Management of the airline that took controversial musician, Naira Marley, to Abuja, where he staged a concert that contravened lockdown rule, has explained why they did so.
According to Executive Jets Services Limited owners, they were deceived by the real name of Naira Marley, which is Fashola Babatunde.
The management described the artiste and his team as “a bunch of useless people.”
Executive Airlines noted that they thought it was the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola whom they decided to respect because of his position.
The company said it even gave the passenger some rebate.
The airline added in a statement that the original passenger, Justice, for whom the permission to fly the plane was granted, had got another opportunity, so it decided to transfer the slot to the ‘works minister’.
The statement directed to the Minister of Aviation, Had Sirika, added:
“We hereby apologise for the above flight with your permit ref: FMA/ATMD/0175/V/V/1268 dated 11th June 2020.
“Please the flight was to carry a judge to Abuja on Sunday, 14th, June 2020 as requested and the permit was granted based on the application but unfortunately, when I called the Judge on Saturday morning to inform him that we have the permit, he then said he has reached Abuja already with a different flight that someone gave him a lift to Abuja.
“So, on Saturday morning, 13th June 2020, my staff called me that they have a charter flight to Abuja, and that the passengers are already in the lounge. As a rule, passenger manifests are always sent to me before departure.
“When I went through the manifest and saw FASHOLA BABATUNDE, I thought it was the Honourable Minister of Works going to Abuja with his men. So, we decided to do the flight since he is a serving minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I didn’t know that it was a bunch of useless people.
“We are very sorry for this mistake and we promise that this would not happen again.”
The minister had said on Monday that both the airline and the Captain would be punished.
“The person on that flight conducted a concert. We approved a flight, certainly not for a musician. The flight was approved to convey Honourable Justice Adefope Okogie from Lagos to Abuja and then back to Lagos for an official assignment.
“The operation is a clear violation of our approval which we take very seriously. It seems this is becoming a norm. This is the second time. So, Executive Jet Services is hereby suspended indefinitely and they will face the law,” he said.
