Stop the violence, Maku tells Northern leaders: Eagle eye TV

Stop the violence, Maku tells Northern leaders

THE Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, on Monday, called on northern political and traditional leaders to stop the ongoing violence in the region. Maku said this in Abuja at the national summit on the Freedom of Information Act, organised by the Media Rights Agenda, an NGO. The minister attributed the violence to a quest for political power and said no section of the country would hold on to political power for a long time.

He added that power would surely rotate to other parts of the country. Maku appealed to the northern leaders to exercise patience and to call their followers to order and stop the violence. “Nobody will hold power forever, it must rotate, Nigeria should agree on power rotation in order to live in peace; our country is bigger than one individual,” the minister said. Maku said the violence was hitting hard on the North, which according to him, was beginning to have a negative effect on every aspect of the region. He said community leaders in the region needed to be sensitised on the negative effect of the activities of the Boko Haram, saying that “the leaders live in the community and know those who are causing trouble”.

The minister asked those who were calling for the division of the country to have a rethink, stressing that there was no country that could exist in isolation. “The division did not just start now, India is more divided than Nigeria, but they had a leader who rose beyond religious, ethnic and other primordial sentiments,” he said. He urged the media to live above board and report issues based on national interest and to stop sensationalism. “If there is a major political division you can always pick up a newspaper and know which group its speaking for,” he said.The minister said he was prepared to work with the media on public enlightenment, adding that as professionals they have a central role to play in national development.

He said Nigerians should stop the negative attitude of regarding public officers as wrong in whatever they do, saying all Nigerians have a stake in moving the nation forward. Makualso said the freedom of information act was a revolutionary law that enabled citizens the freedom to access information on the affairs of government. Reverend Hassan Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, said that President Goodluck Jonathan should not be held responsible for the current challenges in the country. He, however, said that the president holds the key to its solution.

 
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