Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State said yesterday that it was not his responsibility to provide the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
Governor Ikpeazu said it was the duty of those that were trained to track people that should give information about the whereabouts of the IPOB leader.
The Abia State governor who stated this after meeting with the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo in a closed-door at Presidential Villa, Abuja, told journalists in an interview that the IPOB leader, Kanu was his brother but that the state government does not know his whereabouts.
He said, “Those who are looking for him may have a better knowledge and have the capacity to determine the location of anyone in Nigeria.
“There are people who are trained to track people and it is their responsibility not mine.”
He also said that the state was trying to set up a committee for the MSME Council and that he was a critical stakeholder in that because Abia state was the SME hub of Nigeria today.
“The patronage of Made in Nigeria products in Abia is going up. Part of the direct fall out of our campaign since the past 24 months is that today some parts of Ariaria market where the shoe making enterprise is flourishing has enjoyed steady power for three weeks now on a pilot scheme courtesy of the agency in charge of rural power supply.
“Beyond that, we are interfacing and having better relationship with funding agencies now and we were able to attract about N1.3bn or N1.4 billion on direct sales from the made in Aba shoes, made in Abia dresses and all that.
“And apart from that, the Made in Aba fashion show was held in Abuja and another one was held in New York where they came face to face with world class designers and we did not do badly at all.
“The made in Nigeria campaign has assumed international dimension now,” the governor said.
On what the state had done to encourage the local industries, the governor stated that having direct sales of N1.4 billion was not a joke and ensuring that there was constant power supply uninterrupted for three weeks which he said was not a mean feat.
He said exposing them to fairs as far as to New York was not something you sweep under the carpet.
He said, ”Confidence is returned; everybody now places proudly Aba, Proudly Nigeria in his ware. If our youths are happy doing what they are doing then we have started something.
“We have been working on infrastructure steadily, roads, electricity, security as all of them are part of enablers that will drive our vision going forward.
“This government has completed about 45 roads and about 25 of those roads are in Aba. We are doing the first flyover in the entire Abia state in Aba and the cement roads we are doing our roads have survived three rainy seasons now and they are standing.”
Hearing in the suit No. NICN/AWK/43/2016 between the Anambra state governor, chief Willie Obiano and Justice Godwin Ononiba and 31 other retired judges has been fixed for November 23.
The retired judges dragged the governor and the state Attorney General and commissioner for justice to court for non-payment of their severance gratuity, upward review of their pensions, arrears of housing allowances and welfare.
The matter filed by their lawyer, Mr Gabriel Moneke was first adjourned few months ago to enable both parties settle out of court.
But when the matter came up yesterday at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Awka, the claimants’ counsel, Moneke informed the court that the settlement had failed because the defendants were not committed to it.
He further informed the court that the claimants had filed an application for Mareva injunction, adding that they were willing to proceed with the matter.
The defence counsel (senior state council), Mr Chike O. Emeka told the court that the defendants were still minded to resolve the issue out of court.
The court presided by Justice J.I. Targema frowned at the complacent attitude of the defendants and their counsel by not taking the case seriously.
He noted that the defence counsel had not filed anything, not even a memorandum of appearance as required by the rules of the court.
Consequently, the Judge warned the defence counsel to regularise his position before the next adjourned date.
The judge made it clear that if by the next adjourned date had not settled the court will proceed to hear the case on the merits.
Present in court were the former retired chief judges are G.U. Ononiba, C.J. Okoli, Nri-Ezedi, E.A. Nzegwu, P.A.C Obidigwe who were members of the Association of retired judges of Anambra State.
