"Opposition parties are responsible for Nigeria’s security challenge" - Information Minister, Labaran Maku

The Federal Government has blamed opposition political parties for insecurity in the land saying if the parties have done well in states under their control, Nigeria could have been a more peaceful country.

Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku said this while addressing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.

The meeting devoted time to review the implementation of the Vision 2020 Mid Term Report.
Mr Maku wondered why people are playing politics with security issues saying that money being expended on security issues could have been used by the Federal Government for development purposes.

He expressed optimism that the Chibok girls will be recovered because that is the priority of the Federal Government.

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.