136 Ba Passengers Removed From Jet Over Deportee Row

To the best of my knowledge, Virgin Nigeria is Nigeria's national carier. You can check the media to confirm this.

nigeria ownes the controlling shares in virgin nigeria,so from a business perspective we own it as we have the controlling shares

nwanyi,
you still dey fight the fight

Hi Omoge,

Where u been?

I went to Heathrow on the day of the incident in the eve to see someone going on the BA flight to Abuja and the Check-in lady related her own version of the story in explaning why the abuja flight was so full was because the lagos passengers had to be put on the abuja flight having been asked to get off their own morning flight because "they teamed up and demanded that a deportee shul not be deported, because the deportee was shouting that he didn't want to go"

I was a bit amused though was wondering as the solidarity moves by the passengers n whether Police officers were not in attendance. At least now I've heard the story from a 'participant' s' mouth. Na wah oh, God give us the strength to stand up f0r our people for once.

From todays The Nation newspaper by a passenger on the flight


The B.A 75 affair: A testimony        26/4/2008
      Louisodion@yahoo.com
By Louis Odion
 
For a nation often thought unshockable, it is quite strange that a mere report by London Daily Mail two weeks ago of the manhandling exactly a month ago (March 27) of a Nigerian deportee aboard British Airways flight 75 is now provoking a national outrage. Even stranger is the Tuesday presidential order issued the aviation minister to probe the circumstances surrounding the incident given that it would seem just any official dereliction can now be explained away in the name of "due process" and "rule of law".

Obviously unsettled in his sick bed in Germany by the international opprobrium the story has generated, Presidential Umar Yar’Adua asked Minister Felix Hyatt to inquire into how more than 100 Nigerian passengers were short of chased off the air vessel that day for protesting the brutal treatment of a Nigerian deportee.

Incidentally, I happen to be one of the unlucky passengers scheduled to fly London to Lagos that day. Aware that fellow Nigerians had suffered even worse fate in the past (in fact, yet another Nigerian deportee was brought into Abuja stone dead aboard the same B.A only few weeks back!) without heavens falling, one had deliberately kept silence all these days for two reasons. One, I didn’t want to be branded an ingrate to Almighty God for little mercies (on account of the relatively "lesser" degree of trauma suffered on March 27). Two, I was partly persuaded such is one of the indignities we citizens of Nigerians are left to suffer for our failing nationhood.

But with the Yar’Adua charge of Tuesday, I changed my mind, hoping the following testimony will help lighten Hyatt’s burden in seeking to unravel the truth in the days ahead. To start with, it is a gross abuse of language to so describe what transpired that day in such tepid terms. To most of the Lagos-bound passengers (yours sincerely inclusive), it was nothing short of a slow-motion horror movie that lasted four days (details of which shall soon become apparent).

That fateful Thursday, we were finally re-boarded six hours later, 6p.mLondon time (7p.m Nigerian time). By the time we arrived Lagos, it was 1.20a.m. (Friday morning). Many (including nursing mothers) had to loiter the arrival hall till daylight before venturing to their next destinations. I am not aware anyone was paid any compensation for all the inconveniences.

Like most tragedies, the March 27 incident left no fore-warning. Boarding was completed about 12.40p.m. It was not a full flight. I had taken a window seat, savouring the huge spectacle presented by the London skyline on a sunny afternoon after grueling days of snow, thrilled by the thoughts of imminent return to my motherland on the other side of the Atlantic, gladden by the prospects of being spared further torture of the freezing European cold.

While awaiting the pilot’s final announcement of take-off, I then busied myself with the collection of British dailies I bought at the duty free shop. Of course, the headlines that day were dominated by the visiting French president, Sarkozy, who had arrived London the previous day. Then, minutes rolled into an hour. Glimpses of what lay ahead began to appear shortly afterwards when a group of cops barged into the cabin and marched towards the rear of Boeing 747 aircraft. More followed as the minutes ticked by.

Ordinarily, the atmosphere inside an aircraft about to take off should be serene. The reason is partly circumstantial. It is an assemblage of people of diverse backgrounds, sometimes left to cast furtive glances at each other under the yoke of unfamiliarity. And more importantly, for the majority, even more overbearing is the feeling of anxiety about the journey ahead.

