The National Secretary of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Mr. Labaran Maku, has accused the Nasarawa State Government of commissioning some lawyers in Abuja to “re-twist” an earlier report of a judicial commission of inquiry on killings carried out by the dreaded Ombatse militant group in the state.
Maku, who is also a former minister of information, alleged that the state government’s plan to “re-twist” the report was aimed at subsequently implicating and incriminating him over the heinous and deadly activities of the dreaded militant group.
The Ombatse militant group was, some time ago, indicted by the judicial commission of inquiry, set up by the Nasarawa State Government over the killing of over 100 security operatives, drawn from the police and the Department of State Services, at Alakyo Village on May 7, 2013. The inquiry also linked the militant group to several communal crises that claimed several lives and property in the state.
The APGA secretary general raised the alarm about alleged plans by the state government to incriminate and implicate him in the Ombatse militant group’s activities in Alushi; a suburb of Akwanga, headquarters of Akwanga Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
“Out of their anger and anxiety against me, the state government has commissioned some lawyers in Abuja, and paid quite some handsome amount of money, to re-twist the commission of inquiry’s report on Ombatse and put my name there,” Maku alleged.
He recalled that sometime last year; there was a report on the emergence of a new Ombatse militant group in Nasarawa State, for which he (Maku) was implicated.
Maku said, “I came out very clearly and stated my position. Everybody knows the story of Ombatse in Nasarawa State; it is around Governor Al-Makura and his cohorts, and those boys publicly announced in different fora who their sponsors are. It was always revolving around the governor and his ambition in 2015.
“It is public knowledge that I have spoken against it several times. When the crisis came, they were all in Lafia. I was not even invited because the public were fully aware of where I stood. As a minister of information then, I was even the one campaigning against violence in Nasarawa State. I stood firm in spite of all blackmail.
“My belief in peace has been long standing. I contributed sincerely in bringing peace to Nasarawa State since 2011 during the crisis between the Tivs and other communities in the Southern Senatorial District of the state.”
The former minister also alleged that the state government had decided to inaugurate another committee to go to Abuja and search all records in all the ministries to find anything they could use to blackmail him.
