Air Peace committed no crime that should warrant an apology to the Emir and people of Kano

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Pondering over the Emir of Kano, Air Peace tango this week, I couldn’t help but remember the wisecrack by Sarah Churchwell, the 51-year-old professor of American Literature, who wrote: “People who are given whatever they want soon develop a sense of entitlement and rapidly lose their sense of proportion.”

That is exactly what is happening in this contrived hullabaloo.

For those not aware, the story is that the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, who was returning from Banjul, Gambia, missed his early morning flight from Lagos to Kano.

It was neither the monarch’s fault nor that of Air Peace airline. His flight from Gambia to Nigeria was delayed, which impacted on both his arrival time in Lagos and ability to board the 6.15 am Air Peace flight from Lagos to Kano.

Knowing the chairman of the airline, Allen Onyema, the Emir’s cousin, who doubles as his Chief Protocol Officer, Isa Bayero, called to request a delay of the flight. But that was not possible because as at the time his call came through, boarding had been concluded, doors shut and the aircraft was already taxiing on the runway.

Air Peace dutifully gave Isa Bayero the situation report and offered to put the Emir and his nine-man entourage on the 7 am flight to Abuja and from there to Kano at the airline’s expense.

But the royal entourage would have none of that. How dare the airline refuse to abort the 6.15 am flight, knowing full well, in their words, that a Very Important person (VIP) and his entourage were not yet on board? They threatened fire and brimstone and promised there would be consequences if the flight didn’t wait for the Kano royalty, which they portrayed as a “disrespect to the emir and the people of Kano State.”  

It didn’t matter to them that there were scores of passengers in the aircraft who will vicariously suffer if the flight was aborted.

When the flight left without the Emir, Isa Bayero complained to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), seeking punitive actions against Air Peace while making very portentous threats.

Alarmed, the airline bent backwards and issued a statement through its Chief Operating Officer, Toyin Olajide, debunking the allegation of disrespect to the Emir.

Mrs. Olajide narrated what happened thus:

“We want to state the true facts herein: 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 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.  

“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.”

And that was exactly what he did. Rather than Mrs. Olajide’s succinct explanation, which I consider a needless mollification of a bully with an exaggerated sense of entitlement, assuaging Prince Bayero’s ego, he became more recalcitrant and doubled down on his threat.

“I am giving an ultimatum of 72 hours for Air Peace to tender apologies to the Emir, first in national daily and secondly to come down in person to the Emir, or else, we would not hesitate to go extra miles to correct the misnomer,” he thundered.

This is the height of impudence. Who is Isa Bayero, for crying out loud, to give an ultimatum to a fellow citizen, who has committed no crime known to the laws of the land?

But he was not done yet. “We can go any length to defend and protect any act of insensitivity against our prestigious traditional institution. That insult is not heaped on the Emir alone but on the good people of Kano and folding our hands on this could trigger something worse and more ridiculous.

“I wrote to the DG NCAA, to complain but if someone claimed my statement is inciting, well, they are entitled to their opinion. But come to think of it, inciting who, Kano people because the airline insulted their emir and the airline refused to apologise? I have no regret if anybody claims or interprets my complaint that way.”

He wouldn’t bother if any harm befalls the Airline or Onyema himself because as he put it, “After all, Air Peace has been in business before coming to Kano and Kano people have been flying across the world without Air Peace. So if that is what he wants, so be it. We will get there.”

Sadly, you would come off with the impression that this “prince of Kano,” a professional pilot who “has flown five heads of state,” was talking to his houseboy, other than Allen Onyema, a lawyer and entrepreneur, who rescued, literally, the country’s aviation industry from total collapse. This is a case of undiluted hubris walking on all fours.

But do you blame him? He is drunk on unmerited privileges. Isa Bayero and his ilk have developed narcissistic personality traits, a sense of deservingness or being owed a favour. The tragedy is that they have done little or nothing to deserve the special treatment they claim as a right.

In any other country, Isa Bayero would have been invited by security authorities over his reckless utterances that can further breach the already fragile peace in the land. But that will not happen. This is Nigeria and he is a prince of Kano, a blue blood.

But this “you owe me” attitude has become insufferable. Bayero’s sense of entitlement, the belief that he deserves a special treatment or recognition is beyond the pale. The penchant to inconvenience others without thinking, which is what this is all about is part of the reason why Nigeria is where it is.

Will the Igwe of Nnewi, Obong of Calabar, or the Ooni of Ife, for instance, threaten Max Air or its chairman, Dahiru Barau Mangal, because the airline refused to delay a flight that is already taxiing the way the Emir of Kano is threatening Air Peace and Onyema?

Rather than inciting the notorious Kano mob against Air Peace, a private business, will it not be better if the Emir goes to court if he feels his right has been violated, or better still boycott the airline since there are alternatives?