But unlike the accustomed serenity, what soon filled the cabin this afternoon was a cacophony of raised voices from the rear of the aircraft. It was only then words began to go round that a prospective deportee was on board, handcuffed and kept in one of the last rows like a wild beast.

To be sure, deportation is a normal occurrence in international law. What is, however, considered strange in civil aviation – especially in this modern age - is the handcuffing of the passenger and/or sealing his/her mouth with adhesive tape as some foreign countries are now fond of doing to Nigerian deportees. It is unknown to all known regulations of international aviation including the Warsaw Convention.

Obviously, Ayodeji was being deported against his wish March 27. He kept crying that "Please, my brother is going to wed tomorrow. I have to be there".

Apparently haunted by the memory of the tragedy that had occurred between London Heathrow and Abuja not too long ago (in which a handcuffed deportee died in transit), some fellow Nigerians sitting close to the deportee that day now reportedly protested to the presiding security agents: "Treat this man like a human being! You can’t deport him like this!" The protest was led by one Ayodeji Omotade.

Meanwhile, before more British cops swarmed the cabin like enraged bees, Omotade was able to make contacts with the Immigration department at Heathrow to protest the inhuman manner the deportee was being handled. From the scraps of hints one could piece together, a lawyer claiming to be acting on behalf of the deportee also alerted the immigration department against the "illegality" being perpetrated aboard B.A. Flight 75. Thus, a stalemate was created.

Predictably, the about 20 policemen present in the cabin thereafter vented their spleen on both the deportee and Omotade. I personally watched five cops hustling the deportee down the aisle from the rear half naked towards the exit (to imagine the freezing cold outside!), his two hands held apart by four of them in a motion of torture. From the look in their eyes, they no doubt enjoyed watching their quarry belching out animal shrieks from the pit of pain repeatedly. Given the usually racist temperament of the British establishment, I would be surprised if this platoon of twenty super-efficient cops were not patted on their backs later at their station that day for such exemplary resourcefulness in the torture of this irritant from another slum of Africa.

By now, the time had clocked 2.30p.m (more than two hours behind schedule!). The British authorities resolved to punish all the passengers for the "insolence" of a few at the back who dared protest the inhumanity meted to the deportee. We were all ordered to evacuate the cabin together with our hand luggage for "fresh boarding". Of course, the only vague explanation offered by the B.A officials was that "the exercise is for security reasons".

Confused, a young lady sitting behind me asked a cop standing by: "What exactly is going on?"

To this legitimate inquiry, these exactly were the rotten words spewed by this British police officer: "I said get the f, king out of the plane and stop asking me stupid questions!". Were a parade conducted tomorrow, I personally won’t have any difficulty identifying the chap with his overgrown moustache and unblinking eyes of a wild cat.

Back in the departure hall, passengers were issued a five British Pound Sterling voucher to buy "refreshment" of sandwich and water while awaiting the proverbial Godot. But no one is sure how much B.A. would, in turn, debit the British Government for the losses suffered on account of this disruption in the process of ferrying the Nigerian deportee. We had to wait another three hours before being boarded for the six-hour journey. Of course, the deportee and Omotade had been whisked away.

We finally took off from London just when we should have commenced initial descent into Lagos. By now, everyone was visibly too exhausted to raise a voice further in protest before or during the journey.

We finally taxied to a stop at Murtala The Great Prophet International Airport, Lagos at about 1.10a.m. More trouble: most passengers were told their luggage were left behind in London. We were asked to come back later in the evening (of Friday) with proofs of ownership to claim our belongings. Notwithstanding the hour of the day, I still managed to get home at about 2.20A.M, thanks to the abiding love of my folks who drove over and had kept vigil before midnight. As if to add salt to injury, the delivery of my two luggage would be staggered: I got one on Saturday and the last on Sunday.

I have heard B.A. issuing statement after the London Mail report suggesting it does not give a damn about March 27. In fact, the airline has even announced a six-month ban on the said Nigerian who led the protest against Ayodeji’s maltreatment that day. This should not come as a big surprise to us. It is consistent with the institutional hubris of the British in the face of the abdication of responsibility by the Nigerian authorities. By such arrogant statement, the impression created is that the British carrier is the one doing Nigeria’s traveling public a big favour by flying London-Lagos and London-Abuja. No argument could be more egregiously fallacious.

