The airline sanctioned by the Ministry of Aviation, Executive Jet Services Limited, has apologized for its indiscretion.
The airline had flown the musician Azeez Fashola aka Naira Marley, to Abuja to perform at a concert. This was against the ban on all flights.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had announced the suspension of the airline during a Presidential Task Force briefing in Abuja on Monday.
He said “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.”
But the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Sam Iwuajoku, said he gave the approval for the flight thinking the passenger was the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
In a letter to Sirika he said the airline he did not know the said passengers were “a bunch of useless people”. He tendered an apology saying, “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.”
