From the telephone log evidence on the phone of our Chairman/CEO, Allen Onyema, Mr Isa Bayero called our Chairman at about 5.52 am, at a time he was still sleeping.” “From the same log, it could be seen that Isa called him again at 5.59 am. This call 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 the Murtala Mohammed International Airport Lagos from Banjul, Gambia and would be proceeding to Kano the same morning. He told the Chairman to delay our first flight of the day, the 6:15 am Lagos-Kano flight for him and the Emir with another eight persons”.
” It was not true that our Chairman refused flatly. He rather told Mr 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 Mr Isa Bayero with this information and I expressed our desire to put him, their entourage and the Emir of Kano on our 7.00 am 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, 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.”
.
.
“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. ” We took this decision to defend the image of our highly revered Emir of Kano and not as an insult as insinuated by Isa Bayero because if passengers were delayed for an hour after boarding and ready to fly and then to see the Emir and his entourage walk in, considering the pulse of the general public lately due to the complaints of delays, it would not have done justice to the image and character of the Emir”.
“After explaining this to Isa Bayero, he threatened he would incite the people of Kano against the Airline if we did not stop the flight.