FAAN Dismisses Report Alleging Amaechi’s Wife Assaulted Airport Officials

The management of Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria, (FAAN) Port Harcourt International Airport has reacted to a report making the round that the wife of Minister of Transportation, Mrs Judith Amaechi allegedly assaulted some airport officials on Saturday, last week at the airport.

PREMIUMTIMES had reported that Judith Amaechi, wife of Minister of Transportation, Chubuike Amaechi, was at the centre of a melee on Saturday at the Port Harcourt International Airport.

This occurred when she and her entourage arrived late for boarding an Abuja bound Air Peace Airline flight and thereafter attempted to force it from taking off without them.

Reports said Mrs Amaechi’s entourage formed a human barricade to prevent the fully boarded aircraft from taking off while her armed security aides beat up two of the airline’s ground staff for not allowing their principal board the flight.

The newspaper had mentioned ground staff that were assaulted to include, Confidence Elechi, an aviation security station Coordinator/Supervisor, and Innocent Ekot, a flight dispatcher.

The newspaper, quoting an earlier report by the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said two officials of its Customer Care Service/SERVICOM unit on duty, Otobo Edward, and the FAAN Marshaller, Promise Nsirim, were also assaulted by the angry aides when they tried to intervene.

The report by the Crime Investigation/Intelligence Unit of FAAN at the Port Harcourt International Airport said Mrs Amaechi supervised the brutalisation of the officials and directed her aides to seize their staff identity cards, telephones and FAAN on-duty-cards.

In his report, FAAN Chief Security Officer in charge of the Crime Investigation/Intelligence Unit at the airport, R.A. Ameh, blamed Mrs Amaechi’s protocol staff for failure to coordinate with the airline and monitor flight proceedings at the airport for their principal.

FAAN said although the minister’s wife arrived the airport early enough for her flight, No APK7296, scheduled to depart Port Harcourt for Abuja at 18.00 hrs. (6.00 p.m.), she was holding meetings at the VIP Lounge till after boarding formalities had been completed and the aircraft door shut.

Findings by FAAN showed that although the aircraft, 5N-BUL, landed Port Harcourt International Airport about 10 minutes behind schedule at about 17.40 hrs, flight boarding began at about 17.48 hrs.

At the time boarding formalities were completed about half an hour later at about 18.18 hrs, the report said about 56 passengers had boarded.

The final boarding call was at about 18.20 hrs, before the NAHCOL motorised staircase was removed and the aircraft door ordered finally shut by the Captain .

A FAAN safety official in charge of the VIP lounge area at the airport, Aluebhose Jonathan, said in his report that Mrs Amaechi safely accessed the VIP lounge screening point at about 18.31 hrs, more than 30 minutes after the aircraft door had been shut and boarding proceeding closed.

The FAAN report said Mrs Amaechi had arrived with a retinue of aides “not less than 13”, consisting personal staff, mobile police, plain clothe security operatives and protocol personnel.

Despite this earlier claims, the Port Harcourt Airport Management appeared to have capitulated on Friday, exonerating Amaechi’s wife of the incident which transpired.

A statement by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs of the Port Harcourt International Airport, Yakubu Henrietta (Mrs.), made available to BigPen Online, said that the report was unfounded and not true in its entirety.

The statement read in full; “Our attention has been drawn to a trending story to the effect that the wife of the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Mrs Judith Amaechi supervised the assault and manhandling of some airport officials on the 26th May 2018, because she was refused boarding an Air Peace flight from Port Harcourt to Abuja.

“The Authority will like to state emphatically that the incident has nothing to do with the Honourable Minister’s wife; it was between some security personnel at the airport and the airline officials”, the statement read.

Story by Julius Eras-Olabowu