I hope Onyema doesn’t apologise because Air Peace committed no crime. It is high time Nigerians, particularly Ndigbo, challenged some of these inanities. Nobody has the monopoly of violence.

If the people of Kano say they don’t want Air Peace in their state again because one of its aircraft refused to apply the brakes as a molue would do in order to massage the ego of royalty, the same idiocy that destroyed Nigeria Airways, so be it.  

News Reel:

“The Kremlin ordered hundreds of Russian mercenaries in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, The Times of London reported.…… The Kremlin offered what The Times described as “hefty bonuses” to wipe out Zelenskyy’s government. The exact amount of the bounty is unclear.”

Also in another news “….. Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear deterrent to be to high alert on Sunday, a move that the UK said was simply an attempt at distraction.”

Jumping to Africa, according to BBC News; at the UN Security Council, Kenya, currently a non-permanent member, made its opposition to Russian action in Ukraine very clear.

And from the Punch, the African Union on Thursday condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and called for an “immediate ceasefire”, saying the situation risked escalating into “a planetary conflict”.

The Punch also headlined that Nigeria has in no uncertain terms condemned the war and the aggressor Russia for invading Ukraine.

This is the reality of our globe today, let us do some excavating, some digging.

For starters, did you know…….

That this is the largest war that Europe has seen since 1945.

That for Russia it’s been rinse and repeat, Georgia, Crimea, now Ukraine.

That already according to the NY Times, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court -ICC (ICC of the Hague which is part of the global justice system), has indicated a “reasonable” basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed and so will pursue an investigation.

That “For centuries, the tiny Alpine nation of Switzerland has adhered to a policy of armed neutrality in global affairs”, has abandoned this position and adopted the European Union EU sanctions, including asset freezes that target Russians. Other neutral countries like Austria, Costa Rica and Ireland had already condemned Russia’s actions against Ukraine.

That FIFA, UEFA and IOC (International Olympic Committee) have banned Russia and Belarus from participating in any international sports engagements under their jurisdiction. The National Hockey League (NHL) has broken partnership with Russia.

That Russian vodka is being removed from spirit menus in the US and across the globe.

That air spaces in the EU and other regions are closed to Russian airlines. Delta has suspended code sharing relationship with Aeroflot, Russia’s national airline.

That it is reasonable today, to say that most that consider the rights of people, nations, democracy, respect for national boundaries etc. concur that Russia’s actions are wrong and bad all at once. Now there are a few that praised it, for starters former President Donald Trump did, remember that those who condemned Russia’s war against Ukraine judged it as wrong, well…… …just go figure.

Check this out – this map is intriguing. Stare at it for a while. It tells many stories and begs many questions which I will not tackle here, except the one below

The question is, why is Africa engaged in these types of partnerships with Russia? We all know that Russia in theory is recorded as a federal democratic state. However, we also know that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has been president for 22 years now, changing the constitution along the way to stay in power till 2036. Should Africa’s fragile democracy not be wary of who it partners with and in what categories? Does Africa’s status as the largest trade bloc via the AfCFTA not make it more pragmatic and responsible in its actions? 

Partnering so aggressively on weapons of destruction with Russia by a continent that has never trained any of its vitriol in the direction of nations that have exploited and harmed it and its people for centuries or spoken effectively enough against any real enemies let alone consider any weaponry of war in readiness for any attacks should concern every African, not just a little but significantly! This is because weapons on destruction in Africa have been trained and used exclusively inwardly against its own. So stare again at that map and speak out!

Everything you have read up till now is ancillary to the core of what follows, there are parallels, intersects, as for the dots, just note them…I think. Perhaps you can fill in your own blanks…..

When cowards speak and the earth quakes; the characteristics of coward.

Cowards are tricky because they don’t wear signs of cowardice. Instead, you identify them by these characteristics:

