Rabiu Omaku
Nasarawa state Governor,Umaru Tanko Al-Makura has lambasted the former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku for smuggling sophisticated weapons into the state when he held sway as the supervising Minister of Defence under the past regime of ex-president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
The Governor was reacting to a media reports credited to Maku alleging that the hand in-glove of Governor Al-Makura plunged the state into state of lawlessness leading to the death of lives and destruction properties.
Labaran Maku had during a press briefing described the unabated skirmishes witnessed in the state to the insensitivity of the man at the helm of affairs; he further claimed that he would have tackled the security challenges if he was sworn-in on 29th, May 2015 as the Governor of the state.
However, in his response to Maku’s assertion, the Special Assistant to the Governor on media and publicity, Ahmed Tukur described Maku’s statement as unguarded and said that it is unfortunate, stating that Nasarawa state was a safe haven for the proliferation of arms and ammunitions when the former minister held sway as the supervising minister of Defence.
The Special Assistant berates Maku for making inflammatory statement that were capable of igniting violence among the citizenry, adding that the crisis in the state was at its climax when Maku took over as supervising minister.
“Labaran Maku like any other stakeholder representing the state was conspicuously absent during series of peace summit organized at instance of the chief executive aimed at bringing an end to communal and ethnic clashes that ravaged the state, but rather he was misleading the president against the state and people because of his premature Governorship ambition.
“Maku did not represent the state rather he represented himself by working against the state and Northern region, he however described the former Minister of Information as a bad and poor representative of the state,” he added.
Ahmed Tukur chastised Labaran Maku for his whimsical approach to the state he was representing, stating that the ex-minister prevented most of the projects that would have been cited in the state and the North in general because of his selfish interest.
