by Hauwa Gambo

The avalanche following backlog of salaries owned by colourful and well-connected publisher of Thisday (and founder of Arise TV), Nduka Obaigbena, appears to have taken an international dimension. Scratch that, it has.

[READ: Obaigbena’s Arise Africa TV hires Emmy winner, Jeff Koinange]

An Associated Press story, written by its chief correspondent for Nigeria Jon Gambrell, and which has now been syndicated across the world profiles the latest crisis to hit the influential newspaper, and takes a harsh look at the affairs of Mr. Obaigbena – who is as defined by his very successful newspaper, as by his bold, lavish events, from the Thisday Awards to the Arise Magazine Fashion Week.

[READ: “Arise Fashion Week? Monumental B__lshit” – When Emmy Collins got mad this morning]

According to the story:

Known for bringing in celebrities and smiling in photographs next to former Western leaders, a flamboyant Nigerian newspaper publisher now faces a challenge from his most vocal critics — his own employees.Staffers parked several pickup trucks in front of the ThisDay office Friday, located near Lagos’ grimy Apapa Port. Tthe printing plant and the main editorial office overlooking the port were closed, secured with padlocks. Outside, staffers milled around with cardboard signs with slogans like “We reject slavery.”

Workers have barricaded the front of ThisDay newspapers in Lagos, hoping to force publisher Nduka Obaigbena into paying them as much as four months’ worth of back salaries due to them. Back pay disputes often hit industries in Nigeria, a country where steady paying jobs remain few, but this crisis has hit a man politically connected to the nation’s ruling elite.

“He’s stepped on our toes. Believe me, we’re not going to back down,” ThisDay employee Tony Enabulele said. “He knows the top people, so he gets away with it.”

The story goes in for the kill by bringing this image of a cash-strapped entrepreneur with his big-spending habits, as “a wealthy playboy who has brought in artists like Jay-Z, Beyonce and Snoop Dogg to Nigeria. His award shows have featured former U.S. President Bill Clinton several times, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others. That has meant hundreds of thousands of dollars in performance and speaking fees.”

But, perhaps most strikingly, it wonders if the publisher has suddenly gone broke:

Meanwhile, union leaders and workers say Obaigbena routinely shorted them on their salaries and kept withholding taxes and obligations for himself. He has close ties to major business leaders and those in the ruling People’s Democratic Party. But lately, it appears as though Obaigbena has been suffering a cash crunch. He cancelled his annual fashion week, which brings designers from around the world. Meanwhile, he continues to pump money into a satellite news channel called Arise TV. A previous effort to start a ThisDay newspaper in South Africa collapsed.

In addition to that, his annual awards was decidedly low-key this year after the extravagance of last year, including guests President Bill Clinton, and wife to a former British prime minister, Cherie Blair. This year’s edition held in Ogun state, was missing its usually pomp, and focused on rewarding teachers. Even worse, a scandal ensued as the teachers told the press they had not received their promised awards monies.

[LOOK: Style on steroids! See ALL the photos from the Arise Magazine Fashion Week & Awards]

And now this.

In a memo to staff sent April 4, Obaigbena promised to pay all outstanding salaries within 30 days. He blamed the salary problems on costly repairs that insurance policies didn’t cover following an April 2012 suicide car bombing on the newspaper’s Abuja office that killed three people and wounded others.

“No one planned for a terror attack in Nigeria and so we were left to fend for ourselves,” Obaigbena wrote in April.

Staffers at ThisDay in Lagos say some of them will sleep in front of their office gates until they receive their salaries.