we'll be discussing this morning. And of course, we'll be looking at the newspapers to see what made it to the front pages of our national dailies on off the press. Very good morning to you and thanks for joining us on the break fast on Plus TV Africa. My name is Nyam Gul Agadji. It's always a pleasure knowing that you are there. Happy weekend to you. I know that you will be at your workplaces now, but we hope that after everything you're going to unwind, you turn up somewhere and have some fun, relax and then start the new week when it gets to Monday. We do hope that is going to be a wonderful day today. It's bright and shiny so far. And a few days ago it was raining and a lot of people couldn't go to work. We do hope that there was no problem that came with that. This we did not have any tragic report that someone drowned here, some houses were lost here, some lives were lost there and all that. If it happened, we didn't get to hear it like the times that we hear so many things happening at the same time that we will not even want to repeat themselves. So just for information, the federal government is going to close Third Mainland Bridge for repair. They have announced that the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos will be closed. The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos Tata Olu Koryode, Kesha, this closed is in a statement on Thursday. Kesha said that the closure will start from midnight on Saturday, October 21, that is tomorrow, to midnight on Sunday, October 22, to carry out the repairs. She noted that the government was ready to begin comprehensive rehabilitation work on the bridge, starting with repairs of the critical portions. She also spoke of the steps that would be taken to alleviate the pains currently being experienced on the bridge. And according to her, the Ministry would be carrying out palliative works on the most critically failed sections along the adenigee-bound carriageway on Sunday, October 22, in preparation for the comprehensive repair works to be done. Kesha, however, urged motorists to cooperate with the traffic management officials by obeying and observing all diversions as directed for seamless movement. She encouraged motorists to use alternative routes where possible during the period of repair. Now, a lot of people have been saying the Third Mainland Bridge has become a debt trap and you'll be praying that there should be traffic holdup so that you don't get the temptation of speeding on that bridge because the pot holds on the bridge even more than the ones that are on the normal surface of the road that is not on the bridge. So if palliative works will be done on the bridge, I think it's something to be applauded and we do hope that motorists will cooperate and take those alternative routes that will be provided. So if you have to go to church on Sunday from the mainland to the island, you have to know that you have to take another route, not the Third Mainland Bridge. So midnight of Saturday, that is tomorrow, to midnight of Sunday, be guided. We also have another story. The Supreme Court fixed this date for hearing on Attiku's petition against Tinobu. The people's, Tiku Abu Bakar is the presidential candidate for the People's Democratic Party in the last presidential election and they have this petition against President Bola Tinobu's election. According to a memo, the apex court has fixed Monday, October 23 for the hearing of the case. The PDP candidate on September 19th filed 35 grounds appealing challenging the verdict of the presidential election petitions which upheld Tinobu's victory in the election. The five-member panel headed by Justice Hassan Samaini on September 6 dismissed the petitions filed by Attiku and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, for lack of merit. The former vice president had also applied to the Supreme Court to file fresh evidence obtained from Chicago State University against the president. Attiku has continued to insist that Tinobu's academic records are fraught with discrepancies and forgery and ask the apex court to kick him out of office. Well, also the police commission recruits repentant thugs to fight crime. You know, a lot of people had complained about this. How do you get a repentant thug or a terrorist and then put him into police? So they have put it into perspective. The police service commission, PSC, on Thursday explained that the recruitment of repentant thugs as police constables in Kanu State, that's what they explained to us, what it really meant. This came amid viral videos showing how some repentant thugs were recruited as part of police constables drafted to fight crime in Kanu. I think the word they are using is very mild, thugs. Some of them are terrorists, some of them are bandits, known bandits, but they claim to have repented. So the situation drew a condemnation from some Nigerians as they faltered the decision. So in a statement, the PSC spokesman Nkechukwani clarified that the repentant criminals were recruited as police constabulary because they had realized that crimes do not pay. The commission, according to him, let me quote what he said. The commission wishes to state categorically that the special constabulary are not policemen and not recognized as such by the commission and government. End of quote. He further said, the commission, however, notes that the constabulary operations are covered and recognized by the police act and are readily useful and needed now that the nation is fighting to end the siege of criminals across the country. He stated that the commission is in touch with the Kanu State police command and is aware that the use of the constabulary is to support the police in building a crime-free Kanu State. The men and women recruited as special constabulary have been posted to work in their locality where they will be in a better position to fish out the criminals terrorizing the place. According to the spokesman, the repentant influential youths who were previously served as political, or who, yeah, served as political thugs and then abandoned voluntarily offered themselves to assist the fight for a crime-free state. Noting that their engagement is to promote sustainable peace, economic growth and development of the state. And he said the PSC chairman, Dr. Solomon Arase, will continue to partner with the police to ensure an improved security of lives and property in the country. Arase, a retired inspector general of police, said that security is not only a government responsibility, but that of every Nigerian and called for a citizen-based approach to security in Nigeria. I'm just asking the questions. Will they be paid this constabulary? Are they entitled to pay? Are they recognized by the government as being part of their employer, even though they're not supposed to be called policemen? If they're going to be paid, why is it that they had to be thugs before they could be given this privilege to be recognized by the government and also gaining something from the government? What about the vigilante that has been doing the work, fighting against these same criminals before they supposedly repented? How recognized are they? What do they get from the federal or the state government for doing their work that they volunteered to do? These are some critical questions that we need to answer. And now that they are repentant, you know, what are the paths of these repentant people? Can they arrest? Can they, what are their functions? What can they do so that we get to know how useful or otherwise they are? But I'm sure that everything must have been, you know, scrutinized enough, thought through, and then now this has been done. We do hope that security will return to Nigeria as it used to be in the years of your that is our only concern. However, it is going to be realized. We will leave that to the authorities and hope that the eggheads among them will think it through and then do the needful. Well, we're going to take a short break and return with the papers. And after we do that, you know that the show this morning is promises to be very, very interesting. For instance, for a second hot topic, we're going to be talking to very, very young tech giant. I would like to call them that. Genesys in their chosen field and they produce something that we really need to beat our chest and be very proud of them. When they come, you get to meet them. But don't go away. You can only be a part of this show for you to enjoy what we have in store for you. Stay with us.