Northern Politicians Want To Incite The North Against President Jonathan - Maku

Labaran Maku, the Minister of Information,
has condemned those politicians who make
provocative statements, saying they want to
incite the North against the administration
and person of President Goodluck Jonathan
ahead of the 2015 general elections.
The Minister spoke in his office during a courtesy
call by a political awareness group, the Goodluck/
Sambo National Organisation of Ulama Media
Forum.
Mr. Maku observed that some politicians use the
media to make their statements against the
President.
"People who call themselves politicians, they will
go to radio stations, go to television stations and
make dangerous statements, which will create
confusion, create hatred, which will set people
against each other, which will incite violence.
"This is what we have been witnessing in the North
since 2011. Beginning with 2011 elections, we have
continued to witness this unfortunate tendency
from leaders, not all leaders, some leaders among
us who are always inciting people.
"You will recollect that during the 2011 general
elections, especially presidential election, people
tried to turn the election into a religious war," the
Minister noted.
Mr. Maku recalled that people lost their lives and
property just supporting the President in 2011
election, and said the trend must cease to exist.
"All these violence going on now in the North, it's
Northerners that are dying mostly. If you say you
love your house, you will not go and cause
confusion in your house or set it on fire," the
Minister observed.
"Since independence, we have more Northerners
ruling Nigeria and people did not cause trouble
because we were ruling.
"Whenever we were President, whether military
head of state or civilian, the Southerners did not
say Let there be war because some Northerners
are ruling or Let us raise a religious war or Let's
create confusion in the country. We ruled and ruled
and ruled and they cooperated with us".
He denied the allegation that President Jonathan is
'anti-North' by pointing out that the North is
developing "far better" now than at the times when
Northeners ruled Nigeria. He named a number of
projects situated in the North.
He urged politics from the North to appreciate
President Jonathan's efforts in the region and
support his administration.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.