– Senate President Appeals Against Reprisals
Minister of Information, Labaran Maku on Monday called on Northern political and traditional leaders to stop the on going 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 quest for political power and said that 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 is 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 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.
Rev. Hassan Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese said that President Goodluck Jonathan should not be held responsible for the present challenges in the country.
He however said that the President holds the key to its solution.
“I am convinced that the country is running out of time and there is an impending war between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria and something urgent should be done,“ he said.
Kukah said the country was for all Nigerian to build and called on the President to take drastic action against those perpetrating the violence.
Meanwhile Senate President, David Mark on Monday in Abuja appealed against reprisal attacks in the wake of attacks on churches by members of the Boko Haram sect.
Making the appeal when he spoke with State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, Mark stressed that vengeance belonged to God.
“I am sure that you all listened to the various appeals by everybody.
“Vengeance is not ours; we must leave vengeance to God; continue to appeal to the people who are behind it to reason and put this off because it not in the interest of this country.’’
Angry youths reportedly embarked on reprisals in Kaduna and Zaria following attacks on churches in the cities on Sunday.
The attacks on the churches left scores of people killed or wounded.
Mark said he was on a routine visit to the president and refuted a rumour making the round that there was love lost between the legislative and the executive arms of government.
“We have got very cordial relationship,’’ he said.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, also met with President Jonathan at about the same time of the senate president’s visit.