Tobias Sylvester
Former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu has adviced Southeast governors and Igbo leaders to feel free to travel abroad and ignore the threat by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
Moments after arriving Nigeria, Ekweremadu who was reacting to the attack on former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, by some IPOB members in Nuremberg, Germany over the weekend, said his attack on Saturday by members of the outlawed IPOB did not represent the behaviour of the larger Igbo people in the diaspora.
He said he had “moved on” and cared less about what authorities in Nigeria and in Germany where he was assaulted planned to do about the incident.
“I think they were just people, who were misdirected and misguided. I had the feeling they were under the influence of alcohol. They don’t represent the feelings of our people. There is nothing to worry about.
“The organisers, the Igbo in Germany, have written a letter apologising for what happened. Everybody is free to go anywhere because those ones don’t represent the behaviour of Nigerians abroad.
“For me, I have moved on. The government and authorities of Germany are free to do whatever they wish about it”, he said.
Reacting to a threat by Nnamdi Kanu, who offered N1 million reward for information on overseas travel itinerary of Southeast governors and Igbo leaders, Ekweremadu said he had left the IPOB leader “to his conscience.”
“What we will do in this circumstance is to leave him to his conscience, the verdict of history, and possibly the repercussions of ingratitude.
“But I hope he won’t go to the extent of attacking any of the South East leaders anywhere,” he said on Monday after returning to Nigeria.
On what he would do in the face of the attack by IPOB and the threats to attack more Igbo leaders, especially the governors of the South East, Ekweremadu said:
“Let me just say that the leaders he (Kanu) was mentioning were responsible for getting him out of jail in the first place.
“What we will do in this circumstance is to leave him to his conscience, the verdict of history, and possibly the repercussions of ingratitude. But I hope he won’t go to the extent of attacking any of the South East leaders anywhere”.
He maintained that he had no regrets speaking of for justice for Ndigbo and helping to facilitate Kanu’s release, saying he believed in justice for all irrespective of tribe, religion or region.
“First of all, I am a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. My job is to speak out when there is injustice anywhere. We have problem in the North East. I have visited the North East.
“I visited the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps there. I donated money. I sent relief materials. We had problem in the South-South, I visited the creeks and saw the environmental challenges there for myself.
“I was one of the few people the late President Musa Yar’Adua consulted before he decided on the issue of amnesty. I was the person, who advised him that he needed to call a meeting of the Council of State. So, he had to invite the then Attorney General to discuss that issue with me and I advised them on the constitutional implications of amnesty.
“So, I have always spoken out on matters that concern Nigerians no matter where they come from. I believe in justice for all. It had nothing to do with IPOB”, he added.
