Former Minister of Information and governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, Mr.
Labaran Maku, in this interview with UMAR MUHAMMED , speaks on the just concluded election in
Nasarawa State
How would you describe the last election?
It was the most fraudulent election in the electoral history of our country. This was an election where the
result was prepared even before the voting took place. Now they are working to fill the gaps. It didn’t
qualify to be an election. It was an electoral coup supervised by the Independent National Electoral
Commission, the police and other security agencies. They hatched a plot to hijack the mandate of the
people having known that the people were not ready to vote for the current administration of (Governor)
Umaru Al-Makura because of the blood that has been shed across the state.
What happened in Nasarawa State was a big shame. That is why days after the election result was
announced, no single person came out to rejoice. This was because they know it was a fraud. We know
the five personalities that coordinated it. Their mission was that I should not rule Nasarawa because I am
a Christian. Several forces came into the state because of this conspiracy. I have never played politics of
religion or division. I am a unifier. I have served in different capacities, which include being a commissioner
and deputy governor for a combination of eight years and throughout, I played my role in stabilising the
state and uniting Muslims and Christians. Nasarawa is the clearest example of a mini Nigeria and if we
cannot unite this state, we can’t unite the North or Nigeria.
Now look at the shame that is going on from Maiduguri to Kano. Every day, northerners are killing one
another because of politics. And you can’t blame this on anybody. Northern leaders must look inwards to
stop the unnecessary division. The politics of division that pervades the region is killing our region,
destroying our development and truncating the vision of our children. It is turning our region into a
massive battlefield in which people are being killed every day. Who profits from the blood that is being
shed, the talents being excluded from governance and the massive war that is going on, destroying
opportunities in our region? It has now become a place where investors flee from.
Why do you think you lost in this election?
I did not lose the election. I won it by a wide margin. What I am saying is that the result figures were
cooked up by the government in a particular centre and coordinated by one of the commissioners.
Al-Makura knows there is no way he can defeat me. Ninety per cent of the ad hoc staff were chosen by
the government and handed over to the INEC in the state. That is why you could see that in Adoge, Ashige
in the Lafia East Local Government Area, returning officers ran away. They found out that Al-Makura was
not winning and that APGA, my party, was leading; they were ordered to flee. They then organised
commandoes to hijack the collation centres. The commandoes went to Adoge four times, the people
resisted them. But they were able to hijack the materials at Ashige, Assakio, Arikya and other places.
I want the whole world to focus on Nasarawa State. I want this country to know that the level of
criminality that occurred in Nasarawa is something that I am personally ashamed of. In the governor’s
village, two of my supporters were shot down in cold blood because they dared to vote for APGA in the
electoral ward of the governor. At the Abacha Youth Centre in Lafia, a young man was stabbed to death in
the midst of security agencies because he was an APGA supporter. At Giza, they drove away everybody
and carried away ballot papers to go and thumbprint. They also did their rigging at Adudu; there was no
report. There was a commando-style invasion of the collation centre at Karu by the military. Now it is
difficult for us to distinguish between fake soldiers and regular soldiers because fake soldiers were on
active service in the course of this election and that activity took place around 10:30pm. Around 2am,
there was another invasion at Wulko by insurgents. There was invasion of Arikiya in Lafia Local
Government Area by a private army who went there and hijacked ballot papers.
Why did you choose to contest on the platform of the APGA instead of the APC or Labour Party when you
lost out in the PDP primaries?
I have been telling Nigerians all along that there is something that is false about the APC. I have problems
accepting the ideology of the APC because there is a gap between what they preach and what they
practise. I took that position a long time ago when I was in government. And then, I found out that in the
North, the APC is associated with so much violence. The core of APC seems to me to be embedded in the
ideology of violence and falsehood which is inimical to liberal democracy. I went to APGA because the
natural place I could have gone was the Labour Party but it was in chaos in the state and also in the
country. There were quarrels among party members and the leadership of the party. I did not want to go
into a place where I would have to be truncated by quarrels.
I went to APGA because it is new and fresh and I wanted to experiment with a new party. It was not
controversial in the state. APGA came to me and invited me. When I saw that they offered a better
opportunity to contest on their platform, I went in. And you can see that APGA today has developed and we
have been able to defeat the PDP and the APC in this election.
Will you go to the election tribunal for redress?
I am studying the situation. I am studying the full scale of the criminality that was committed. When I am
properly briefed by all the stakeholders and the people involved, I will take a decision.
Don’t you think the choice of the party on which you contested affected your chances of winning?
No, it did not. I won. It promoted my popularity and I won. I won, even though the PDP has been here for
16 years; we defeated them (the PDP). The APC has been here for four years and we defeated them. APGA
is beautiful because Maku is a household name. Thus, I didn’t need to suffer myself to educate people on
what the party is. The slogan of the party, ‘be your brother’s keeper’ is a great advantage. Look at the
destruction that is taking place in the state that has been imposed by the ruling clique in Nasarawa. The
clique of violent cults has set our state in confusion. Now if you look at what has happened, you will find
that, ‘be your brother’s keeper or be your sister’s keeper’ again talks about unity, service and brotherhood
across religion and ethnic lines. It is clear from the bloodshed in the course of the election that some
parties are their brothers’ killers. APGA offered a fresh focus; uniting the people across board.
If invited by the APC to come and join their government, would you accept?
Don’t insult me. I can’t join robbers to share the loot of my property. They stole my mandate from me,
then they will sit down and invite me? No! I can’t join a band of robbers who have stolen a mandate that
does not belong to them.
At any rate, I am not in the politics of going to join people who won election. If I was defeated properly, I
would have congratulated them to build a constructive opposition, to remain in the opposition and to
continuously checkmate whatever they are doing so as to improve the quality of our democracy. They
should note that the quality of election is the quality of the soul of its leader. I am shocked that we still
have this level of criminality even in the heart of people that ought to now have the responsibility of
correcting Nigeria. Some of them participated in this crime.
Do you think you are that popular?
What did you think when you look at the results from across the state? There is no politician as popular
as me in Nasarawa State at the moment. I don’t know of tomorrow. But today, if you ask the youths, the
women and even the elderly, they would tell you that they are for Maku and APGA. Everywhere, people are
saying ‘kukuruku’ because this is the only person that has come around to talk to them. I am a humble
rural boy. You can see, I am still here in my village. I only go into the town occasionally. I stay in the
village.
Since 1999, I have never gone on holiday abroad. This is my London. This is my Dubai. This is my Cape
Town because I have not seen British politicians come on holiday in Nigeria neither have I seen Americans
or people from the United Arab Emirates. South African politicians don’t come on holiday here. My
leadership is to develop the heart, to stay at home with our people and build this country. We run around
too much.

source: http://www.punchng.com/feature/interview/nasarawa-poll-a-coup-against-masses-maku/

Ok

LieBaran Maku?

Remember us?

The Nigerian masses you joined to oppress during the subsidy saga

We just want to ask you, Yaya Kasua? Kedu Maka Ahia? Bawo ni Oja? How Market? Que mercados

Maku na u know ooo