A Nigerian Airline, Air Peace has offered to airlift stranded Nigerians from war-torn Sudan free of charge if given permission to do so.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), of Air Peace, Allen Onyema made this known via a statement on Monday.
He said if the government can take stranded Nigerians in Sudan to a safe and secure airport in any of the neighbouring countries bordering Sudan, Air Peace is willing to evacuate them, free of cost.
Air peace said there was a need to come to the aid of the government, ”we must not leave everything for the government alone and Air peace is ready to evacuate Nigerians immediately.
The statement said, ”any action that would promote national pride, cohesion, peace and unity, Airpeace will be up for it”.
“Again, we have no apologies for believing in our nation and loving the nation despite certain national challenges. If they are moved to Kenya or Uganda or any other country, we will move in to get them out. Some parents have started calling on us to help. We are ready to do this again and again.” Onyema said.
Air Peace has announced that flight operations will be suspended on February 25 as a result of the general elections.
However flight operations will resume on February 26, the local airline assured.
Air Peace disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, via its official Instagram handle.
The statement reads, “Members of the public are hereby informed that there will be no scheduled flights on February 25, 2023, due to the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections. Scheduled flight operations resume on Sunday, February 26, 2023.”
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that general elections will be held in Nigeria on 25 February 2023 to elect the President and Vice President and members of the Senate and House of Representatives. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is ineligible to run, being term-limited.
Electoral system
The President of Nigeria is elected using a modified two-round system. To be elected in the first round, a candidate must receive a plurality of the valid vote and over 25% in at least 24 of the 36 states. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round will be held between the top candidate and the next candidate to have received a majority of votes in the highest number of states.
The 109 members of the Senate are elected from 109 single-seat constituencies (three in each state and one for the Federal Capital Territory) by first-past-the-post voting. The 360 members of the House of Representatives are also elected by first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies.
Presidential election
With President Muhammadu Buhari having been elected to the office of president twice, he was ineligible for renomination. There was no formal zoning agreement for the APC nomination despite calls from politicians and interest groups such as the Southern Governors’ Forum to zone the nomination to the South as Buhari, a northerner, was elected twice.
The party held its indirect presidential primary on 8 June 2022 in Abuja and nominated Bola Tinubu, the former Governor of Lagos State.[
In mid-June, the APC submitted the name of Kabir Ibrahim Masari- a politician and party operative from Katsina State- as a placeholder vice presidential nominee to be substituted at a later date.
On 10 July, Ibrahim Masari formally withdrew as a vice presidential nominee and later that day, Tinubu announced Kashim Shettima- Senator for Borno Central and former Governor of Borno State- as his replacement.
The Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc, on Thursday, said that an investigation had commenced into circumstances that surrounded its equipment that damaged an Air Peace Airbus A320 Aircraft at Murtala Muhammed Airport on Wednesday.
The company’s Group Executive Director, Business and Corporate Services, Dr. Sola Obabori, stated this in a statement in Lagos on Thursday.
The incident led to the disruption of scheduled flight operations after one of the ground handling company’s equipment rammed into an aircraft.
The Spokesman of Air Peace, Mr. Stanley Olisa, said the incident would be the third in one month.
Obabori said that the management had invited relevant regulatory and security agencies to commence an investigation into the incident.
He said: “The management expresses sadness over the incident because Air Peace is one of the biggest privately-owned airlines in Africa and it is proud to have them as one of its prime.
“We share a very cordial relationship with the airline and we have been together all these years serving them diligently and professionally since inception.
“Therefore, we have invited relevant regulatory and security agencies to swing into action and especially investigate the subject of sabotage and take an independent look at the incident.”
Obabori said to enable proper and unhindered investigation, some senior operations officials had been suspended, while others were being investigated.
Air Peace Airline has urged the aviation authorities to look into the ground handling equipment that collided and damaged its aircraft elevator at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos
Spokesman of Air Peace, Mr. Stanley Olisa, who confirmed the incident in Lagos on Wednesday, said the aircraft was scheduled to transport passengers to Owerri from Lagos.
Olisa explained that the aircraft was an Airbus A320 aircraft belonging to Air Peace with the registration number: A320 ES-SAZ.
He said that the incident had led to disruption of scheduled flight operations after one of the ground handling company’s equipment rammed into one of its aircraft.
Olisa said before the incident occurred, the aircraft was scheduled to transport passengers from Lagos to Owerri for a 7.00 a.m flight.
He said: “This same aircraft was positioned for about 10 flights on the same day, however, the incident changed all that causing a ripple that affected the airlines schedule.
“This is the third time in one month that the aircraft is grounded and we don’t know when it will be up again.
