Alleged Nigeria Air Fraud: Air Peace Counters Hadi Sirika, Says He Made ‘Spurious Claims’

Adeyemi Adebanjo 

AIR PEACE, a leading privately owned airline operating in Nigeria, has discountenanced claims by the former Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika that it leased ‘two’ Boeing 777 aircraft on a monthly lease fee of $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months and incurred losses of $19 million while all the aircraft engines and landing gears became due for replacement when it was ready to fly.

Describing the assertion as ‘spurious claims’, and an attempt to “denigrate Air Peace while praising Ethiopian Airline” Air Peace said the truth of the matter is that the airline indeed has three, and not two, Boeing 777 aircraft which were never leased or rented, but were purchased outright by the airline.

According to Toyin Olajide (Mrs), the Chief Operating Officer of the airline, “Air Peace never incurred such a loss.  We never paid rentals contrary to his lies. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) can attest to the purchase and ownership of the aircraft by Air Peace”.  

On the allegation by the former minister that the airline stopped flying to Dubai because it “lacks capacity”,  Mrs Olajide described it as “another stark lie”.  

“Air Peace never stopped the Dubai operations because of lack of capacity. Air Peace commenced operations in the UAE in July 2019, but in October 2022, the UAE Government announced a total visa ban on Nigerians.

“Neither Emirates nor Air Peace is operating the Nigerian/UAE route since the ban. The persisting non-issuance of visas and the accompanying inconveniences necessitated the suspension of our Dubai operations from 22 November  2022 till date.

“For the former Minister to ascribe the suspension to ‘lack of capacity’ is not only shocking but also shows how keen he is to disparage an airline whose ascendancy has defied all the commercial odds and hostile environment placed on its path to continue to serve our nation proudly.

“How could an airline that placed a firm order for 13 brand new E2-195 aircraft, a firm order of 15 Boeing 737 Max 8 & Max 10, with over 30 aircraft already in its existing fleet be accused of lacking in capacity?

“How can an airline that stood up for the entire nation during the COVID-19 outbreak, and embarked on rescue operations worldwide, evacuating Nigerians from far-away China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, UK and South Africa during the COVID-19 lockdowns be accused of lacking in capacity?”, Mrs Olajide queried in a statement.  

She further stated that: “We implore the general public to disregard these lies told by the former Minister of Aviation against Air Peace during the Arise TV Interview.

“We take serious exception to a situation where Air Peace is being misrepresented in the public sphere, causing wrong perceptions about our brand”,

Senator Sirika in the last few weeks has been in the eye of the storm following the unveiling of an aircraft in an attempt to convince Nigerians that his pet project, Nigeria Air finally saw the light of the day. It was later revealed that the aircraft which was branded in Nigeria colours, was indeed chartered from Ethiopia Airline, this is despite billions of Naira Senator Sirika claimed to have expended on the project.  

Eighteen-Eleven Media