A new video has emerged on social media platforms, showing Adams Oshiomhole, former Edo State Governor, alongside other disgruntled Air Peace passengers protesting the airline’s demand for an additional fee on Wednesday, despite their early arrival.
In a five-minute video on Facebook seen by FIJ, Oshiomhole is seen telling an Air Peace staff member that it was the third time the airline had disrupted his schedule due to their incompetence.
“For the third time, you are messing me up. You have to tell your people to stop collecting money from the passengers. You’re asking me to pay N15,000 more for your own incompetence? How?” Oshiomhole asked the Air Peace staff member.
Supporting the former Edo governor’s point, a disgruntled female passenger in an orange top echoed, “It is extortion.”
The clip shows Oshiomhole telling the Air Peace staff that some people had checked him in online and assured him he would be on board.
“They checked me in online. They said I was going to board. I came here long ago. I should avoid this mischief. This is the third time after waiting for four hours. You say you overbook. You delay your flight for hours,” Oshiomhole said to an Air Peace staffer.
“They said in 20 minutes some of us were going. What about those who were here? What do you want to do now? What is the solution? I want to expose you.”
Another aggrieved female passenger said that, worse still, after Air Peace prevented her from boarding, they demanded she pay an additional fee, despite arriving on time.
“Who compensates us? Nobody — just mineral (soft drink) and one cabin biscuit!” the woman yelled.
A man who identified himself as Dr George, a staff member at the Ministry of Travel and Tourism, said that Air Peace had informed him he needed to be at the airport at least 45 minutes before departure.
“I got here exactly 6 am. Your security guy here was stopping people from coming in. All of a sudden, the story changed. I know the rules. The way you have been behaving is all about your profits. If you cannot put me on the next flight, give me my refund and I am not going to pay extra money,” said George to the Air Peace staffer Oshiomhole spoke with.
On Wednesday, images emerged along with initial reports that Oshiomhole disrupted travel activities at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos by locking the Zulu Terminal at the General Aviation Terminal after missing his flight to Abuja.
As of Wednesday, Air Peace defended this widespread standpoint in its press statement, stating that a “prominent individual in question arrived at Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1 (Zulu Hall) at approximately 06:10 am for Flight P47120 scheduled to depart Lagos for Abuja at 06:30 am. In line with our standard on-time departure policy, the boarding process had closed, and the flight departed as scheduled”.
On Thursday, the airline company switched to asking Oshiomhole to prove his claims by providing evidence to justify his allegations that Air Peace was overbooked and then tried to extort its passengers.
