MEDIA STATEMENT
The attention of the Honourable Minister of Information has been drawn to a story published on page 4 of Sunday Tribune associating him with the dastardly and condemnable violence going on in Nasarawa State. The newspaper claimed that the violence stemmed from alleged rivalry between the Minister of Information Mr. Labaran Maku and Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura over the 2015 governorship election.
It is shocking that this story was published without recourse to the available facts about the unfortunate violence which are in the public domain in Nasarawa State, and which have also been reported widely in the media.
Either the reporter did not understand the facts on ground or the story was deliberately planted to divert the attention of Nigerians and security agencies from the real story behind the blood-letting in Nasarawa State.
For the information of Nigerians and members of the public, the Minister of Information has in the last one year waged a one-man campaign in Nasarawa State, which was widely reported in both the print and electronic media against the activities of militia and mercenaries who have been destroying communities, lives and property in the state.
The people of Nasarawa State know the truth behind this unfortunate violence and the perpetrators.
Mr. Maku is totally and completely unconnected to anything violent and ungodly. Right from his days as a student union leader in the University of Jos, a teacher, a journalist, commissioner, Deputy Governor and now Minister, Mr. Maku has been a man of peace and has never been associated with violence. He has repeatedly waged a campaign against violence and called for a ban on the activities of all political thugs and militia groups throughout the country. The story is therefore completely false, unfounded and a calculated attempt to associate the good name of the Honourable Minister with the ugly violence in Nasarawa State.
Mr. Maku therefore called on all the peace-loving people of Nasarawa State particularly the youths to refuse to be used as agents of destruction and to rise up against the increasing wave of violence by militia, mercenaries and cultists in the state.
The Honourable Minister urges security agencies to carry out thorough investigation and bring the actors and perpetrators of the carnage in Nasarawa State to justice.
The Minister once again commiserates with innocent Nigerians particularly the families of security personnel who were heinously killed in this unfortunate violence which has been developing in Nasarawa State unabated in the last two years.
JOSEPH MUTAH
Press Secretary
