DO THESE MEN HAVE ANY PLAN TO STOP THIS TERROR RAMPAGE? : Maku: Terror Attacks Often Follow Jonathan's Achievements ... ThisDayNews

• None of our prominent members invited for questioning, says APC

By Onyebuchi Ezeigbo 

There is a correlation between the series of terrorist attacks in the country and the various landmarks recorded by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, the federal government has said.

Also at the weekend, the All Progressives Party (APC) said the Department of State Security (SSS) sought and obtained its membership register in  Darazo Local Government Area of Bauchi State, following alleged recovery of the party’s membership identity cards by security forces during a raid on an area said to be a base of Boko Haram.

Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, in an interview in Lagos, said anytime the current administration had cause to celebrate an achievement, bombs explode to distract  Nigerians and portray the government in bad light.

“I can tell you that almost every milestone recorded by this government is accompanied by bomb blast,” he said, citing the World Economic Forum which was preceded by bomb attacks in Abuja, and the widely acclaimed Ekiti State governorship election as examples.

He said: "Immediately we rebased our economy and it was now confirmed that Nigeria was the largest economy in Africa, there were bombs at Chibok. Immediately they learnt we were going to hold the World Economic Forum, there were bombs in Abuja and its environs to make sure that Nigeria does not get the economic benefits of hosting the World Economic Forum and to discourage the world from coming here and to make the attack the centre point of international and local media….We also noticed that immediately after Ekiti, the bombs started raining again.”  

Noting that, “there is a correlation between the exposure of development efforts in the media and the  insecurity in the northern part of the country”, Maku however said what had been happening, in the past two years particularly,  was that terrorism had taken the front pages and deprived the country of news of development and social issues.

“That is why most times I have continued to insist that the media should have a change of strategy , I wouldn’t say change of attitude. Because, as you know, with terrorism, once it takes hold, it takes very long for it to be dealt with. Because the terrorists themselves are looking for the opportunity to be exposed, to sell their ideology,  to use the media to frighten the society, to give themselves some invincible image, so they keep doing those strikes mainly because they want those headlines to be celebrated, they want the society to be afraid,” the minister said.

While lamenting that terrorism had exploited the liberal tendencies of democracy and  free press  to sell its own ideology to the world, Maku said, “ I believe frankly that the media should, side by side, while reporting incidence of terror attacks, unfortunately where they occur, focus on development and deepening of our democracy. That is the only way we can defeat them."

Buttressing his point, Maku said, “We must make sure we focus on development while reporting incidence of terror.  Even in reporting incidence of terror, it is my belief that we give it too much exposure, too much outlandish headlines. Yes, if there is a strike and people are dead, we will not say the media should not report it. But when you look at some of the situations we have had in recent times on a weekly basis, the front pages, the headlines, the lead stories are always about terror.

“Just imagine the damage that does to the psyche of the people of Nigeria. Nobody has taken time to study the impact of those kinds of reporting on the imagination of Nigerians. So, like I said, the purpose of the terror, in my opinion, is to distract the public from concentrating on development, to distract the public from concentrating on what government is doing, to make the government look bad before the public.”

Meanwhile, APC has said the attempt to link  the party to the violent sect through the alleged discovery of party identity cards was nothing but a mischievous effort to demonise the party in the name of politics.

The federal government  had on Wednesday claimed that there was strong evidence linking Boko Haram to members of a political party in Nigeria, but failed to disclose which of the parties it was referring to.
Coordinator of the National Information Centre (NIC) and Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Mike Omeri, had said some politicians were being interrogated as a result of their ties to terrorist activities.

“After the last successful operations carried out by security forces to dislodge terrorists from their base in the Darazo Local Government Area-end of Balmo Forest in Bauchi State, the politicians are being interrogated following the recovery of some sensitive materials – registration cards and symbol of a prominent political party that was found in the possession of some of the suspects arrested,” Omeri said.
However, while reacting to Omeri's statement, National Publicity Secretary of APC, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, said there was no truth in it.

He said the party had decided not to take further action on the issue until the security agency comes up with the outcome of  its investigations.

"We have investigated it and what we found was that the security forces  raided a particular area and that area they went is not a virgin area. It is an area where people live. So in the process they picked up two temporary membership receipts of APC.”

Muhammed said though the party had complied with the demand to submit its membership register for the local government in Bauchi, it had every reason to suspect foul play since the place raided by the security agents was not a forest but a normal living area.

"SSS demanded for APC register in one local government in Bauchi and we submitted it to them and we are now waiting for the outcome of their investigation. But it was not true that any prominent member of APC has been indicted or invited for questioning.

"What happened was that they went to raid some areas and the place is not a forest as claimed. It is where people lived and they said they found membership cards of two members of our party. When they found it, they contacted the state chairman of the party in Bauchi State.

"The security agents demanded that they wanted the party register. They were furnished with the register and it was found that the identity cards were for our members. Now they asked who were they but the chairman replying, wondered how they expected him to know every member of the party. People come to register and give any address of their choice. That was the end of the matter.

"It is just like  someone going to a place like Nyanya to say he found an identity card belonging to APC and he started saying he is investigating prominent politicians. Who are they deceiving? They demanded that local branch in that area should submit its register and we gave them.

"We are waiting for their investigation. It is like going to a garage to find something."
He said the incident took place in one of the remote local government areas in Bauchi State, adding that the party has a large following in the state.

On whether the party was apprehensive that security agents might go after some of its members based on the findings, he said that cannot happen.
"What we are waiting for right now is for the security to go and identify those people. Let them go and identify those people and get them.

"But you see it is not as if they caught members of Boko Haram and they found our members amongst them. They went to an area where people live and arrested the people who live there and in the process found APC identity cards.

While denying any formal interaction between any member of the top hierarchy of APC and the SSS over the issue, the spokesman of the party said what happened was that the security agents asked the chairman to submit the register of the party.

"But the chairman refused and told them that he had to receive permission from the party's headquarter. He contacted our national leadership and he was asked to release the register to the security to conduct their investigations.

“We are waiting for the investigation to commence and we will not ask anyone to stop investigation. But when the greeting is getting beyond the arm, then we will start talking.

"You see they are trying to demonise the party. If you come to raid an area in the market and come across an armed robber, does it mean that everyone in that area is an armed robber.

"It will be very mischievous to say that because you went to a place and you found an ID card belonging to a member of the APC and due to that every member of the party is supporting Boko Haram. It amounts to demonising the innocent members of the party," he said.