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Tag: Labaran Maku

  • Maku urges restoration of Customary Court of Appeal

    Maku urges restoration of Customary Court of Appeal

    Former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, has called on the Nasarawa State Government to restore the Customary Court of Appeal in the state.

    Maku, a 2015 gubernatorial candidate of All Progressive Grand Alliance ( APGA ) in Nasarawa state, made the appeal on Wednesday while speaking with newsmen in his ancestral home, Wakama, Akun Development Area of the state.

    According to him, re-establishing the abolished court would fast track resolution of traditional issues.

    It would be recalled that the state government scrapped the Customary Court of Appeal during the retirement and valedictory court session in honour of Justice Jibril Idrisu, the President of the state Customary Court of Appeal, on October 23.

    The state government said the decision to scrap the court was based on the advice of the National Judicial Council ( NJC ), citing continued less number of cases recorded in the court over the years in the state.

    Read also: Maku, others say peace, tolerance are panacea to Nigeria’s development

    But Maku asked: “Why will Nasarawa State Government abolish Customary Court of Appeal when the state is made of up of different ethnic cultures and religions?

    “We have Rindre, Afo, Alago, Migili, Agatu, among other tribes, in the state.

    “In Nasarawa state, the law provides for three courts; Sharia Court is for Muslims, Christians would go to the common law court and traditionalists will go to Customary Court of Appeal to solve their disputes.

    “For peace and unity in Nasarawa state, we want the court back, we want the state government to reinstate the Customary Court of Appeal and if the government refuse to return it, when APGA comes to power in 2019, it shall come back.”

    Maku, the National Secretary of APGA, also lamented the continued payment of local government workers in percentages despite the release of bailouts to the state by the Federal Government.

    On the 2019 general election, he urged Nigerians to vote leaders of proven integrity for good governance in order to end hardship, poverty and hunger in the country.

    He urged people of the state to shun politics of religion, ethnicity as well as to avoid divide and rule principle in their bid to elect credible leaders that would transform the state.

    The ex-information minister urged Nigerians to use the period of Christmas to offer special prayers for the peace of the country, adding that no nation can achieve meaningful progress without peace.

    He also urged Nigerians, especially youths, to be peaceful, law abiding, respect constituted authorities and hard working for a greater Nigeria.

    NAN

  • Maku, others say peace, tolerance are panacea to Nigeria’s development

    Maku, others say peace, tolerance are panacea to Nigeria’s development

    Former Minister of Information Labaran Maku and other stakeholders in Nasarawa State, have called on Nigerians to leave in peace and tolerate one another to ensure unity peace and development of the country.
    They made the call their separate Sallah messages in Lafia on Saturday.
    They said that peace was the only ingredient that would bring about unity and development in any society.
    Maku, who is now the National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), said the diversity among Nigerians should be a source of unity and not disunity.
    He said that the almighty God knows the reason why He created human beings with differences of tribe, religion and race.
    “God also knows why He chose to make all Nigerians despite our diversity to be citizens of the same country.
    “If God wanted all Nigerians to be the same tribe and religion, He could have created us as such.
    “So why will anyone hate the other person simply because he is of a different tribe or religion,” he asked.
    Maku, therefore, urged all Nigerians to continue to live in peace with one another and work hard toward ensuring one indivisible country.
    Similarly, Yusuf Agabi, gubernatorial candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015 in Nasarawa State, called on all Muslim Ummah and indeed all Nigerians to love one another.
    He said that the Nigerians should always manifest the lesson of Eid-el-Kabir, which implied sacrifice and love for others at all times, and not just during the period.
    He also called on Nigerians to continue to pray to God to grant President Muhammadu Buhari good health to enable him bring the country out of the current security and economic challenges.
    On his parts, Mohammed Okpede, Member representing Doma North at the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, urged herdsmen and farmers to imbibe the spirit of the season and embrace peace.
    He said that both farmers and herdsmen needed each other for life to thrive smoothly hence the need for farmers to ensure that cattle routes were not blocked and herdsmen not to deliberately destroy farm produce.
    He, therefore, urged Fulani and other community leaders to preach peace among their subjects in order to give peace a chance the way it was in the past.