“The NAHCO staff had no reason to be where he was and he was not assigned to the aircraft and how he rammed into our aircraft is still shocking.
“This is going to cause revenue loss for us as an airline because the aircraft was scheduled to operate several flights today (Wednesday), but could not do so.
“This has caused flight disruptions and delays hence, the authorities should investigate the incident and take necessary actions.”
Olisa said the airline had made a formal complaint to NAHCO management on the incident.
Reacting, the Group Executive Director, Business and Corporate Services (GED), NAHCO, Dr Sola Obabori, also confirmed the incident.
Obabori said it was not possible for its staff to deliberately and maliciously damage one of its major customer’s aircraft.
The official said the handling company had filed a report on the incident, adding that the company had commenced an engagement with the airline on the incident.
“We have a very cordial relationship with the airline and we have been together all these years, we serve them diligently and professionally.
“Our staff are well-trained, accidents do happen. You will agree with me that aircraft do crash due to human error.
“In this particular case, the staff was driving on the runway to attend to another flight that arrived before Air Peace.
“He was driving towards that direction and wanted to support that operation, but he committed an error in terms of processes he was supposed to follow, which he didn’t follow.”
The official said that was what caused the incident, adding that the staff might had a blind spot, which prevented him from seeing well.
He, however assured that the company would review what had happened so that such incident would not reoccur.
Finally, Nigerian airlines have increased domestic flight fares to N100,000.00 from Lagos to Abuja.
While Air Peace economy ticket for Sunday at 10:40 a.m. and 7:50 p.m. was priced at N100,000, seats on Max Air flights scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and 9:10 a.m. were priced at N125,000 and N130,000, respectively.
Seats on an Air Peace flight scheduled for 6:30 a.m. on Sunday were still selling for N85,000, with flights at 2:55 p.m. and 3:20 p.m. sold out.
At the time, Max Air’s flights scheduled for 5:20 p.m. and 6:15 p.m. were still selling for N84,000 and N75,000, respectively.
Also, prices for economy tickets in Arik ranged between N80,595 and N93,452, with Ibom Air’s only available Sunday flight selling its economy ticket for N78,000.
The increase in airfare is the result of multiple challenges confronting the aviation industry, including an increase in the price of jet A1 and the high cost of facility maintenance caused by constant inflation and the depreciation of the country’s currency.
Recall that in July, Nigeria’s oldest airline, Aero Contractors, temporarily suspended operations due to the scorching impact of skyrocketing price of aviation fuel.
The airline said operations in the past few months had been challenging, citing high cost of maintenance, skyrocketing fuel prices, inflation, and forex scarcity as some of the challenges faced by airline operators.
Also in May, airline operators threatened to shut down operations over the incessant hike in price of aviation fuel from N160 to N900 per litre.
The union had in a letter to Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, bemoaned the increase in cost of operations reaching over ninety-five per cent.
Also, in a bid to further reduce disruptions in the aviation industry, the House of Representatives ruled in May that six million liters of aviation fuel be sold to airline operators at the rate of N480 per litre for the next three months.
However, reports have predicted that airlines would shut down operations in the country over the incessant hike in aviation fuel, along with other environmental challenges.
The $20 million alleged fraud case involving Allen Onyema, founder of Air Peace and Ebony Mayfield, a woman accused of helping to facilitate a bank fraud has reopened in a United States court.
A new court document obtained by PREMIUM TIMES shows the U.S. District Court of Northern Georgia, Atlanta Division, has rescheduled for trial for August 8, 2022.
The document shows the court has jettisoned the earlier trial date of June 27, 2022 date earlier fixed in February.
Allen Onyema
The judge, Eleanor Ross, issued a notice for the change in the earlier trial date following a request by Ms Mayfield’s legal team, the court document seen by TheNewsGuru.com shows.
“Having considered the defendant’s Motion to Continue Trial Date and Associated Motions Filing Dates and the reasons set forth therein, the motion is hereby GRANTED.
“The trial and associated motions filing deadlines are hereby CONTINUED. The trial is scheduled to begin Monday, August 8, 2022 at 9:00 am in Courtroom 1708, 75 Ted Turner Drive SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303,” the judge said in the notice issued on March 19.
Prosecutors say Mayfield allegedly signed and submitted false documents used by Mr Onyema to defraud banks.
Allen Onyema and Air Peace Limited’s Head of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, also face 36 charges at the U.S. court in connection with the alleged fraudulent scheme. But they have yet to show up or send a lawyer to represent them in court.
Details of the case earlier reported by PREMIUM TIMES include how Mr Onyema allegedly recruited Ms Mayfield to act as a manager of his Springfield Aviation Company LLC, which he allegedly used for perpetrating the alleged $20 million fraud between May 2016 and February 2018.
