The governorship candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance in Nasarawa State, Labaran Maku, has hit back at Senate President, David Mark, and a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], Ahmadu Ali, for accusing him of betraying the party.
Labaran Maku
Mr. Maku, a former Minister of Information, formally joined APGA to contest the Nasarawa State governorship election, after losing to Yusuf Agabi in the PDP primaries in December last year.
Mr. Maku cited injustice and fraudulent processes in the primary as the reasons for his defection.
At the campaign flag-off of Mr. Agabi in Keffi last week, Mr. Mark accused Mr. Maku of ingratitude and betrayal for leaving PDP.
Similarly, on Tuesday, during the PDP presidential campaign in Lafia, Mr. Ali, Director-General of PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation, said Maku “will continue failing for the rest of his life” for leaving PDP which had helped groom him and make him deputy governor and minister “from nowhere.”
Top members of the PDP including President Goodluck Jonathan the Senate President, David Mark, disowned Mr. Maku, categorically saying the President does not support his defection or ambition to be governor. They declared their loyalty for Mr. Agabi and asked Mr. Maku to return to the PDP if he wants forgiveness.
But in his reaction, Mr. Maku, speaking through a statement by Zakari Edego, the Director, Media and Publicity of his campaign organisation, said the PDP leaders were jittery and panicky as a result of his exit from the party to emerge as APGA’s governorship candidate for Nasarawa State.
“The import of these attacks on the APGA governorship candidate clearly shows that there is panic in the PDP in Nasarawa State following the emergence of Mr. Maku as the flag-bearer of APGA,” the statement said.
“The real issue in Nasarawa state is that some people within and outside the state believe that no Christian should ever be governor of Nasarawa state. Therefore, Mr. Maku is being persecuted purely for religious reasons.
“The attacks on him are orchestrated to sustain the status quo in Nasarawa, which is already leading to destruction of the state by insurgents and mercenaries. This development portends danger to the future unity and development of Nasarawa state and our dear country.
“The Maku Campaign Organisation views the sustained attack against the APGA candidate as a desperate measure by some leaders of the PDP to distract him from campaigning to defeat their candidate and the incumbent in the upcoming governorship elections.”
He queried Mr. Mark’s particular anger over his exit, while remaining silent on the defections in his native Benue State.
“While Mr. Maku has high respect for Senator Mark and Dr. Ahmadu Ali and wishes not to join issues with them, he finds it especially curious that Senator Mark has remained mute over the defection in his own native Benue State of Former Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Sam Ortom, and former PDP National Chairman, Senator Barnabas Gemade, who have gone all the way to the opposition APC to contest for the governorship and senatorial positions respectively.
“Why has Senator Mark not condemned these defections from his native Benue state? Why the undue attention on Mr. Maku and Nasarawa State?”
Mr. Maku said he never enlisted the support of Mr. Jonathan for his governorship ambition in APGA, adding that, he is experienced enough to know a sitting president would not support him in an opposition party.
He condemned David Mark and Ahmadu Ali for expressing anger over his campaign for Mr. Jonathan, whom APGA adopted as its presidential candidate as a result of his “sterling leadership qualities and many achievements in office”.
“We therefore urge our teeming supporters to disregard all insinuations and threats and sustain the tempo of the campaign for Mr. Labaran Maku and Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to emerge as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and governor of Nasarawa State in this year’s general elections,” the statement said.
President Goodluck Jonathan; President of the Senate, David Mark; and a former Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ahmadu Ali, on Tuesday lashed out at a former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, for dumping the PDP for the All Progressives Grand Alliance.
Labaran Maku
While Jonathan described Maku’s action as anti-party, Mark said the former minister was a liar while Ali described him as an ingrate.
They spoke at the Lafia Township Stadium during the PDP presidential rally.
Jonathan said there was no truth in the former minister’s claim that he (the President) encouraged him to join APGA.
The President said he could not be involved in anti-party activities.
Jonathan said he did not at any time have any discussion with him. He said he did not encourage Maku to join another party.
He said the PDP did not encourage anti-party activities and he, as the leader, would never flout the party’s rules and regulations.
Mark, on his part, said Maku had to apologise and retrace his steps before he could be accepted back to the party.
“Don’t be deceived by any son of yours that says he has been put in another party to run for the governorship. Mr. President is the PDP from top to bottom,” he said.
The Senate President said the North Central was solidly behind the President and would vote for him because he had brought democratic dividends to bear on the region.
Ali also described Maku as an ingrate, saying that despite using the platform of the party to rise to stardom, he jumped the ship because of greed.
He said the President had never asked anybody to join any party to canvass votes for him. He said Maku’s intention was to smear the image of Jonathan and portray him as a religious bigot.
He accused Maku of dropping the name of the President in his bid to realise his ambition, which he insisted would never happen because he lacked the required integrity.
Ali said Maku’s people now treat him with disdain because he did not portray leadership qualities.
Also at the rally, Jonathan said the person that would succeed him would be younger than him.
The President said that he was close to 60 years, adding that a younger person would succeed.
“Obasanjo was president at 70, Yar’Adua at 60 and me, close to 60. So, the next president must be younger than I,” Jonathan said.