  • Maku condemns demolition of Breeze FM Radio Station in Lafia

    Maku condemns demolition of Breeze FM Radio Station in Lafia

    Labaran Maku National Secretary of All Progressives Grand Alliance has condemned the demolition of Breeze 99.9 FM Radio Station, Lafia by the Nasarawa State Government.

    Maku, a former Information Minister, who condemned the action while speaki ng with newsmen in Lafia on Monday, said the demolition was an attack on the media.

    He said that in a democracy where the press had the freedom to operate freely backed up by the law nobody should try to suppress the media.

    Maku said that the demolition of a private station by the government was an affront to the Freedom of Information Act in the country.

    He said that the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) needed to protest against the impunity and protect its members to prevent more of such actions against the media.

    Maku described that the destruction of the first private radio station ever established in the state capital as “unfortunate’’.

    He noted that it was the state governor himself who  commissioned the station in March.

    “So why will the same government demolish the same station it commissioned after two months,” Maku said.

    He said that the excuse that the station was operating in a private residence should have been resolved amicably.

    In his reaction, the Proprietor of Breeze FM, Nawani Aboki said the action of the government was highly questionable as the reason given for carrying out the demolition was absurd.

    Aboki threatened to take legal action against the government, adding that the station would come out stronger and vibrant.

    Mr Adamu Sule, the Managing Director of Nasarawa State Urban Development Board also reacting, said that the radio station was among other buildings demolished for not complying with approved land laws.

    The state government officials demolished Breeze 99.9 FM. on May 20.

  • Tribunal dismisses Maku’s petition for lack of merit

    Tribunal dismisses Maku’s petition for lack of merit

    The Nasarawa Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the petition of a former Minister of Information and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the April 11 election, Mr. Labaran Maku, for lack of merit.

    In a three-hour judgment, the tribunal Chairman, Justice Halima Mohammed, said the petitioner failed to provide evidence and thereby dismissed all the reliefs sought.

    Justice Halima said the petitioner failed to provide substantial evidence to proof that the election was marred with irregularities.

    She said Maku also failed to prove his allegations of over voting and unlawful cancellation of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    According to her, the petitioner’s witnesses gave contradictory submissions during cross examination.

    She said the allegations raised by Maku in his petition were “generic, vague, unclear and ambiguous.”

    She said, “by the provisions of Section 139 of the Evidence Act, the petitioner mostly relied on the standard and quality of his evidence to justify his claims.”

    She said the basic substances were not thoroughly presented by the petitioner in the course of the trial.

    She dismissed the petition for lack of merit.

  • APGA gets new executives

    … Umeh bows out

    A new national leadership has emerged in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), thereby drawing a curtain on Victor Umeh’s 10 years leadership of the party.

    The new executive committee has Victor Oye and former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku as chairman and secretary respectively.

    They were elected and sworn into office at a national convention held last Saturday in Awka.

    Speaking while handing over the secretariat to the new executives on Wednesday, Umeh said he had every reason to thank God that his leadership was able to navigate the party out of the troubles it faced.

    While noting that his leadership won all the court cases involving it, Umeh said he would not like the political climate in the party to degenerate any further.

    He said, “We are happy to have two veteran journalists taking over as chairman and secretary

    “The exco taking over will not inherit serious litigation. We are very certain we have elected capable hands to take over from us. We are confident that they will deliver the party to greater heights

    “We are confident that with the foundation that we have laid, APGA would play very important roles in the political history of this country.”

    In his remark, Oye said the new executive committee would build the party into a strong political movement.

    He vowed that the new leadership will not tolerate any form of indiscipline in the party and would work within the tenets of the constitution.

     

     

  • Maku a destroyer, an ingrate – PDP

    The immediate former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, was on Monday described by the Peoples Democratic Party as a destroyer and an ungrateful party man.

    The party’s National Vice Chairman (North Central), Alhaji Yussuf Ayitogu, took a swipe at Maku in when he paid a reconciliatory visit to PDP members who lost the primary elections in Niger State.

    He alleged that Maku was out to destroy the party in Nassarawa State with his defection to the All Progressive Grand Alliance after he lost out in the party gubernatorial primaries in the state.

    “Maku is a destroyer who wants to reduce the votes of the PDP in Nasarawa State. He is biting the finger that fed him. PDP made him what he is today, rising from commissioner to deputy governor and lately a minister.

    “It is unfortunate that he (Maku) has defected to APGA which is nowhere in Nassarawa State.