Springfield Aviation, according to court documents seen by this newspaper, was established by Mr Onyema in the U.S. state of Georgia in April 2016 purportedly to specialise in “the wholesaling, trading and sale of commercial aircraft and parts”.
How fraud was allegedly perpetrated
The alleged fraud allegedly began with Allen Onyema and others applying for export letters of credit to cause the transfer of funds purportedly to fund the purchase of aircraft by Air Peace from Springfield Aviation, between May 2016 up till at least February 2018.
In support of the letters of credit, Mr Onyema and others were said to have submitted documents such as purchase agreements, bills of sale, and appraisals proving that Air Peace was purchasing the aircraft from Springfield Aviation Company LLC.
The Head of Administration and Finance, Ejiroghene Eghagha, was said to have sent the documents to Ms Mayfield and directed her to sign them on behalf of Springfield Aviation.
Mr Eghagha, according to court filings, also instructed Ms Mayfield to present the documents to the respective banks in support of each letter of credit.
The support documents, U.S. prosecutors say, were found to be falsified. The aircraft that was referenced in each of the export letters of credit was also never owned or sold by Springfield Aviation, the government added.
The submission of the documents allegedly enabled Allen Onyema to cause banks to transfer more than $20 million into Atlanta-based bank accounts of Springfield Aviation controlled by him.
Mr Onyema, after receiving the money in the United States, allegedly laundered over $16 million of the proceeds of the fraud by transferring it to other accounts.
Charges
The CEO of Air Peace, a major Nigerian airline operator, and Mr Eghagha now face 36 charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, and credit application fraud in the U.S. court.
On her part, Ms Mayfield, who was arrested on June 7, 2019 for her alleged roles in the alleged fraud, faces only one charge of bank fraud in a different case at the same court.
The U.S. government filed a charge against her in open court in December 2019. She has since been granted bail.
Prosecutors say she was recruited as a manager of Springfield Aviation with the role of entering into aviation-related contract on behalf of the firm, despite her lack of education, training, or licensing in the review and valuation of aircraft, including aircraft components.
In a court filing, which Ms Mayfield filed for variation of her bail bond, she indicated to be “a food service professional” also known as waitress.
While the court has fixed August 8 for her trial, no date has been fixed for the trial of Mr Allen Onyema and Mr Eghagha by the U.S. court due to their unavailability.
The Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, has said the current security architecture in the country has failed.
In a statement by its Secretary-General, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, ACF called on the Federal Government to revisit the security architecture with a view to protecting lives.
According to the mouthpiece of the North, “the region is clearly under siege.”
The Forum lamented banditry and terrorism have excised the North with major economic activities frustrated, warning it was a new ploy to block Kaduna, which is the main gateway to the North.
Parts of the statement titled: ‘North is under siege’ reads: “As a guardian and custodian of the welfare and integrity of the North, the ACF is tired of crying out on the issue of security, and other challenges, in the northern part of the country.
“It is curious that a train carrying almost 1000 (one thousand) passengers be exposed to the kind of situation we found, on the fateful Monday evening, without any precautionary measures taken.
“It would be recalled that, some few months ago, there was a blast on the same route, and the government promise on taking a concrete measure to avert any future occurrence, is yet to materialise.
“Moreover, the fact that both air and rail systems, out of Kaduna, have been compromised, it is to be expected that a sensitive government should protect the only route (Kaduna/Abuja highway).
“The ACF has described as unacceptable, the frequency of such attacks on our towns and villages, highways and now train tracks and airports.
“The ACF cautions on what it terms as unnecessary attacks that stretches our security and economic services in the country.
“One can, easily, recall how the lives and economy of the Borno, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, and Kaduna (Birnin Gwari and Southern parts of Kaduna) were damaged, and now, taking their turn on the infrastructure.
“The Arewa Consultative Forum calls on government to put 24-hour surveillance on the route to at least avert the ugly situations occurring.
“ACF equally, prevails on the AZMAN and Air Peace airlines to have a rethink over their resolve to suspend flights to Kaduna International Airport. Such action contributes, negatively, to the resolve of the problems.”
Airline Operators in the country on Monday said they had only three more days to fly due to the high cost of aviation fuel.
Mr Allen Onyema, the CEO of Air Peace, who spoke on behalf of the operators, said this during a public hearing by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the scarcity of aviation fuel in Abuja.
Onyema accused aviation fuel marketers of not speaking the truth about the actual landing cost of aviation fuel, adding that if drastic measures were not taken, the least air ticket would go for as high as N120, 000.
