The Federal Government has suspended a charter and aircraft maintenance firm, Executive Jet Services, for flying Musician, Azeez Fashola, popularly known as Naira Marley, to Abuja to attend a concert.

The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said this during the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja on Monday.

Sirika said the aircraft which conveyed the musician was supposed to fly an Appeal Court Judge, Justice Adefope Okogie, from Lagos to Abuja.

He said,

The operation is a clear violation of our approval which we take very seriously. It seems this is becoming a norm. This is the second time. So, Executive Jet Services is hereby suspended indefinitely and they will face the law.

The captain will also be sanctioned for giving wrong information to the control tower. It seems also that people are not tired of trying our resolve and we are not tired of living up to our responsibilities. Governance is a serious matter.

The minister said the government would henceforth be stricter in granting approvals for private flights.

He said,

The person on that flight conducted a concert. We approved a flight, certainly not for a musician. The flight was approved to convey Honourable Justice Adefope Okogie from Lagos to Abuja and then back to Lagos for an official assignment.

In this challenging time, in our wisdom, we decided that the judiciary was part of the essential services. Moving a judge from Lagos to Abuja was in order.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.