    “People who served under President Goodluck Jonathan are the ones betraying him. They should be called to order. Labaran Maku cannot win any election in Nassarawa State. He will be shown this in the February election,” Ayitogu said.

  • Maku under pressure to remain in PDP

    Maku under pressure to remain in PDP

    PLANS by former Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Labour Party (LP) to contest the 2015 governorship polls has been put in abeyance, sources have claimed. It was learnt that the Presidency and PDP bigwigs are presently putting pressure on Maku to remain in the party, with promises of adequate compensation being dangled before him. But the former minister, it was learnt, has not given his final word on the matter.a

  • Maku to resign from cabinet next week

    Maku to resign from cabinet next week

    In order to run for Nasarawa State governorship seat in 2015, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku is set to resign from the cabinet on the 20th of October, 2014.

    This minister disclosed his plan on Sunday  during a special mass thanksgiving at the Catholic Diocese of Lafia, St. Patrick’s Parish, Akwanga, Nasarawa State.

    Maku at the occasion also announced donation of N7.6 million from his family and his friends both in cabinet and outside the cabinet for the Cathedral in Lafia.

    Thanking God, he said, that whatever he has achieved from 1999 till date was by the grace of God.

    According to him, it is time to sacrifice the comfort of a ministerial position at the center to join his people and go into the wilderness ‎in Nasarawa State to stop the killings, miscarriage of justice and liberate the people in the State.

    Stressing that he was a typical example of grass to grace because of God’s favour, he said that he was born to peasants farmers who did not even record the date of his birth in a village that is likened to the biblical reference that “can anything good come out of Nazareth”.

    “Just thank God for me, just pray for me because by next week October 20th, anyone in the cabinet that wants to contest election must step down because the time has come for us to do that.

    “It is time to make my interest ‎known by the grace of God.  I will sacrifice the comfort of a minister to go into the wilderness. I want to sacrifice the comfort of the high office that I am in now to join my people in the wilderness in Nasarawa State to fight for peace and justice in this state, ” Maku stated.

  • Nasarawa North wants to produce next governor

    Nasarawa North wants to produce next governor

    The people of Nasarawa North have urged other senatorial zones to support their desire to produce the next governor.

    Political stakeholders in the zone, the Nasarawa North Forum, met at the weekend in Wamba. At the meeting were Minister of Information Labaran Maku, Senator Solomon Ewuga, Senator John Danboyi, House of Representatives’ member Mr David Ombugadu, Deputy Governor Damish Luka and former Deputy Governor Michael Abdul.

    The forum’s spokesman, Prof. Onje Gya-wado, said Nasarawa North was the only zone that had not produced a governor since the state was created.

    Gya-wado pleaded that in the spirit of equity and fairness, other zones should support Nasarawa North to produce the next governor.

    He said: “As we leave you all, it is our prayer that Nasarawa State will know peace and that all those who know that it is the turn of Nasarawa North should give us the opportunity. So we call on our brothers from Nasarawa West and Nasarawa South to realise that it is only in equity that we can get there; that it is only in fairness that we can be together and it is only in politics like this that we can enjoy the benefits of democracy.”

    The forum condemned the spate of violence in the state, which had displaced thousands of people.

     

     

     

     

  • FG unveils independence anniversary programme

    FG unveils independence anniversary programme

    The Federal Government will on Friday kick-start activities marking Nigeria’s Independence Day celebration.

    This was disclosed to State House correspondents by the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by Vice President, Namadi Sambo.

    Maku said the meeting deliberated on the programme for the independence celebration submitted to the Council by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, adding that the programme will begin with Muslim prayer at the National Mosque, Abuja, on Friday.

    He said the Muslim prayer will be followed by inter-denomination Christian prayer at the National Christian Centre on Sunday.

    He added that President Goodluck Jonathan will on Monday give out national honors at the International Conference Centre as part of activities marking the anniversary.

    The minister stated that the President will give a national broadcast at 7.00am on October 1, while change of guards ceremony will take place at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, at 9.00am.

    The Independent Anniversary Dinner will take place at the State House Banquet Hall at 7.00pm on same day, Maku stated.

    He noted that Jonathan’s administration has carried out landmark reforms in various sectors of the nation’s economy in the last four years.

    “The reforms the President has brought on board has given Nigeria a new face,” he told journalists.