…Urges FAAN to release CCTV footage of incident
By Chinelo Obogo
The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has criticised Senator Adams Oshiomhole’s recent altercation with staff of Air Peace at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, describing his behavior as “unruly and unbecoming of a public official.”
At a press briefing in Lagos, AON spokesperson Prof. Obiora Okonkwo challenged the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to release CCTV footage of the Wednesday incident, questioning why the agency has remained silent over the issue. The AON defended Air Peace, saying that the airline carries 40-50% of domestic passengers and deserves to be respected. The body also rejected suggestions that the airline would deliberately delay flights.
“The senator’s actions represent exactly the type of unruly passenger behavior we’ve repeatedly condemned. No passenger regardless of status has the right to take matters into their own hands. There are proper channels for addressing service complaints. When an airline chooses to depart on time rather than delay for late passengers, they’re actually sacrificing revenue for punctuality and this deserves commendation, not condemnation. There is no airline that will not want to carry its passengers. Air Peace is saying ‘we don’t want to delay’, that means they are ready to lose revenue to be on time,” Okonkwo said.
The AON spokesperson that passenger rights are limited to aviation industry standards and questioned the logic of Oshiomhole’s complaints, saying that unruly passenger behavior should face legal consequences regardless of social status.
A dispute erupted at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos on Wednesday morning between Air Peace and Oshiomhole, with both parties offering different accounts of what led to disruption at the terminal. According to the airline, Oshiomhole missed his flight due to the closed boarding process and then resorted to violence by physically assaulting their members of staff and forcefully barricading the entrance of the terminal. The airline said due to the senator’s actions, it was forced to activate contingency plans and boarded the affected passengers through another terminal.
But responding to the airline’s allegations in Abuja on Wednesday, the former Edo State Governor and painted a different picture, accusing Air Peace of extortion and discrimination. He alleged that the airline sold last-minute tickets at inflated prices while denying boarding to passengers who booked online, discriminatory treatment of passengers and ticket racketeering.
Again, the airline in a statement in the early hours of Thursday, contradicted the senator’s claims about overbooking and on-spot ticket sales, revealing that the aircraft took off with over 30 empty seats and that it would have been in their financial interest to accommodate Oshiomhole and other late passengers rather than fly with empty seats, but that they rather placed priority on their on-time performance. According to Air Peace, the senator jumped on the baggage conveyor belt, prevented check-in processes for other flights, barricaded the entrance gate, prevented terminal access and deliberately instigated other passengers against the airline.
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