The MD/CEO of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema has described as “unfortunate” issues regarding missed flight by the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero and his entourage.
Addressing journalists in Lagos, Onyema said he would visit the emir soon to have a rapprochement with the palace.
Onyema who described the Kano traditional ruler as a “peace-loving monarch and a father to all” said “the Emir of Kano I know is a peace loving man,” adding that “I have always known him as a prince when the…father was still alive.”
He warned the public against inflaming the matter and heating up the polity, stressing that peace and unity of Nigeria is of priority to the airline.
“I don’t want to be used to heat up the polity. “I don’t want Air Peace to be a source of rancour in the country. Air Peace has always been known as an airline that was borne out of peace,” he said.
He added that he had an interface with the emir years back and would like to meet him again.
“I have paid homage to the royal father several times. He may not remember me, but when I bring pictures of me and his father and him also, he will realise that I have been paying homage to his father”.
“We are going to meet any day. He’s not a troublesome person and I am sure he will like to meet with me and I will also like to meet with him, too.
“There is nothing at stake, we are all one Nigeria. We don’t want people to capitalise on this to start fanning embers of disunity in the country. People should play it down; the media should play it down,” he added.
Recall that a cousin of the monarch, Mr. Isa Bayero had petitioned the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) seeking stiff sanctions against the airline for what he termed “disrespect” to the monarch and by extension, the people of Kano.
The complainant stated in the petition that on February 24, 2022, ten members of the royal entourage of Kano monarch comprising himself, four business class passengers and additional five economy class passengers, on a return Air Peace flight No. P47776 from Banjul to Lagos, which was delayed on the Banjul flight by over an hour, were refused boarding of the connecting flight to Kano due to their late arrival in Lagos “30 minutes” before departure.
Isa said he put a call through to Onyema to help delay the flight but to no avail.
Responding to the allegations, the airline’s chief operating officer, Mrs. Toyin Olajide, said in a statement entitled ‘We never disrespected the Emir of Kano, we acted to protect his image’ that Isa was economical with the truth.
She described his petition as “unfortunate, “shocking” and “deliberate falsehood.”
She said the airline did not disrespect the emir but did everything to ensure that having missed the early morning Lagos-Kano flight due to late arrival from overseas trip, the airline made an alternative arrangement to fly the emir and his entourage on its 7am Lagos-Abuja service and on landing in Abuja, put them “on our flight going to Kano at no cost to them.”
“I quickly called Mr. Isa Bayero with this information and I expressed our desire to put him, their entourage and the Emir of Kano on our 7.00am Lagos- Abuja flight and that on landing in Abuja, we would then put him on our flight going to Kano at no cost to them.
“Mr. Isa Bayero refused this offer; he insisted that the already taxiing aircraft should be stopped and delayed until the Emir and the other eight persons arrive from the international airport.
“At this point…Isa Bayero and the Emir of Kano had just landed at the international wing of the airport; this means they would still need to go through Immigration, get their baggage and, of course, clear with Customs before entering the morning Lagos traffic to get to the local wing of the airport.
“This would mean that the passengers in the plane ready to depart would have to wait in the plane for nothing less than an hour.
“I called Isa Bayero to explain the status and also to proffer a solution, which would be a win -win for both the waiting passengers and the Emir. We decided instead to fly the Emir and his entourage on the 7am flight to Abuja and then from Abuja to Kano at no extra cost
“So the decision was then to fly them from Abuja to Kano still in the morning considering the next flight from Lagos to Kano was for 7: 00 pm. How this became a disrespectful action by Air Peace baffles us,” she said.
She said despite the offer, Isa threatened to incite the people of Kano against the Airline if we did not stop the flight.
She also denied that the MD/CEO did nothing to salvage the situation as alleged by Isa.
