Mazi Nnamdi Kanu
The leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB),
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has said his group will continue to hold Nigerian
politicians accountable for the services they were elected to render to
the people.
While Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State has approved the
reinstatement of 556 teachers recruited by the immediate past
administration, but left out on the state’s payroll. Kanu, who spoke
yesterday during an interview with Rose Peter Graham, the anchor of
‘Rose On All Sides,’ on Ben TV, United Kingdom, said very soon, all
governors in Nigeria who have refused to pay their workers’ salaries,
but travelling aimlessly across the world would be stopped from doing
so.
The IPOB leader who spoke to the UK based television station from his
temporary base in Germany, also condemned the xenophobic attacks in
South Africa, describing it as something that should not be happening in
this current generation. He said: “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. “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. “So, if we see you, we’ll ask you what you’ve been
doing with teachers’ salaries, nurses’ salaries and why you’ve not being
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 six months, nine months, four
months and where is the money?” On a change of strategy, to win more
followers, Kanu said: “Everybody is in line with what we are doing
except the criminals. Everyone is in line with what we are doing.
“There’s no time on this earth that any process of agitation will be
palatable for everyone or easy for everyone to buy into. 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 know ing 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 described Senator Ike Ekweremmadu’s experience in Nuremberg as a
family matter within the Igbo people that would be settled in a family
way. Meanwhile, Matawalle speaking through his Director General of Press
Affairs, Yusuf Idris, in a statement made available to journalists in
Gusau, yesterday, said the governor had directed the state Head of
Service to immediately commence payment of their salaries effective from
September. Matawalle commended the affected teaches for their patience
over the situation and urged them to be of good conduct as they join the
state civil service.
He said their absorption was part of his administration’s policy of
listening to and addressing reasonable and genuine complaints that
affect the wellbeing of the people. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
recalls that last month the governor also approved the reinstatement of
1,040 out of the 1,400 workers employed by Yari’s administration but
were not captured on the payroll for over 18 months.