The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, said he has directed the aviation agencies to investigate the matter involving Adams Oshiomhole, who represents Edo North at the Senate, and the staff of Air Peace at Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1 (Zulu Hall) on the morning of Wednesday, June 11.
Keyamo made this known in a statement shared on his X handle on Friday, June 13.
He said, “Whilst appealing to both sides to halt the public accusations and counter-accusations, I am further directing the relevant aviation agencies to thoroughly look into the issue, collect all available evidence and revert to my office so we can deal with the problem in such a way as to guide future conducts in similar situations.
According to Keyamo, in the wake of the incident at the Lagos Airport on Wednesday involving Air Peace and Oshiomhole, he has been in direct contact with both parties since then.
“I also directed the aviation agencies to exercise restraint in jumping to conclusions in line with the time-honoured legal principle of ‘hear all sides’ before reaching judgment,” the minister added.
The ICIR reported that a mild drama and public altercation broke out between Oshiomhole and Air Peace at the Zulu Hall terminal Wednesday morning after the Senator was refused boarding the airline’s first flight along with other passengers.
The incident immediately resulted in accusations and counter-accusations from both parties and attracted public concern and reactions.
According to the airline, Oshiomhole arrived late at the terminal at about 6:10 am for a flight to Abuja, scheduled to depart at 6:30 am, and upon being refused boarding, disrupted flight operations.
It criticised Oshiomhole for allegedly exhibiting “unruly conduct,” insisted that the boarding process had closed, and the flight departed as scheduled in line with its standard on-time departure policy.
In his reaction, Oshiomhole accused the airline of double standard, stating that despite having checked in online and arriving 30 minutes before the counter was closed, he and other passengers who came much earlier were denied boarding.
He further accused the airline of selling tickets on the spot at higher prices upon observing what played out, urging the Air Peace management to follow the rules.
Air Peace, however, denied the allegation, challenging Oshiomhole to bring up evidence of any passenger who was extorted.
It claimed that Oshiomhole’s accusation of extortion was very defamatory and his conduct was very violent, unbecoming, unfortunate, and above all, shameful.
The airline had called on the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to release the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) coverage starting from the time Oshiomole entered the airport, for Nigerians to see, The ICIR reported.