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.
