I was not condemned during Security Council meeting, says Gov Nyako

Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State has described as false statements credited to some of his counterparts who reportedly told journalists after the Expanded National Security Council meeting last Thursday that he (Nyako) was unanimously condemned over his genocide memo’ to Northern governors.

Nyako’s controversial memo to the Northern Governors’ Forum alleging genocide in the on-going insurgency in the North-East region drew mixed reactions from a cross-section of Nigerians, leading to last Thursday’s National Security Council Meeting.

At the end of the meeting, which held at the Presidential Villa, some governors including the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, fielded questions from journalists saying Nyako was condemned by stakeholders for writing the genocide memo.

Governor Aliyu reportedly said: “I am sure many of you will be curious about the letter written by one of our colleagues, the Governor of Adamawa State. We looked at it all; in fact he was allowed to read the memo to all of us. We concluded that for many of us we need to be very careful with the kind of statements we make.”

Similarly, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State was also quoted as saying: “The memo that was written by one of our colleagues, Governor Nyako of Adamawa State, was discussed and there was a unanimous condemnation of that memo.”

But during an interview session with journalists in Yola yesterday, Governor Nyako said he was never condemned by anyone during the meeting. “My letter was never condemned, ‘people made observations but nobody came out to ask why or how I reached my conclusion and all that. They never asked me this.

“Mr President allowed everybody to speak, asked for comments and we were allowed to read the papers again and asked for comments and nobody condemned me for writing such a letter. The claims that my letter was condemned were all nonsense,” Nyako said.

Nyako lauded the posture of President Goodluck Jonathan whom he said presided over Thursday’s meeting with a calm comportment and allowed everyone present to ventilate their opinion freely, saying: “Mr President, to me, was really superb with the way he handled the Security Council meeting. He wore no anger, no sign of getting too involved and allowed everybody to speak and nobody condemned me for writing my memo. This is a democratic country and we are free to speak.”

Describing as untrue the statement made by the PDP to the effect that he was trying to frustrate Jonathan’s visit to his State, Nyako said: “I am ready to leave the entire Government House for the President during his visit. In fact, I was saddened that the president had to be confined to a certain cubicle during his last visit to the state while the Government House wass there for him to use.”

He said his comments on the security situation were informed by the fact that despite the deployment of massive security personnel and the imposition of emergency rule, mass murder and destruction of properties, especially in the north, still continued unabated.

“Everybody knows that the security situation especially in the north is degenerating by the day as mass killing and death is being recorded the record is there. A number of people taken into the custody of the state and the nation’s apparatus are being taken to graveyard for burial from the cells. Those inmates are not being fed or looked after, and it is a well-known fact in this state,” he said.

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