May 23, 2014
… Aliyu, who spoke yesterday in Minna at a federal and state security administrators’ meeting, said the statement credited to the minister of information, Labaran Maku, that the northern governors were not doing enough to curb the insurgency was unfair.
“If Maku is speaking for himself, it is very unfortunate and uncalled for, but if he is speaking on behalf of the federal government, it is uncharitable to northern states’ governors,” he stated.
The chairman of NSGF said it was a mark of hypocrisy for people to blame another person for their shortcomings, adding that “no governor in the north can be accused of not doing enough in the fight against terrorism”. “Labaran Maku is probably playing politics because of what is happening in Nassarrawa and Plateau states,” he said. “I am not aware of any governor in the north that has been invited by the national security adviser on what to do and he failed to do it.”
The governor said that “for any minister to wake up and be castigating people, it will not solve the problem; we should stop this blame game; it will not solve the problem. If anything, it will further exacerbate the delicate security situation”.
The problem of insecurity and Boko Haram, he said, could have ben reduced and many arrested if government had exposed the sponsors of Boko Haram. He therefore wondered why the federal government was developing cold feet over exposing the sponsors and their collaborators.
“Why can’t we know their sponsors and collaborators, or is it that security agents are benefiting from the crisis?” he asked. “How can we do enough when people like Labaran Maku would play politics with a serious matter?”
