The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties has accused Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku of opening his mouth too wide by trying to stoke division along ethnic, religious and political lines in the country.
In a statement today by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, the coalition said the minister must be prepared to accept responsibility for any crisis “resulting from his sustained campaign of divisive comments with hate speech.”
Ezugwu demanded that Maku should tender an apology to the nation for his comments, which he said CNPP considered to be against national interest.
According to him, the tempo of national discuss will only increase with the quest to address security challenges and the run up to the general elections, warning that Maku must not drag political parties into the crises presently bedeviling the country since it is now apparent that the country is battling a full-fledged insurgency, with no ethnic, religious or political sympathies in the selection of its targets.
The CNPP Secretary General was reacting to a comment credited to the Minister on a national television, saying that the minister has forgotten the fact that the situation in Nigeria now has gone beyond apportioning of blame or finger pointing.
“What political parties are talking about is the credibility or otherwise of voter registration and it is thus befuddling that such a crucial issue was reduced to ‘ruling versus opposition political parties’. Nigerians, irrespective of their backgrounds are emphatically asking for the release of the school girls abducted by insurgents in addition to judiciously deploying budgeted resources to end the on-going reign of terror.
“It is therefore a disservice for a sitting Minister of Information to constantly try to dismiss these genuine demands as the preserve of some political parties instead of urging the government to which he belong to act on them. It is worrisome that the Minister seems oblivious of the fact that foreign intelligence agencies would attach credence to comments coming from him being the nation’s image maker.
“These unguarded utterances would thus go on to affect how foreign countries make policies about Nigeria including economic and investment decisions. He should have been mindful of this and not label justified demands as having ethnic, religious or political schemes behind them.” [myad]
