NSGF blasts Labaran Maku, FG over stance on insurgency

From Yakubu Mustapha,Minna

The Northern States Governors Forum, NSGF, has flayed the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku over his comments on the insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country, describing the statement credited to Mr. Maku after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday as ‘unfortunate’.

Chairman of the forum and Governor of Niger state, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, reacting to the statement by Mr. Labaran Maku at the opening of a one day meeting of Federal and State Government’s Security Administrators in Minna yesterday, said if the views expressed by the Minister was the opinion of the Federal Government ‘it is very uncharitable, it is more than unfortunate.

Maku had been quoted in the media as saying that Governors in the northern part of the country were not doing enough to contain insurgency in the region.

Governor Aliyu, while reacting, stated: “As chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum, I can say that no governor can be accused of not doing enough, it is part of the circumstances we find ourselves’.

“How can we do enough, when people like Labaran Maku would play politics with a serious matter; I think the statement came out because of what is happening in Nasarawa, his home state, and he now generalizes it to the whole region’.

“Why would we not be accused of not doing enough when even the children that were kidnapped some people were trying to make it look as if nothing happened?

“Iam not aware of any governor invited by the National Security Adviser and told of what to do and he did not do it I am not aware of that.

“We, as Northern Governors, set up a committee that went round all the states we sent our report and recommendations to the Federal Government and what did the Federal Government do they set up another committee which went round and plagiarized the report of the Northern governors.”

“We need to stop this blame game and start to find solution to what is happening”