A former Information Minister, Labaran Maku, and a senator, Solomon Ewuga, escaped unhurt as angry youth stormed the palace of Bala Angbazo, the paramount ruler of the Eggon people, on Sunday evening. The traditional ruler was hosting a reconciliatory meeting between three Eggon sons seeking to be Nasarawa governor under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Labaran Maku
The youth, who trooped to the palace in their hundreds, set ablaze a Toyota Corolla belonging to Chris Mamman, the immediate past National President of Eggon Cultural Association, ECD. Messrs Mamman, Maku, and Ewuga are all PDP governorship aspirants.
The meeting was being held to choose one a consensus from among the three Eggon aspirants.
Mr. Maku, who was attending the meeting for the first time, escaped unhurt before Messrs Ewuga and Mamman. The two men were rescued by military officers who came to the scene in three Hilux vans to forestall further destruction of property as the youth had blocked the Mr. Ewuga’s entourage and prevented them from going out of the palace.
Ibrahim Audu, a resident of Nasarawa Eggon, said the youth were angry with Mr. Mamman’s decision to contest the election.
When contacted, the Nasarawa Police spokesperson, Umar Numan, confirmed the attack and that Mr. Mamman’s car was burnt. He said calm had returned to the area and no arrest has been made.
One of the Nierian nurses who had direct contact with the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer who visited Nigeria for a meeting while infected with the Ebola virus has fled quarantine to Enugu.
Ebola
The nurse was instructed not to live Lagos since she was under surveilance for the virus, but defied instruction and travelled to Enugu where she had contact with 20 more people.
This was disclosed by the Federal Minister of Information, Labaran Maku during Federal Executive Council Meeting in Abuja, yesterday.
The minister disclosed that the 20 more suspects have been tracked down which make the total number under monitoring in Nigeria to be 198. 177 in Lagos and 20 in Enugu State
Nigeria was free from the Ebola virus until Patrick Sawyer came to the country after being cleared by the Liberian government who also knew he was highly infected.
He said: “All those who had primary contact have been quarantined. Secondary contacts have also been traced. So far, the number of people that have been traced is 198.
“Of this number, 177 are in Lagos and are being traced. Some are in quarantine, some are being monitored by health specialists.”
He added “The 21 persons in Enugu under watch now is as a result of their involvement with the nurse who disobeyed medical instructions and somehow travelled to Enugu. All those who she was in contact with, including her husband, are under quarantine. The medical team has been able to trace all those who made contact with her.”
Maku warned that government was ready to punish anyone who is found spreading scary rumour about the Ebola virus, adding that the government has employed more hands in order to fight the epidemic.
He disclosed that more health workers have been placed at the borders, entry and exit points into the country, airport and seaports
He advised Nigerians not co-operate with health workers if they are identified as a contact with any carrier. He added ”In one or two cases where we have had disobedience, we lost one of them and this one now moved with it to another place (Enugu).
“So we are urging Nigerians, please to help us in making sure that all these messages and appeals we are making, we implement them.”
Maku said that many Nigerians, both home and abroad have come forward to say that they have therapies that could help in the ongoing fight against Ebola, adding that special committee had been set up for that.
He reminded Nigerians that there is no cure at the moment and even in Nigeria where the drug is said to be discovered is still under trial.
One of the doctors who came forward, according to the Minister, is Dr. Simon Agwale who is one of the frontline in global researcher on developing vaccines for HIV and other viral disease. He also said he could help both in terms of developing vaccines for Ebola which he disclosed, he has started working on between himself and his fellow experts in the United State.
Meanwhile, the minister of Information also disclosed that the family of the nurse who escaped quarantine has been arrested in Enugu and taken to Lagos immediately for proper surveillance.
Though Enugu State government claimed ignorance of the problem, it is obvious that they are trying to control the anxiety which is already among the residents of Enugu people following the news that broke out that a nurse that fled quarantine in Lagos had contact with 20 people.
The latest number of people infected with Ebola virus worldwide has reached 1975 with 1069 people dead, according to World Health Organisation.
The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Monday in Abuja advised Nigerians to avoid moving possible Ebola patients to prayer houses.
Labaran Maku
Mr. Maku was speaking at a conference organised by the Ministry of Health to provide guidelines to commissioners of health on how to sensitise the people on Ebola Virus Disease.
He said that while it was important to note that God performed miracles, the public should help the federal government contain the disease by leaving their loved ones at the designated quarantine centres. Referring to the story of the centurion in the Bible, he asked relatives to rather send names of patients to prophets and religious leader for prayers.
“Miracles should take place in quarantine centres. If you have a prayer warrior in Lagos, just send the name of the person to him for the miracle,” Mr. Maku said. He said that while the disease was deadly, it was important to note that there was no need to stigmatise anyone with the infectious disease.
He called on persons who might show the disease’s symptoms to help by reporting themselves to quarantine centres in order to save their own lives and that of their family members.
He also encouraged state Commissioners of Health to work towards the translation of pamphlets shared at the conference to their various local dialects.
Thanking the media for its efforts since the Ebola outbreak, he asked media houses to ensure that stories on the disease did not cause anxiety among residents.
He also asked them to help in public enlightenment. The Head, Port Health Services, Sani Gwarzo, said that Nigeria had started land border screening in Seme and Idiriko. He said it was the responsibility of every country to protect its borders.
Mr. Gwarzo said since the outbreak of the disease, the Ports Health Services was making sure that it delivered safe, healthy and easy screening at all ports and borders in Nigeria.
