The Board of Directors of the Jabi Lake Mall, Abuja, which was sealed after singer, Naira Marley, performed there in violation of the interstate travel ban and social distancing rules put in place to curb the coronavirus pandemic, has denied authorising the concert, a source has told This Day Live.
The mall was sealed on June 14 by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on June 14 after Naira Marley’s June 13 concert.
According to the source, the mall is managed by a property manager and the shareholders of the mall were shocked to learn that an employee of the property manager made the decision to hold the concert without permission.
“This event should never have happened and an independent investigation has been launched to gather all the facts,” the source said.
The operating license of ExecuJet Services, the flight company which flew Naira Marley from Lagos to Abuja where the concert was held, was suspended on June 15.
In an apology letter addressed to the Minister of Aviation, the Chairman/CEO of the company, Sam Iwuajoku, stated that they had mistaken the singer, whose real name is Aziz Fashola, for the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola.
“Please the flight was to carry a judge to Abuja on Sunday 14th, 2020 as requested and 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 that 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 manifest is always sent to me before any departure, when I went through the manifest and I 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 it is a serving minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I didn’t know that it was a bunch of useless people,” the letter reads in part.
