Onyema and Sirika
The Founder/CEO of Air Peace, Nigeria’s biggest airline, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to disband everything about Nigeria Air, calling it a fraud and national embarrassment.
He was speaking on Arise News Morning Show on Wednesday in response to allegations made by former Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika on the same station.
Onyema who appeared visibly miffed said everything about Nigeria Air was a sham and an embarrassment on the nation. He accused the ex-minister of masterminding a national fraud and deceiving everybody including President Buhari into believing that he was up to a genuine business.
He lauded some stakeholders who refused to be used by Sirika to perpetrate the fraud called Nigeria Air. He singled out Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO), the aviation ground services provider, for saving Nigeria from incurring huge losses in the Nigeria Air deal.
On the issue of Air Peace not having capacity, he dismissed such allegation insisting that Air Peace has more than enough capacity hence was able to undertake several evacuation trips for Nigeria free of charge at moments of global crisis including Covid-19 pandemic, Xenophobia in South Africa, Russia-Ukraine war among others.
He debunked Sirika’s claim that Air Peace leased two Boeing 777 aircraft on a monthly lease fee of $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months and incurred losses of $19 million, while all the aircraft engines and landing gears became due for replacement when they were ready to fly. He described the claim as mischievous and unbecoming of an aviation minister who should be marketing and protecting local aviation businesses.
Onyema’s perspective tallies with the official statement of Air Peace regarding the Sirika claims.
Air Peace had earlier said: “This is a blatant lie as we have three and not two Boeing 777 aircraft which were never leased or rented, but were purchased outrightly by the airline.
“Air peace never incurred such a loss, we never paid rentals contrary to his lies. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) can attest to the purchase and ownership of the Aircraft by Air peace.
“Secondly, Sirika said the airline stopped flying to Dubai because ‘we lack capacity’. This is another stark lie.
“Air Peace never stopped the Dubai operations because of lack of capacity. Air Peace commenced operations into the UAE in July, 2019, but in October 2022, the UAE Government announced a total visa ban on Nigerians.
“Neither Emirates nor Air Peace is operating the Nigerian/UAE route since the ban. The persisting non-issuance of visas and the accompanying inconveniences necessitated the suspension of our Dubai operations from November 22, 2022 till date,” the statement read
“For the former minister to ascribe the suspension to ‘lack of capacity’ is not only shocking but also shows how keen he is to disparage an airline which ascendancy, has defied all the commercial odds and hostile environment placed on its path to continue to serve our nation proudly.
“How could an airline that placed a firm order for 13 brand new E2-195 aircraft, a firm order of 15 Boeing 737 Max 8 & Max 10, with over 30 aircraft already in its existing fleet be accused of lacking in capacity?
“How can an Airline that stood up for the entire nation during the Covid-19 outbreak, and embarked on rescue operations worldwide, evacuating Nigerians from far away China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, UK and South Africa during the Covid-19 lockdowns be accused of lacking capacity?”
Air Peace also called on the pubic to disregard every claim about the airline that was made in the interview.
“We implore the general public to disregard these lies told by the former minister of Aviation against Air Peace during the ARISE TV Interview.
“We take serious exception to a situation where Air Peace is being misrepresented in the public sphere, causing wrong perceptions about our brand.”
