MINISTER of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, on Sunday, disassociated himself from what he termed dastardly and condemnable violence in Nasarawa State.
The minister also described a report linking him to the violence as completely false, unfounded and a calculated attempt to associate his good name with the ugly violence in the state.
A story published in the Sunday Tribune had associated the minister with the violence and claimed that it stemmed from alleged rivalry between the minister and Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura over the 2015 governorship election.
But the minister denied the report, maintaining that the story was published without recourse to the available facts about the unfortunate violence.
Maku, who reacted through his press secretary, Mr Joseph Mutah, in a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune, stated that it was either that the reporter who filed the story did not understand the facts on the ground or the story was deliberately planted to divert the attention of Nigerians and security agencies from the real fact behind the blood-letting in Nasarawa State.
Maku hinted that he had, in the last one year, waged a one-man campaign in Nasarawa State, which was widely reported in both the print and electronic media against the activities of militia and mercenaries who had been destroying communities, lives and properties in the state.
Maintaining that he is totally and completely unconnected with anything violent and ungodly, the minister insisted that he had been a man of peace and had never been associated with violence right from his days as a student union leader in the University of Jos, a teacher, a journalist, commissioner, deputy governor and now minister.
He said that he had repeatedly waged a campaign against violence and called for a ban on the activities of all political thugs and militia groups throughout the country.
Maku called on the people of Nasarawa State, particularly the youth, to refuse to be used as agents of destruction and to rise up against the increasing wave of violence by militia, mercenaries and cultists in the state.
He urged security agencies to carry out thorough investigation and bring the actors and perpetrators of the carnage in the state to justice.
The minister also commiserated with innocent Nigerians, particularly the families of security personnel who were killed in the unfortunate violence
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