Many Nigerians have taken to the social media to express their displeasure over the petition emanating from the Kano Emirates Council concerning the issue of missed flight by the Emir and his entourage. This is as the management of Air Peace has come out to say that it never disrespected the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, but rather took actions to protect the traditional ruler’s image.
Nigerians are of the view that the entitlement syndrome exhibited by the Council was responsible for the collapse of the Nigerian Airways as highly placed individuals are always putting pressure of the airline to hold flight for them and their friends.
Air Peace stated this in response to a letter of complaint written by a cousin to the emir, Prince Isa Bayero, to the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), asking the regulatory authority to sanction the airline for disrespecting the emir and the people of Kano State.
Prince Isa Bayero had alleged that the airline delayed the emir’s Banjul-to-Lagos flight by over one hour and refused to allow them board their connecting flight to Kano because they arrived in Lagos 30 minutes before departure time.
The Chief Operating Officer of Air Peace Ltd, Toyin Olajide, in a statement, however, said that rather than disrespect the emir, the airline did everything to protect the name and image of the emir from ridicule by not succumbing to what Isa Bayero wanted it to do.
Olajide said: “How could Isa Bayero want the management of Air Peace to stop and delay a fully boarded plane with doors already shut and aircraft already moving while our respected Emir and eight others in his entourage, including Isa Bayero, were still at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, after arriving from Banjul?”
She said a call by Isa Bayero to the chairman of the airline, Allen Onyema, “woke him up and on seeing that it was Isa Bayero calling, he took the call. Isa told our chairman that he and the Emir of Kano had just landed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, from Banjul, Gambia, and would be proceeding to Kano the same morning.”
Olajide said: “He told the chairman to delay our first flight of the day, the 6.15 a.m. Lagos-Kano flight for him and the emir with eight other persons.
“It was not true that our chairman refused flatly. He rather told Isa Bayero to give him a few minutes to call the airport to find out the status of the flight. I was the one he called. To show his desire to help, he called me immediately and intimated me with the request.
“I am the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Air Peace. I quickly called the local airport from where we carry on our day to day domestic flight operations and was told that the aircraft had since finished boarding and was almost taxiing out.
“I quickly called Isa Bayero with this information and I expressed our desire to put him, their entourage and the Emir of Kano on our 7.00 a.m. 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. 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, as stated earlier, 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.”