Former Minister of Information and Gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Nasarawa State, Labaran Maku has poured cold water on statements attributed to him that President Goodluck Jonathan was a behind terror group Boko Haram’s activities in the country.
Maku made the declaration in Abuja on Tuesday, February 10, 2015 while addressing journalist, stating that he was a staunch supporter of President Jonathan’s re-election bid, regardless of his party allegiance.
He further said his election into the Nasarawa governemnt house was secondary to President Jonathan’s emergence as President, threatening legal action against those spreading false allegations.
His words: “I still believe in President Jonathan; I am leading his campaign in Nasarawa State. I therefore want to make it very clear here, that at no time in my life have I ever attributeed the president to the sponsorship of terrorism. This is absolute fiction, and this fiction is deliberately designed by the opposition to quote one of the most ardent believers of the president as telling a story against him
“As a human being, I work with my conscience, I cannot come against the government I defended for four and half years, the government I believe in and I still almost remain its face in terms of public utterances. If were to say that, who will believe me? When I do something, I do it because I believe in it.
“As a journalist, I find these reports very reprehensible, slanderous and completely unprofessional. What is going on is beyond mischief, it is absolute desperation by the enemies of the president to pull him down using my name.
“I therefore want to make it very clear here that at no time in my life have I ever associated the president with the sponsorship of terrorism; it is absolute fiction. This is designed by the opposition to quote one of the most ardent believers in President Jonathan as telling a story against him.
“I believe in President Jonathan; he is a misunderstood leader who has done so much for this country and is doing so much for the nation. Let me make it very clear that even under APGA, President Jonathan is still my presidential candidate and I am the one leading his campaign in Nasarawa State.
“I remain his loyalist, I remain his supporter, I believe in him, I believe in the great job he has done for Nigeria. I want the world to know that I believe in this government and whatever we have done together; I remain an adherent.
“As President Jonathan struggles to deal with terrorism, some people are desperate to use it as a licence to turn the public against him, because they want political power. Terrorism in Nigeria is not quite different from what is happening in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Algeria and several other troubled nations across the world.”
He went on to criticise the All Progressives Congress, APC-led government in Nasarawa state over their inability to provide security for citizens of the state in the wake of insurgent attacks.
Maku said: “In the last four years of the All Progressives Congress (APC) rule in our state, we have also had a devastating advent of terror attacks in form of insurgents attacking villages, destroying communities, and as I speak with you, more than 60 towns and villages in the state had been destroyed in the last two years by insurgents, mostly brought in from outside Nigeria.”