The Ebola Virus Disease spread to Nigeria in July through a Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who evaded quarantine in Liberia. Nine Nigerians have since tested positive for the virus with one dead. Also, 177 primary and secondary contacts of the index case have been isolated. -
Mr. Labaran Maku sure knows his onion as the Jonathan administration’s chief spokesperson. The Information Minister passes as an encyclopaedia on the activities of the Federal Government. In a session in Lagos, Maku spoke on the insecurity challenge dogging the Federal Government and the achievements of the administration. Sunday Vanguard’s Jide Ajani was there. Excerpts:
Labaran Maku
May 29 was the third anniversary of the Jonathan administration. It seems there is not so much to talk about in view of the security situation in the country. What can you say has been achieved in spite of Chibok?
There is a correlation between the exposure of the development efforts received in the media and insecurity in the northern part of the country. What has happened in the last three years particularly is that terrorism has taken the front pages and the prime time news from development and social issues in the country and that is why, most of the time, I have continued to insist that the media should have a change of strategy.
I would not say change of attitude because, with terrorism, once it takes hold, it takes quite a while for it to be dealt with and, because terrorists themselves are looking for opportunities to sell their ideology, to use the media to frighten society, to give themselves some invincible image, they keep doing those strikes mainly because they want headlines to be celebrated, they want society to be afraid, they want to divide society across public opinions.
So I believe the media should, side-by-side while reporting incidents of terror attacks unfortunately where they occur, must focus on development, on deepening our democracy; that is the only way we can defeat terror. The day we allow development to lose out in favour of terrorism, they have laid the foundation to defeat the democratic enterprise. They want to show that our democracy cannot endure so we must make sure we focus attention on development while reporting incidents of terror.
Even in reporting, it is my belief that we give it too much exposure, too much outlandish headlines. Yes, if there is a strike and people are dead, you would not say the media should not report it, but when you look at some of the situations that we have had in recent times on weekly basis, the front page, the headlines, the lead stories are often all about terror. In fact, after the last blast in Abuja, I made the allusion to the fact that it appears that whenever there is any landmark achieved by this government, bombs must follow and I have been trying to make the connection.
I give you an example, immediately we rebased our economy and it was told that Nigeria now has the largest economy in Africa, there were bomb blasts at Chibok. Immediately they learned that we were going to host the World Economic Forum, there were blasts in Abuja and environs to make sure that Nigeria did not get the economic benefit of hosting the Forum, and to discourage the world from coming here and make the attacks the centre point of international and local media so that the exposure the Forum was supposed to give to the Nigerian economy and investment opportunities would be lost.
You will also notice that immediately after the Ekiti election (adjudged free and fair and won by the ruling PDP), bombs started raining again. So I can tell you that almost every milestone that has been recorded by this government is accompanied by bomb blasts, by terror attacks.
So why is this correlation between the attacks and development efforts?
The idea is to make sure that there is no development, the idea is to present government as doing nothing, the idea is to take away attention from the things that will develop the country to work, and to destroy the democratic process. Just imagine after 911, if Osama bin Laden did not get the exposure he got, most people in Asia and Africa may not have gotten to know much about him, but every time anything happened after 911, Osama bin Laden was always on the front page or on prime time international networks.
If you look at the way Shekau and co dress today, they mimic what they see on CNN, BBC, SkyNews and Aljazeera. Everybody mimics bin Laden because, to them, he was an international icon, a role model for terrorists and all that was sold to the world by the media in the West. I think we must come together to agree on freedom of expression, freedom to media exposure.
Are we under obligation, even though our profession said that everybody must be given the opportunity to express himself; does that opportunity include those who want to destroy society, who want to sell very dangerous ideas for the destruction of society? The point of my intervention is that the distraction of terrorism aside, our democracy, in the last 15 years, has recorded landmarks, which I believe this country should begin to focus on and deepen and develop.
This is the first time in our history that we have been able to run a democratic government for up to 15 years. The First Republic lasted for seven years, from 1960 to 1966; the Second Republic lasted four years, three months. The Third Republic was stillborn. This is the first time Nigeria has been able to run a democratic government for this period of time. What have we learnt from this experience? What we have learnt from it is that power has been demystified.
If before those in power thought it was going to be permanent, today, after 15 years, you are seeing former governors on the street, you are seeing your former president who was so powerful on the street. Today he goes without siren, with one or two people escorting him, so he looks normal. Now, that demystification of power is making every Nigerian citizen to know that power is temporary. You may be elected today or appointed, what is now clear is that if you don’t do well; tomorrow, you are going to join the people. The idea that power is temporary has sunk in our public imagination. That’s a very big plus.
Secondly, there has been stability in governance. People go in, you know the entry point and you know the exit. If you look at development programmes from 1999 to now, take say Universal Basic Education across the country, because government has endured for this period of time, if you look at the reforms in public primary schools, under the military, for example, almost every year, you had interminable teachers’ strikes because nobody was paying them. I was caught up when I was a teacher in the Second Republic, six months no salaries. From 1999 to now, there have been lots of reforms in primary education.
Competition between states
Assuming democracy continues like this, let’s say for another 15 years, the implication is that our schools will return to what they were in the 60s and 70s. The quality will improve because a lot of money is also going to teacher training and then there will be competition between states, normalcy will return to primary education and secondary education. Once we get that done, the quality of tertiary education will improve.