1. They crave the opportunity to be above always, act superiorly and are filled with pomposity. They are sensationalists and propagandists, pretending to be smarter than everyone else. Filled with lies;
2. They always want others to assume they are stronger than everyone else and love to identify what they believe is fear in others, so they escalate and threaten horror to intimidate their perceived weak. Meanwhile they walk in the shadow of fear;
3. They get their courage from hooligans and delusional fans who feed their egos and perspectives that are not rooted in reality without regard to how baseless the hero worship is;
4. They see themselves as masterminds of strategies and outcomes but are master manipulators of superfluous nonsense that imagine a reality that is nonexistent;
5. They see faults only in others and never in themselves. They always have some alternative option once they are caught or called out. They never apologise because they see that as a sign of weakness. They never go back and do not believe in forgiveness either. They think they can reason over everything and wing it as they go along;
6. These people always feel like victims and will harm the weak to get glory and demonstrate their delusional power. It is always about them. They are loyal to only themselves and collect a gullible following for sport, however, they will without qualms discard those followers in exchange for others when necessary;
7. They are bullies that love power and the limelight, this is their real specialty. They don’t know when to use power and when to use diplomacy everything stops once they don’t get their way. Their respect is only earned when they get their way exactly as they like it;
8. They take credit that is not theirs, if there is credit to be had, they feel it’s fair game to have at it, usually all of it regardless of if they participated or not. They will tell lies or skew the truth to get credit;
9. They fancy themselves as desirable, often thinking that people find them charismatic, interesting, fun. If they do something for anyone, they hold the person ransom and riddle them with embarrassment so that everyone knows what they have done and usually treat them with disrespect;
10. They are unkind, wretched in the care department. For them everything and anyone is dispensable. To them being classified as brave is 100% dependent on the degree to which they are supported, anything short of that makes you the enemy to them. They are simultaneously ego maniacs yet plagued with such fragility of true confidence, that it is uncanny;
11. They will never stick themselves out for others in a way that benefits good, but only in a way that bends away from justice and empowers others seeking to do injustice like them, because ironically they like company that is subordinate but subscribed to their ideology;
12. They will protect themselves first and foremost at all costs. They value themselves more than anyone else and their safety paramount even at the cost of others. In fact, they expect those who serve them to believe that everything done for their benefit regardless of how selfish (especially things at the peril of those that serve them) is true nobility.

Many people typically assume cowards are demure and quiet and slink away from the limelight or contentions, but the reality is that those types are just timid. They are typically not looking to harm anyone but primarily focused on not being harmed themselves. While some timid people might be paralyzed by fear others are simply ruled by self-preservation.

Cowards are different, they are harsh, brash, boastful, and brutal. They should be avoided at all costs. When they roar the earth quakes because they are ruthless at getting their way. They will burn, scatter, destroy to make their point. As far as they are concerned, someone must pay for their anger; someone must hurt because their fragile ego has been trampled. “How dare you?” they bellow, “you will regret this” they scream as they unleash “fire and brimstone” fancying themselves the arbiter to a justice that is wholly defined by them. They see talking and diplomacy as weak simply because they do not comprehend those tools and pride blinds them. They can see people literally as cockroaches, pests to be exterminated, unworthy of life or anything good. They are harsh, harsh, harsh. Many are racists, xenophobes, misogynists, Igbophobes, masochists, pedophiles, kidnappers, murderers, white collar thieves, cheats, ego maniacs. They are also teachers, friends, athletes, doctors, lawyers, cleaners, parents, cooks and yes leaders. Many are leaders of nations, corporations, organisations and homes. They are everywhere, they are around us, and some of them are us!

I am not asking you to connect the dots (noting them is enough) in this piece, but you can if you want to. I am not asking you to examine yourself or neighbour, but I hope you do because I hope that somehow, within the blank spaces of your mind you will consider doing the following exercise for yourself …After filling in the items, you can share it in the reply or comment space or keep it to yourself, it is completely up to you! Here goes:

As a person, fully formed, reasonable and right thinking. I will stand up for what is right in ways I can defend, for reasons I understand. 

I will educate myself with honest information from parties that understand what is at stake.

I will care deeply for the sanctity of life, and the responsibility to humanity and respect for nationhood.

I will do these for the following five (5) reasons

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

About Ngozi Bell

Inspiration, Hard Work, Innovation. These three foundational elements anchor Ngozi’s core belief that manifesting the extraordinary is always within reach. Inspired by her mother A.C.Obikwere, a scientist and author, she learned the privilege of living at the edge of important encounters and dedicating herself to robust and perpetual learning. Ngozi’s background is a combination of Physics, Engineering, Venture Capital/Private Equity, regulations, and business where she has managed over $1B in cumulative revenue. Ngozi is a speaker, storyteller, and writer on a diverse set of topics including AI, iDLT, ML, Signal Processing, iOT, women, entrepreneurship and more. She contributes regularly to VOA, has been a TEDx speaker and is published on tech and non-tech platforms. She is a champion of STEM, women, youth, art and the Africa we must engage. Ngozi is an adjunct professor of Physics and management with work experience in Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East, and North America. She is a founder of a number of a number of enterprises and host of the podcast Stem, Stocks and Stews (https://anchor.fm/stemstocksstews-podcast).Https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/ngozibell/

Credit: This article was originally published by Sundiata Post

By Owei Lakemfa

Some parts of Nigeria are becoming increasingly ungovernable. The news everyday is, in some cases, grave and the prognosis not so good. The United Nations Development    Programme, UNDP, reports that in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, insurgency-related conflicts had in eleven years from 2009 claimed    almost 350,000 lives.

Direct insurgency, it says, is responsible for 35,000 of these casualties, while an estimated 314,000 people died from indirect causes. This tragedy, it reports, has dismantled the already fragile health and food systems and resulted in 1.8 million out-of-school children.

