Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state said Thursday the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has no power to issue travel ban on any Igbo person.
The governor said this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after close-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said the travel ban was an empty threat, adding that no responsible government would allow a proscribed group to promote lawlessness.
The governor mocked IPOB, saying he would inform members of the group anytime he plans to travel out of Nigeria.
“IPOB has no powers to place travel ban on governors or anyone. I will even tell IPOB any time I intend to travel,” he said.
Umahi also told journalists that the South-east governors would not apologise to IPOB for banning the activities of the group in the zone.
“We have no apology for IPOB because we did not proscribe them. Yes, we are the leaders of the people and we had to speak against their activities.”
The governor said he was at the Presidential Villa to thank the president for the closure of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu for urgent repair.
He said there was the need for the federal government to urgently carry out the repairs with emergency funding intervention which is faster than relying on budgetary provisions.
He said there are security challenges associated with the usage of the alternative airport, the Sam Mbakwe Airport in Owerri, for the period of repairs.
He said efforts would be made with federal government to secure the adjourning roads to the airport across the region.
He said governors in the south-east had not been sleeping over the security challenges in the region.
He said the governors in the region have elected to be mature and circumspect in their utterances in other not to exacerbate the situation.