The problem we have had in tertiary education is because of the raw materials that come from primary and secondary schools. Every nation knows that once you get primary and secondary education right, tertiary education is cheap. We had a lot of changes in our system mostly brought about by military rule. Now the stability we have seen in the educational system, even this year, if you look at WAEC and NECO performances, they have been improving significantly across the country. We used to have less than 30%, today, we have something in the region of almost 60% in terms of those who get five credits at a sitting in WAEC and NECO. That is a huge improvement.
If you look at tertiary education, go to any university today, what the Tertiary Education Trust Fund is doing in terms of provision of infrastructure is huge. I am just taking education as an example of where a lot of achievements have been made.
If you look at our roads today, we still have a lot of gaps in the sector. The Lagos International Airport Road has been given out. So the potholes will not endure for long. But if you look at the roads overall, let’s say the Benin-Ore Road that was almost abandoned, if you go there today, you will see a road you will be proud of. If you take Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, we are doing it now, all the funding is done for the three sections, with different reputable contractors.
May be, in another two or three years, you are going to see a different road. In 2012, we delivered 32 roads in the country. The greatest story in the works and transport sector has been the revival of the railway. When President Jonathan came to power, no train was moving in Nigeria. The most important story here is that most of the cement and heavy duty equipment being transported between the South-West, North-Central and North-West is done now by the rail; even, sometimes, when you have problems with our refineries, crude will go by rail.
We have dredged the River Niger from Warri through Onitsha, through Lokoja up to Baro. In addition to roads and railway, we are introducing inland river transportation in Nigeria for the first time and all these put together in the last four years are huge investment in the future of our country. In the power sector where I think in terms of the quantum of intervention, much more work has been done than may be most sectors of the economy.
10 power plants
10 power plants built in four years is a record. What we are doing now is to connect them with gas and then hand over to the private sector to manage. If the next government does another 10 and other government does another 10 and we continue like that; the problem with power is the lack of stability in government because so long as governments are unstable, without predictable tenure, without long plan, you cannot develop a society and that’s the difference between the democracies of the West and us. They have long stretch of political stability, democratic processes and institutions stretched over a hundreds of years that’s why they are ahead of us.
When you hear Innoson manufacturing new vehicles, those vehicles are manufactured with government support. The Bank of Industry is the one supporting Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing at Nnewi, it is supporting Innoson Technical in Enugu where plastics of all dimensions and standards and qualities are manufactured for export and for the domestic market. The new Auto Policy is making it compulsory for big car manufacturing giants to set up plants in Nigeria.
If they don’t, they are going to lose the market in the next couple of years. Today Nigeria has moved from the backwaters into the number one economy, receiving the highest level of investments. If we put all these together and you add to the telecom revolution in the last 12 years, then you see that Nigeria has made a lot of progress under our democracy and we are proud to say that, yes, we are not even where we should be, yet we could do more and we would do more but in terms of development, I think it is important that the media must help this nation to know that a lot of work is going on. I have not mentioned agriculture, health, aviation. Even if you are blind, you visit Nigerian airports today, you will know that work has been done in the last four years, you will be proud.
I have not spoken about the comprehensive management of the economy. You would notice that when the banks collapsed, the mortgage crisis took place in the United States and the banks and economies of several countries collapsed, Nigeria attained stability. Our Stock Market crashed in 2008, today it has been completely revived. The micro-economic management of the economy has improved and, today, there is a lot of confidence in the Nigerian economy in spite of the violence in the North-East.
When you talk about the issue of media reporting and seemingly celebrating violence occasioned by the activities of insurgents, the question to ask is, what is the counter narrative to ensure that this terrorism is put on the back burner? Secondly, I am sure you agree about the perception that the Presidency is lethargic. How do you respond to that view because it’s very critical and, like you observed, people seem to even want to insult the Presidency and the President more than even the entire Federal Government of Nigeria. How do you think the media can handle that and, coming from your perspective, what issues do you need to relate to, to dampen that type of perception?
First of all, I have been at the Ministry of Information and Ministry of Defence temporarily; so I am in a position to know, to speak with some level of understanding about the nature of terrorism. I have, through the instrumentality of the Ministry of Information, tried to present terrorism, first of all, as a global phenomenon that has reached our borders and that it has exploited certain weaknesses within our polity-the weaknesses of political violence sometimes at the local level-where sometimes politicians think the best way to defeat their opponents is to establish youth groups, arm them and use them against their opponents.
Some of them outgrow their sponsors and become a societal problem. Every problem that you see that has developed at the national level started at the local level, it was not tackled by those responsible at that level until it becomes a national headache. I have also tried to explain to the media consistently that with terror, it’s not about the supposed threat, firepower of the military because terror is different from conventional war; terror is different from the wars that soldiers were trained to fight and, all over the world, the armies of every country are beginning to see that these guys are small in number but they are difficult to fish out because they are employing the tactics of urban and rural guerrilla warfare and ,whenever you have a guerrilla war, it is no longer the issue of the strength of the army.
The army capacity
I know that our army has the capacity to destroy Boko Haram in 30 minutes, if they are to come out.
