The Nigerian Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, says the Federal Government is investigating the alleged breaching of COVID-19 protocol breach at three domestic Airports by some VIPs. The Minister said if the said dignitaries are found guilty, they would risk going to jail, “either go to jail for two months and above, pay fine or get both of the sanctions combined.
”Sirika reiterated that the jail term could be as much as 10years. He stated this in Abuja on Thursday during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19. Accordingly, the Federal Airport Authorities of Nigerian officials have accused the Adamawa state Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri, and the former Zamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari of breaching airport protocols as stipulated by the authorities. However, the duo through their media aids has denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, the Minister said if the investigation revealed otherwise that the said dignitaries did not actually flout the said protocols as alleged by FAAN, apologies would be tendered to them publicly. “FAAN has escalated what has transpired.
“These alleged unruly passengers included the former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, whom I spoke to yesterday [Wednesday] at length and the current governor of Adamawa, Ahmadu Fintiri. “Abdulaziz Yari was on Saturday in Kano. “And that of Fintiri was in Port Harcourt and Chief Nduka Obaigbena was also alleged here in Abuja.
“Now, those are being investigated and if it is found that it was true, we’ll do the needful and if it’s found untrue, we would definitely apologize to these individuals.
” According to him, going through the Nigerian civil aviation regulations, there is a definition of an unruly passenger. “It goes to say in part 17, 97, 1, that any passenger who becomes unruly at the airport terminal building or onboard a particular aircraft commits an offense. So, first, it is an offense.
“…According to table two 9, (51) unruly passenger behavior requires the punishment of criminal referral for imprisonment for not less than two months. “So, it can be ten years. “So, if you‘re found to be an unruly passenger because you’re a big man, VIP, the simplest thing we could do is to refer you to the police and they must, by law, prosecute you and it’ll be not less than two months.
“And I’m sure you don’t want to be a criminal for one day. “Even for one second, no one wants to be a criminal. “Please, VIPs, please, show that you’re a VIP by conducting yourself in the manner you’d want to be identified with.“If you’re are caught, we have some videos on this unruly passenger who we’ll investigate and the punishment will be not less than two months of being criminally liable by a court of law,” Sirika said.
Meanwhile, the chairman House Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji had on Thursday while in Lagos reiterated the need for the frontline staff especially the airport security and health officials to be more courageous in carrying out their respective duties by ensuring every passenger no matter the status is compelled to abide by the protocols.
He said the National Assembly has resolved to abide by the protocols and would not hesitate to punish anyone found to be violating such rules.