Then the  Borno State governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, added a dampener:  the Boko Haram, its breakaway  faction, the Islamic States West Africa Province, ISWAP, has mutated to a more terrible group.  His verdict is that: “ISWAP is more sophisticated, more funded and they are more educated. And we shall do everything possible to defeat ISWAP, otherwise what Boko Haram did will be a child’s play.”

Zulum also warned that unlike Boko Haram, ISWAP is a multinational terrorist mixture with some coming from outside our shores, including Libya and are “resettling here”. That means they are making Nigeria their preferred home.

However, Zulum’s counterpart,  Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State last week at the Presidential Villa informed Nigerians that Boko Haram and ISWAP are not as dangerous as bandits rampaging the North West: “I am persuaded that the insurgency in the North-West is far more serious than Boko Haram, both in terms of the numbers of the people affected… We are talking of tens of thousands of people getting killed, getting kidnapped. It is far more serious than Boko Haram. The only thing is that these guys don’t occupy territories, they are in the forests and ungoverned spaces…Because, this is a situation largely in which people of about the same ethnicity, same religion are killing each other, stealing each other’s property, creating an industry out of criminality.”  

He said banditry and kidnapping had been elevated to a business which makes far more financial turnover than the original trade in cattle breeding. He claimed that the financial resources available to the bandits are enough to destabilise the country. El-Rufai argued that the Fulanis involved in banditry would not give up the nefarious trade as they make far more money from it than they would have made from legitimate cattle business.

But the country has lamented enough; what are the leaders doing? First, he claimed that preliminary investigations show that some security operatives are working for the terrorists. Since the Jonathan administration had made a similar complaint, what has the Buhari administration done about it in the last seven years it has been in office? El-Rufai didn’t say.    

However, the governor has some good news: The locations of the terrorists are known, and they must be wiped out at once rather than the present piecemeal approach. From his vintage position, he advocated for simultaneous ground and air attacks in all the states hosting the criminals to prevent them from escaping.

So what has stopped the military and security forces from dealing with banditry? Rufai gives some ridiculous excuses. First, he says “somebody has to go in and kill them”. We know that already, that is why the country pays hundreds of thousands of men and women under arms. Their primary duty is to go after such criminals and bring them to justice or eliminate them.

Secondly, he claims there are not enough men. So, what has stopped government from carrying out mass recruitment rather than let the insurgency fester, taking so many lives and destroying the economy?    Thirdly, he claims the Armed Forces “doesn’t have enough fire power”. Ridiculous! What happened to the normal and extra-budgetary provisions for arms procurement?

The military he also claims “doesn’t have technology”. What does it take to acquire the necessary technology, especially when there is no international embargo against technology transfer or sales to Nigeria.

A fifth, and most ridiculous excuse El-Rufai gave is that “no one is going to commit suicide”.  Are you kidding me? That the trained soldier having to take on bandits amounts to attempting suicide? Why not then fold up the country and hand it over to the bandits? One of the twin reasons why we have government and people like El-Rufai in power is to provide security for the people. 

The other reason is the welfare of the people. So, how can the action of soldiers carrying out their duty amount to committing suicide?    This government which initially blamed the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the sorry state of the country, has been in power now for almost seven years and cannot put the Armed Forces on a footing to engage bandits?    

El-Rufai has another ridiculous excuse: that the military had been reluctant to fully engage bandits terrorising the country for fear of being dragged before the International Criminal Court, ICC.    He tried to explain off this nonsense thus: “The media, civil society, always like to protect those that are at the receiving end of something, not looking at the victims of those people sometimes. You know, no General wants to retire and then you go to the US, they arrest you and they say you bombed civilians and so on.” But must civilians who are the victims of banditry be bombed by the government they allegedly voted into office? No!

El-Rufai had in January 2022 advocated such inhuman measures: “I have always believed that we should carpet-bomb the forest; we can re-plant the trees after; but let’s carpet-bomb the forests, kill all of them. There will be collateral damage but it’s better to wipe them out and bring peace back to our communities so that agriculture and rural economies can pick up, than to continue this touch and go, touch and go isolated responses to banditry”.

  What people like El-Rufai advocate is not fighting bandits but carrying out genocide against people living in the rural or forested areas. Yes, he and whoever gives such inhuman orders which amounts to crimes of genocide must live in fear of being brought to justice; if not in Nigeria, then outside the country.

Nigerians submitted part of their liberty and the entire wealth of the country to their leaders; they do not deserve excuses. So, those who cannot properly govern have the freedom to leave office and return to their homes. Also, the basis of governance in the country must be social justice; our laws and Constitution provides for this. So even the terrorists caught in the act have a right to fair hearing, including legal defence. We do not need to commit criminality in order to bring criminals to justice as that, in itself, would be criminal and unjust.