Whether we are in the media or politics and so on, we will come to a common understanding. For some time, that hasn’t happened, and that is why we saw a state governor making a proclamation that government is committing genocide in the North. When that kind of thing happens, what does he do? He divides public opinion and makes the terrorists look as if they have a legitimate cause to defend the North against the South.
For a state governor to say that, normally it is impossible for anybody to say that when you are facing a collective war. Why did I say this? The Minister of Defence is from the North, the National Security Adviser is from the North, the Inspector General of Police is from the North.
It took us a long time to intervene in the North-East because people said it was not a military thing. At a point, they said the President should withdraw the troops. He said what is the alternative? There was no alternative. It is the partisan angle to this matter that has further created the opportunity for recruitment and the opportunity for local sympathy.
However, there are still politicians that do support them. I am not in the position to know whether they are helping them with resources or weapons but their comments give a lot of encouragement to them and I think that psychological encouragement to terror is as harmful as funding them. It gives them the confidence to endure. At a point, even in the military, there was confusion. Some will think that the terror will be away in the next one month. It gave the wrong impression. You cannot give a deadline to terror because you don’t know where they are.
There is this perception, people just look at the President and say he is weak, he is not doing anything. It’s a perception issue. You are the person in charge of managing information, how do you feel when people say such things?
The President is not a weak leader but he is a democratic leader and he is the first democratic leader that we have had in my own sincere opinion since Shehu Shagari; the only one that came in between was Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua. He lived too short for us to know what character his regime would have assumed.
Democratic via voting or personality?
Democratic in terms of orientation, in terms of perception, in terms of principle, in terms of due process, in terms of allowing national institutions to work rather than personalities to run across the table and beat their chest. We have been so much used to military rule that the psyche of the Nigerian is that a leader must be on a horse back with a horse whip and, if possible, he steps down and whip people into line or get the WAI Brigade to line up people on the street and say this is what must be done.
But this President is a civilian, he is a scholar, he is a calm person, he is deliberate. To me, no leader is perfect, every leader has weak points but what I see in this leader, in the personality and character of President Goodluck Jonathan is that of a man who is deliberate and knows what he is doing. He has his focus on changing the Nigerian economic story.
Secondly, he knows that change will not come overnight, many people will not get used to it. He has the patience to suffer the attacks without ruffling feathers and that has helped him to remain focused while his opponents think he is weak. He is not weak; Jonathan is very strong and tough. Look at his democratic reforms, elections are getting better. Nigerians are coming to accept the principle of free election. The other point that makes the President to look weak in quote is that he is the first President to allow national institutions to work.
Today, the National Assembly is far freer than it used to be. The Judiciary has also come of age. The President often jokes that if he were to exercise 60% of his powers as written in the Constitution, he would be far more dictatorial than any military ruler that has ruled this nation before, but that as a leader, his duty is to allow institutions to flourish after decades of destruction.
When you say a man is weak, look at the way he has run his diplomacy. If you look at the Nigerian diplomacy in the last four years, for the first time you will see that wherever Nigerians are under threat, they are taken home. When you say leader is weak, maybe you believe he runs away from problems.
He sets up too many committees.
Every government sets up committees to shed more light on problems, but, definitely, this President, from all the records, from what is going on, from what is falling in, is a strong but democratic leader.
To tackle terrorism, you must tackle the source of funding and we see this in other countries. Let’s take US as example. After 911, the Patriot Act came and they have used that Act to sanction banks, companies, shipping lines, and individuals that have connections with terrorist organisations. In Nigeria, we have been battling Boko Haram insurgency for the past couple of years and we have not heard of any major sponsor of these groups being arrested, we have not heard of any big name. We have only been seeing foot soldiers.
Is it that our intelligence gathering is poor? Is it that government does not have the will to go after the sponsors? Shekau is there, but somebody is providing the funds for all the arms and all that. Why is it that it has been difficult for government to actually go after the big fish? The second one is Chibok. It’s about 100 days now since these girls were kidnapped; we have been hearing comments from government that they know the location where these girls are kept.
The latest one was that they are getting nearer to rescuing them. When are we going to get these girls back? Sponsors of terrorism-unless you put your finger right on it -if you just make a wild allegation, it can generate a lot of problems in the polity. We suspected there might be some big time support, but investigations continue until we put our finger and hold some people that we are sure of otherwise it can do a lot of damage to the system.
But if you look at the funding process, Boko Haram used to organise robberies and they took a lot of money from the banks. Initially people did not know the connection between those bank robberies and Boko Haram. Today, they take cattle from poor grazers, sell them and use them to buy weapons. What government would not want to do is to say, for political reasons, because you go and announce that A,B,C,D and, in the end, if you do not have watertight evidence, it is better not to accuse people.
But is government getting closer to that?
I don’t want to make a statement that gives the impression of that because what you want hear is, ‘government is getting closer to the funders of Boko Haram’. What we are saying is that investigations are going on. Sometimes you just stumble on a fact that you didn’t even prepare for it and it becomes an issue. But there is nothing hidden under the sun. People can use all forms of alibi and channels but they will be exposed. We need patience so that we do not rush and make conclusions that will create problem for the system because it’s terrible to accuse somebody on a weighty problem like this if you do not have 100% assurance that your evidence is true.
