The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran
Maku, on Wednesday alleged that about 90 per cent of protesters
campaigning for the release of the over 200 schoolgirls abducted from
Chibok, Borno State, are members of the All Progressives Congress.
He also said that President Goodluck
Jonathan had performed miracle with the achievements recorded by his
administration in three years.
He said the President deserved
commendation because the feats were achieved despite the fact that no
Nigerian leader had faced the kind of challenges he was facing now.
Maku said this while answering questions
from State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive
Council meeting presided over by Jonathan.
The minister also took a swipe at the
APC, saying a lot of the nation’s resources were being spent by the
Federal Government on insecurity in states controlled by the party.
This notwithstanding, he alleged that
about 90 per cent of protesters campaigning for the release of the over
200 schoolgirls were members of the APC.
He said, “The entire money we are
spending is to maintain security in states controlled by that party. So
why do you come back and start playing politics?
“We are busy spending money to maintain
security in those states, what have they done about it? Because 90 per
cent of all insurgency is in states controlled by that party, 90 per
cent of those campaigning to bring back Chibok girls are members of that
party.
“I think that honestly if we want this
country to grow, we must ask the relevant questions. The Chibok girls
remain our number one priority, we will never sleep, we will not rest
until God brings them out.
“The Federal Government is a fire
fighter. We did not create this insurgence or the structure that led to
them, you know where they came from but you are now blaming the fire
fighter for the fire.”
The minister said after reviewing the
performance of the first implementation plan of Vision 20:2020, the
council returned a verdict that the country was on the right course
under Jonathan.
“We believe that the President needs to
be congratulated and we did so because we believe what he has done in
the last three years is a miracle if we look at the challenges, clear
bottlenecks that were placed on his path by some of us the citizens of
this country,” he said.
Maku said it was clear that Nigeria
under Jonathan had done better than most countries in Africa despite the
challenges confronting the nation.
He insisted that the killings,
kidnappings and vandalism being recorded in parts of the country were
planned to frustrate Jonathan and his administration.
Despite these, however, Maku said the President had been able to improve the nation’s economy with his various reforms.
He said after deliberating on the
achievements and challenges of the vision between 2010 and 2013, the
council returned the document to the Ministry of National Planning to
rework some issues raised.