“If we continue this way, the least ticket you will have is about N120,000. And the marketers have refused to tell us how much is the unit cost of their acquisition.”
He urged the House of Reps to give operators of airlines the license to import aviation fuel, saying this would reduce unnecessary burden on the citizenry.
“What we are asking from the government is to give us the right to import aviation fuel. What others use in insuring one plane is what we use in insuring three planes in Nigeria, so the Nigeria airline is dead on arrival,” he said.
Rep. Ahmed Wase, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps, said that the committee was only after fact, as it was poised to protect the interest of Nigerians.
“We are not willing to compromise what is in the interest of our country,” he said
He, however, chided the marketers for speaking the language they did not understand in order to cover up some facts.
According to him, the marketers’ analysis are not correct based on the fact at the committee’s disposal.
He also querried why some government agencies would not be telling the truth about the scarcity and the high cost of aviation fuel, saying “we should be seen to protect the interest of Nigeria and not otherwise.”.
He said that the committee would ensure that the right thing was done in the interest of the country, adding that the basic tenet of governance remained the welfare of the people.
Rep. Toby Okechukwu, the Minority leader of the House, however, raised questions on what determined the marketers prices and why were they hoarding the product.
Okechukwu said that such actions by marketers were bringing a lot of dysfunction to the country’s economy.
“If we are saying that the landing cost of aviation fuel is N450 from Central Bank of Nigeria who approved it,” he said.
He also accued the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd. for not knowing those managing the products.
Meanwhile, Mr Ugbugo Ukoha, the Executive Director for Distribution System for Storage and Retailing Infrastructure in the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority, said that Nigeria had excess supply of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK).
He said the country had sufficient products that could go round, adding that the scarcity and the high cost remained the marketers challenge.
The Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Ltd, Mr Mele Kyari, said that it would consider granting licenses to operators of airline to import aviation fuel.
Kyari also agreed that aviation fuel would now be sold at N500 per litre contrary to the current N670 per litre.
Air Peace has begun direct flights into Niamey, Niger Republic. This was disclosed by the spokesman Mr Stanley Olisa, in Lagos on Saturday.
Mr Stanley Olisa stated that the inaugural flight was conducted with one of the airline’s Embraer 145 jets, from its subsidiary- Air Peace Hopper.
He quoted the leader of the Air Peace delegation on the flight, Capt. Augustine Kamano, as saying that Niamey had always been on the airline’s radar.
This is especially as the airline was poised to expand its footprints across the West African coast and interconnect different cities in the sub-region.
Olisa also quoted Kamano, the Director of Flight Operations, as saying that Niger Republic and Nigeria are good neighbours.
He said also that Air Peace was excited to serve as a strategic means of fostering the already existing positive relations and further cementing the ties between the two countries through air travel.
“We are determined to reduce the air travel burden of Africans, and this will continue to propel our route expansion as well as fleet modernisation programme.
“Air Peace has accomplished so much in just seven years of operation, as we now have a network of 20 domestic routes, seven regional routes and two international destinations.
“The international destinations include Johannesburg, which we launched in December 2020.
“Also planned for launch in the future are routes such as Houston-USA, Mumbai-India, Guangzhou-China and London. We’re constantly reviewing our route network in line with the travel needs of Africans,’’ Kamano said.
He expressed gratitude to Niger Republic authorities and the Nigerian Government that made the airline’s entry into Niamey possible.
Kamano also promised that Air Peace would work concertedly with all relevant aviation stakeholders to ensure the new route is maximised for air travellers.
In her remarks, the Nigerian Deputy Ambassador to Niger Republic, Aisha Kabiru, emphasised that Air Peace’s entry into Niger would boost socio-cultural and economic ties between both countries.
She noted that the development would also ease the burden of air travel for Nigerians and Nigeriens to connect both destinations, especially for commercial purposes.
Kabiru thanked Air Peace for always rescuing Nigerians, citing the airline’s evacuation record and reiterated the commitment of the Nigerian Embassy in Niger to supporting its operations in the neighbouring country.
In February, Air Peace announced plans to kick off three weekly flights into Niamey from Abuja and Kano.
The airline also has in the works two other African destinations – Malabo in Equatorial Guinea and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Air Peace airline has deployed its aircraft to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Europe following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The airline’s spokesman, Mr Stanley Olisa, said this in a statement in Lagos on Thursday.
“This is the first batch of Nigerians to be evacuated since the war broke out.
“The aircraft departed Nigeria at 2.20 a.m. today, March 3, 2022, for Warsaw, Poland,” said the statement.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government engaged Air Peace and another airlines to evacuate over 2,000 Nigerian nationals from neighbouring countries such as Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