On Chibok, there is nothing as so difficult for us as a government, as parents, as public officers. It’s one of the most traumatic experiences that we have had in this government. I can tell you that a lot of contacts are made every day but we believe that those girls are not being kept in one place, we are sure they have separated into small groups and taken to unsuspecting areas. That is why when people talk about Sambisa, they may not even be there. We are doing everything in terms of surveillance.
The second point is that because we are dealing with a wild, murderous group, you don’t want to put the lives of the girls at risk by just doing braggadocios. The most horrendous thing will be that these girls are killed. It will be so difficult to accept and explain to the public. We need to be extremely careful even when we have a lead to make sure that it leads to the girls’ safe rescue and not to their death after the trauma of several months.
One of the star projects of Jonathan is the National Conference. There are issues. The delegates have come to a consensus on a number of issues but, out there, people think the conference is a jamboree because it was not meant to impact the polity. What exactly would the conference have achieved by the time it winds up and a report is submitted. What does the Federal Government do with the outcome of the conference?
If you heard the President speak at the inauguration of the conference, the goals and objectives were clearly stated. The conference is aimed at discussing those fundamental issues in the polity and proffering solutions, which most likely will end up in constitutional reforms. Let’s be patient and see.
We are all patient. I am asking because the undercurrent is that the conference is standing on nothing.
It is standing on the authority of the President who, as the elected leader of Nigeria, has one of the singular duties of setting agenda for the nation, initiating reforms. So the conference is standing on solid constitutional pedestal.
In addition, after the conference is completed, it is expected that the report will go to the National Assembly for constitutional reforms to give Nigeria a more stable democratic enterprise. There are controversial issues such as will not be avoided in a conference of that nature but I think putting the controversy side-by-side with the positive things that have happened there, you will agree that it is well grounded.
The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, yesterday refuted the allegation by Governor Kwankwaso of Kano State that the President was after his life, following the violence that erupted in Kano after the selection process that led to the announcement of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the new emir of Kano.
The Minister described as desperate and paranoid what he called the campaign of calumny by Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso waged against the Federal Government and President Goodluck Jonathan.-
Maku said, it was surprising why Kwankwaso has chosen to drag the name of the President and federal government into the succession crisis rocking the Kano Emirate, even when it is a known fact that the appointment of traditional rulers is within the purview of State Governments.
Instead of blaming the federal government for the crisis that greeted the appointment of the new Emir, the Minister said, the Governor should face the people of Kano and explain to them the role he and APC leaders played in the imbroglio.
“My attention has been drawn to the recent allegation by Governor Kwankwaso that the President is after his life in the wake of the violence that erupted in Kano following the widely reported politicians of the selection process that led to the announcement of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as the Emir of Kano.
“It is a known fact that the appointment of traditional rulers is within the purview of State Governments and it is surprising why Kwankwaso has chosen to drag the name of the President into the succession crisis rocking the Kano Emirate. Instead of throwing tantrums and casting aspersions on imaginary enemies, Kwankwaso should face the people of Kano and explain to them the role he and APC leaders played in the imbroglio.”
He wondered why the Governor Kwankwaso decided to further blackmail federal government, even after the Police in Kano had offered explanations why their officers and men were deployed to guard the palace of the Emir.
“The recent outbursts of Kwankwaso have lent credence to observations in some quarters that the Governor is now afraid of his own shadow as the people of Kano become increasingly impatient with his years of one-man rule under which he imposes his will on the state in total disregard to the wishes of the people of Kano.
“His altercations with the late Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero shortly before the Emir’s death are a case in point. Governor Kwankwaso has no respect for anyone, not even for the traditional institution of his own state. After the recent denial of freedom of choice for the people of Kano by imposing local government chairmen and councillors on them, he then took on the late Kano Monarch shortly before his demise.
“Governor Kwankwaso, as is well known to the public, then went on a highly politicised selection process, turning the ascension to the throne of Kano into a partisan political enterprise during which prominent APC leaders and some Governors moved to Kano reportedly to influence the outcome,” the Minister said.
“The result is the outpouring of anger and protests in the ancient city of Kano with unfortunate breakdown of law and order. Governor Kwankwaso is therefore singularly responsible for the violence in his state. The selection of successors to other traditional institutions in other parts of the North in recent years has not witnessed the kind of public anger and protests and violence that greeted the exercise conducted by Kwankwaso at the Government House in Kano.
“The police authorities in the light of the violent opposition to the highly political selection process for the new Emir of Kano only helped to restore law and order and to protect the historic palace of the throne of Kano from being razed down or destroyed by irate and aggrieved people of Kano,” he added.
“To turn round to blame President Jonathan or the Federal Government for the crisis is the height of delusion and irresponsibility on the part of Governor Kwankwaso. He is the architect of the crisis and violence and if he has a conscience, he should examine his role in this entire unfortunate and needless crisis he has plunged the ancient city of Kano and its respected traditional institution into in recent weeks.”
“The latest claim by Governor Kwankwaso is wild and outlandish and does not fit into the character of President Jonathan or the Federal Government of Nigeria under this President.
We urge the people of Kano to remain peaceful and law abiding and shun recourse to violence in spite of the highhandedness of Governor Kwankwaso and his associates.
Governor Kwankwaso should face the anger of his people and leave President Jonathan and the Federal Government alone,” he posited.
