The duo of Nigerian leading airline, Air Peace Chairman, Allen Ifechukwu Onyema and Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji has described former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika’s claims and accusations of lack of capacity and request for 5 per cent shares of the controversial Nigerian Air as blatant lies and false assertions.
Sirika at an interview session on a television on Sunday while answering questions bordering on the troubled project had accused the Rep member of asking for 5% equity in Nigeria Air just as he said Air Peace lacked the capacity to operate its Dubai route hence its stoppage.
The airline in an electronic statement made available to journalists on Monday in Lagos said “We watched with dismay the interview granted by former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika to Arise TV on Sunday, June 11, 2023, where he made spurious claims about Air Peace, Nigeria’s foremost airline.”
“Air Peace deems it absolutely necessary to debunk these false assertions.
Firstly, Sirika, in his bid to denigrate Air Peace while praising Ethiopian Airline, stated that we leased ‘two’ Boeing 777 aircraft on a monthly lease fee of $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months and incurred losses of $19 million while all the aircraft engines and landing gears became due for replacement when we were ready to fly. He went on to ask, “who does that?”. He stated that Ethiopian Airlines would never do that.”
The document, signed by Air Peace Chief Operating Officer, Toyin Olajide retorted that “This is a blatant lie as we have three and not two Boeing 777 aircraft which were never leased or rented, but were purchased outrightly by the airline.”
Reacting to its Dubai operations, she said “Air Peace never stopped the Dubai operations because of lack of capacity. Air Peace commenced operations into the UAE in July, 2019, but in October 2022, the UAE Government announced a total visa ban on Nigerians.
Neither Emirates nor Air Peace has operated the Nigerian/UAE route since the ban. The persisting non-issuance of visas and the accompanying inconveniences necessitated the suspension of our Dubai operations from November 22, 2022 till date.”
“How can an Airline that stood up for the entire nation during the Covid-19 outbreak, and embarked on rescue operations worldwide, evacuating Nigerians from far away China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, UK and South Africa during the Covid-19 lockdowns be accused of lacking capacity?” The CEO asked.
On his part, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji denied Sirika’s accusations of asking for 5% equity in Nigeria Air, affirming that Hadi Sirika, ‘is a drowning man struggling to grab anything on his way to survive the barrage of attacks he has been receiving since his controversial unveiling ceremony of the so called Nigeria Air.’
