Don’t travel abroad, Nnamdi Kanu warns governors owing salaries

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), says his group will continue to hold Nigerian politicians accountable.

Speaking in an interview aired on BEN TV London, Kanu said very soon, all Nigerian governors who have refused to pay workers’ salaries but “travelling aimlessly across the world” would be stopped from doing so.

He also described the assault on Ike Ekweremadu, former deputy senate president, as a “family matter”.

Last month, some IPOB members attacked Ekweremadu who was attending the annual New Yam festival in Nuremberg, Germany.

The action of the group had sparked reactions but in the interview, the IPOB leader said it would be resolved.

“Very soon, any governor who has not paid salaries will not come abroad anymore. If you are owing salaries you’re not allowed to go abroad anymore,” he said.

“You bank teachers’ salaries, you bank the salaries of pensioners, you cannot come abroad anymore. So this is just the beginning. We’ll not attack them; we’ll just ask them questions. It is called picketing. It’s allowed within the ambit of democratic rules.

“If we see you, we’ll ask you what you’ve been doing with teachers’ salaries, nurses’ salaries and why you’ve not been paying people and what are you doing here? Any governor owing workers once we catch you abroad you’ll tell us what you’ve being doing with the salaries you’re supposed to pay.

“It doesn’t matter the state you come from, but once we catch you, you must explain why you’ve not paid for four months, six months and nine months.”

Kanu also defended the style of the group, saying the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo did not win people over easily.

“There’s no time on this earth that any process of agitation will be palatable for everyone or easy for everyone to buy into,” he said.

“When Nnamdi Azikiwe was campaigning for Nigeria to be free from colonial rule, he was sent to prison. Many people felt he was a radical and declined to associate themselves with him. But in the end he succeeded in freeing Nigeria not knowing that we are jumping from frying pan to fire.

“Awolowo was the same thing. He was a fire brand. Many people didn’t like his approach from the beginning, but on reflection and review of what he did and how he managed to accomplish them, people have come to understand that he meant well for his people.

“So, now that these things are happening, most people would not appreciate it, but I’m sure that in many years to come, historians will look back to what’s happening today.”

He added that: “Everybody is in line with what we are doing except the criminals. Everyone is in line with what we are doing.”