The Minority Leader of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has expressed satisfaction with remarks made by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, last Wednesday where he alleged that about 90 per cent of the protesters campaigning for the release of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted from Chibok, Borno State, are members of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
APC vs PDP
Gbajabiamila, in a satirical statement signed by his aide, Wasiu Olanrewaju-Smart, yesterday in Abuja, said : “Maku, the Information Minister is absolutely right.”
The lawmaker believed that the remarks made by the minister was a tactical admittance of leadership failure and that the federal government was only losing the confidence of many Nigerians it had failed to protect.
“I am particularly chaffed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government has finally woken up to smell the coffee and has admitted that APC is a movement and that 90 per cent of Nigerians are APC members because as far as I know, that is the exact percentage of Nigerians that are criticising government over the handling of the terror crisis,” he said
The lawmaker advised the federal government to retrace its step in the handling of insecurity in the country and face reality.
“Conscience is like an open wound a nd only the truth can heal it. Good job Mr. Maku,” the statement added.
The Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Wednesday claimed that over 90 percent of those staging the #BringBackOurGirls’ protest are members of All Progressives Congress, APC.
Labaran Maku
Maku described Jonathan’s achievement after three years in office as a ‘miracle.’
According to him, the President should be commended instead of condemned, because of the feats he achieved despite the many challenges confronting his government.
Maku made these observations while answering questions from State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Jonathan.
The minister further added that a lot of the nation’s resources were being spent by the Federal Government on insecurity in states controlled by the opposition party.
He said, “The entire money we are spending is to maintain security in states controlled by that party. So why do you come back and start playing politics?
“We are busy spending money to maintain security in those states, what have they done about it? Because 90 percent of all insurgency is in states controlled by that party, 90 percent of those campaigning to bring back Chibok girls are members of that party.
“I think that honestly if we want this country to grow, we must ask the relevant questions. The Chibok girls remain our number one priority, we will never sleep, we will not rest until God brings them out.
“The Federal Government is a fire fighter. We did not create this insurgency or the structure that led to them, you know where they came from but you are now blaming the fire fighter for the fire.
“We believe that the President needs to be congratulated and we did so because we believe what he has done in the last three years is a miracle if we look at the challenges, clear bottlenecks that were placed on his path by some of us the citizens of this country”, he said.
Labaran Maku, the Minister of Information has attacked the governors of the 19 states in the north, saying that they have allowed the Boko Haram to wax strong in the zone because they are not doing enough to win the war.
The Minister disclosed this while briefing the state house correspondent after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. According to Maku, the meeting discussed deeply, the recent bombing in Jos and Kano.
Kano said that instead of criticizing the Federal Government, the governors should mobilise their people to join the war against terror in the states.
He said “It is not the weaknesses of the armed forces, it is the same way the Americans are getting frustrated in Afghanistan. If the terrorist they were to stand against the Nigerian armed forces, they will not last 30 minutes and will be completely destroyed”
“Every Governor of the 19 northern states must reorganize its people to monitor people at the grass root or local level. Until we have every state government determined to organize its people in terms of information gathering, we may not be able to defeat terror” he warned.
The minister revealed that lack of cooperation from the governors of the majorly affected states have led to the poor results achieved from the emergency declaration.
” We have not seen this preparation going on, if we did this, Chibok would not have occurred. If we are organizing our people, I believe we would have defeated terror by now. You need the cooperation of every little unit to expose these people who are terrorizing the people”
“The entire north must prepare its traditional rulers, each village heads, each religious leaders and the people to create the necessary synergy and mobilize the people against Boko Haram”
“We need to speak with one voice against terrorism. But the right political mobilization must be put in place and I think that this is what the media should support”
“When people tell you that because we have send troops we can win the war, it is not true. It is a war between a few ideologically programmed individuals. You need the right networking. We do not have to wait a long time if we do what we are supposed to do and without this cooperation, these people may continue to waste more blood”
“If we destroy our armed forces, we do not have alternatives. These are the people being killed daily and they are doing a lot for this country. These are people whose children are being turned into orphans. This is a gorilla warfare and we believe that Nigerians can help to win it if we prepare ourself and organized our self to defeat terrorism by mobilizing our people to give information about the terrorists”
“The objective of terror group is to divide the opinion of Nigerians, put fears into the people and get them disunited and we need to understand that politic aside, we must unit to fight this terror.”
“It is the Nigerian efforts that can bring this terror to an end. We need every religious leader to be able to speak to their people”
The Information Minister said it is important for Nigerians to appreciate that terrorism “is not a war of one religion against the other. It is a war against all Nigerians and we believe that evil will never prevail over this country. We condemn the bombing of innocent people who had no disagreement with them”
Speaking on the forthcoming third anniversary of President Jonathan’s administration, Maku said the occassion would used to highlight the achievements of government since the return to democratic rule.
The minister said “but for the sad violence in parts of the North, this country would have seen the best managed economy in the history of this nation. One thing that evil will not succeed in doing is that it will not distract government from the development of this country. They may try to distract us but they will never succeed”
The abduction of the 276 students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State has continued to attract international criticism who believe that Nigeria government was solely responsible for the failure of protecting the students during their exams.
Maku and Sesha
Yesterday, there was a big argument between the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku and CNN correspondent in Nigeria, Isha Seshe argued that Nigerian military refused to hearken to warnings of mass abduction before the incident actually happened.
