A flight company, Executive Jet Services, says it was made to believe that the flight which took musician, Naira Marley, whose real name is Azeez Fashola, to Abuja over the weekend was booked for the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
Chairman/CEO of the company, Sam Iwuajoku, stated this in a letter dated June 15 and addressed to the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to apologise for the flight after the firm’s licence was suspended by the Federal Government on Monday.
“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,” the letter read.
“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.
“We are very sorry for this mistake and we promise that this would not happen again.”
Sirika had said on Monday that the company would also be fined and that the flight captain would be sanctioned for providing false information.
Naira Marley held a concert in Abuja over the weekend in violation of travel restriction and ban on social gatherings.
The concert, which ex-Big Brother Naija housemate, Kim Oprah, also attended, was meant to be a drive-thru. It reportedly got out of hand after some fans left their cars and gained entrance into the venue.