Sesay said she spoke with many Parents who revealed that the government was aware of the abduction, and even during the incident, the soldiers refused to come for immediate counter.
Responding to the accusation, the Minister revealed that the Federal Government had earlier warned that no exams should be written in these locations, and even the Director of Waec also warned that the students should be transferred to another location, but the local authorities refused to obey the instruction.
He added that contrary to the information CNN gathered, the Federal Government was not aware that the students were writing exams after the previous instruction not to, adding that the schools were supposed to be closed.
Maku said ” We didnt know exam was taking place in that school, we didn’t know. We had earlier written that exams shouldn’t take place there, we said those students should be shifted to Maiduguri, we didn’t have the warning, we understand that even the WAEC had objected to writing exams in that school, but local authorities had better wisdom
“When this was taking place, if we knew for example, what we expected was that, we would have to fortified security the school and in the area and again, schools were closed
“From all the information we have received so far, i can tell you clearly that first, the Principal was not there, the information didn’t come to us atleast, at the national level on time and we heard the information the following day because it happened in the night, Maku added.
The WAEC director had earlier said that they wrote to the three states where state of emergency was declared to relocate the students due to insecurity problems and there was no response, the director added that when the response eventually come, the government said they were providing securities and there was no need for relocation.
All effort to convince them failed as they threatened that if they didn’t conduct the exams in the school, the world will blame them, the Directed said.
Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, yesterday reacted to the information revealed by Amnesty International that the soldiers were aware of the abduction.
Shettima who responded through his media aide, Isa Gusau, said that he read report by Amnesty and since the accusation was directed at the Federal Government, he would have less to comment.
He said “The Governor is very much committed to supporting ongoing search and rescue efforts to free Borno’s precious daughters. More than any other person in position of authority, he is deeply pained by that unfortunate abduction and committed to providing all necessary support for security agencies and community volunteers towards freeing his daughters.
“Just for the record, Governor Kashim Shettima has since assuming power, accorded nothing short of outstanding support for all security agencies in the State and this has been well acknowledged by different heads of security agencies at various times.
“Borno State under his tenure, has provided over 300 brand new Hilux patrol vehicles to them; it fuels these vehicles daily, provide maintenance and other logistics materials/support.
“Through a strong network of communities involved, Governor Shettima works very hard in generating and providing information they process for their intelligence.
Continuing, the media aide disclosed that the state provides N1m to families of every soldier killed in combat as palliative and to motivate others on battle field.
“Also, security chiefs have unfettered access to the Governor as they see him at the shortest time with or without prior appointment, day or night. He acts on his daily reports appropriately.
Gusau also said his boss has inspired youth volunteers, trained, equipped them with patrol vehicles and pays them salaries to do community policing to complement the effort of the troops. Borno does these and more in the last three years of the Shettima administration,” the statement concluded.
What Naija Center News (NCN) could not comprehend in the information gathered is the reason Nigerians and the international governement and critics have not in anyways indict the Governor of Borno State who the WAEC has revealed was advised to relocate the students.
Many Nigerians, despite the international believe, also believe that the state government is aware of the problems and likely to know the whereabout of the abducted students.
This was revealed by the ex-militant, Asari-Dokubo who also believes that the children might not be missing as he concluded that it is a well management abduction.
The Federal Government on Wednesday said President Goodluck Jonathan’s presence at a Peoples Democratic Party’s rally in Kano State on Tuesday was a loud statement to terrorists that they could not succeed in their bid to stop government from working.
Labaran Maku
Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said this in an interview with State House correspondents shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting.
Barely 24 hours after a bomb explosion killed 75 people in Nyanya, a satellite town in Abuja, Jonathan had led party chiefs to Kano where they received former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, who recently defected to the party.
The development drew the ire of many Nigerians, including the All Progressives Congress who accused the President of being insensitive.
But Maku said the President’s critics were not fair in their judgment.
He recalled that Jonathan had on the day of the incident called off his planned trip to Ibadan for the centenary birthday of the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Odulana Odugade.
He added that the President visited the scene of the incident personally to assess the situation.
He argued that Jonathan himself had suffered psychologically by the acts which he claimed was meant to demoralise and destabilise the government.
The minister argued that terrorists would continue to unleash violence on the country once they know that government stops working any time they strike.
He urged politicians to stop exploiting the nation’s darkest moment to score cheap political points.
He said, “You will notice that whenever there is any significant story, something will just come negatively. So the purpose is to demoralise, disrupt government, society and to set people against each other and create paralysis.
“So if we are to say we will do nothing because of the strike, then it means that terrorists would have successes in putting a stall each time they strike on our country.
“Going to Kano was a loud statement that terrorists will not stop this country from moving and from working.
“On the day it happened, the President had already suspended all his activities and focused on it. Politicians will still want to exploit even the most dark moment for political advantage and this is what we should not do.
“We should not be exploiting the emotions of citizens for cheap political points. People will use everything including murder, including trauma like what we have gone through to score cheap political points and this is really very sad.
“Politicians must not exploit the suffering of people just to score cheap political points.
“The President is mourning and is already working with everybody and with every institution to ensure that we not only meet the needs of the living and care for those who have survived but continuously work to perfect our security architecture to ensure greater safety of Nigerians.”
The Minister described as desperate and paranoid what he called the campaign of calumny by Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso waged against the Federal Government and President Goodluck Jonathan.-