More insult: B.A. Thursday sent two "junior" officers to honour a summon by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). In anger, NCAA Director General, Dr. Harold Demuren, had to cancel the meeting, expressing displeasure that the British carrier chose to treat an issue in which Federal Government is interested with such levity.

But note that such arrogance is only possible because we had always gladly accepted the slavish role assigned us in the Anglo-Nigerian relations. The Nigerian routes surely remain cash cow for B.A. Beneath this arrangement is a culture of predation that dates back to colonial history. Ironically, it is on the same routes that B.A. treats Nigerian passengers with contempt. In the absence of official sanctions, it carries on with impunity.

B.A is, in turn, backed by the home government which deliberately creates institutional barriers against competition from Nigerian carriers. Today, the British aviation authorities will not allow a Nigerian carrier like Arik fly directly into Heathrow, perhaps out of fear that the latter has enough clout to give it a keen competition in terms of deployment of better vessels. For this reason, the British aviation authorities now say they have given frequencies to Arik, but no slot! It is like being admitted into a disco hall and then told you can’t join the dance. If Arik were flying London Heathrow, I, for instance, would not have flown B.A. in the first instance.

Looking back, if not for the barbarity of the British agents in hand-cuffing Ayodeji that day, I can’t see myself holding brief for a fellow citizen about to be deported unlike the average Nigerian under the circumstance, however. The British have every right to throw us out of their country if they so wish. Rather, we should take such rejection as a challenge to build a better country for ourselves. Nation-building is a collective effort. It starts from voting right and being committed to making the ballot count.

Having said that, we as a people should, I think, also be courageous enough to look ourselves in the mirror and tell ourselves the truth. I think it is also high time we probed deeper into the psychology of the average Nigerian. If we are looked down on outside, it is partly because of the way we present ourselves. Truth be told, we are treated with contempt because of the lie some of us like to live. What is it that makes people quickly resign their professional jobs in Nigeria to move over and gladly accept demeaning jobs of toilet-cleaner in London or United States? What is it that makes the average Nigerian abroad quickly slip on industrial hand-gloves and literally mummify himself/herself with layers of thick jacket to be able to go out and work in the winter? He/she seems to forget that if only half of such spirit of enterprise had been exhibited back home, national productivity would have been boosted ultimately.

I disagree it is all about money. If bread is all a man should live for, someone like Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr. should not be in Nigeria today. With the kind of fortune he has, he can afford to live the rest of his life in any corner of the universe comfortably. But despite being hounded out of Nigeria in 2006, Adenuga continued to long for a return. He did not give up until commonsense prevailed last year. The reason is simple: there is no place like home. For all the gold and silver in the world, I can’t see myself clinging to a society where I am not welcomed. For me, nowhere compares with my own country, its many manifestations of ugliness notwithstanding. It is high time the youths – especially the impressionable ones – started internalizing this in their sub-conscious.

The deportee was Augustine Eme who  is a member of Massob according to some reports and the email was not from "Louis Odion" Louisodion@yahoo.com but from "Ikioduwa osarodion" kioduwa_osarodion@yahoo.com

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/a-world-of-casual-racism-exposed-at-ba-815842.html

Little Update,

THE Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), its president, Mr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) and a Nigerian citizen, Mr. Ayo Omotade, have dragged British Airways before a Lagos High Court, over the manhandling, molestation and inhuman treatment mated to Omotade, while aboard British Airways, last month for daring to question the inhumane treatment mated out to another Nigeria, being deported to Nigeria from Britain.
Omotade, who had while aboard British Airways, observed the deportation of a Nigerian, who was handcuffed, yet being further restrained and manhandled violently, had gently approached the officers tormenting the deportee and asked them not to kill him.


But was later told to get off the plane and not to travel with the airline because the cabin crew claimed he had been disruptive by questioning the noise being caused by the deportee that was removed.



Omotade, after being prevented from traveling, was later arrested, handcuffed and detained and is being prosecuted in London, over the money found on him, which he was bringing to his family in Nigeria.



Plaintiffs in the suit are further asking the court to declare that the arrest, detention, harassment, humiliation, intimidation, jettisoning, manhandling, molestation, persecution, threatening and tormenting of Omotade on or about March 27, 2008 on board the respondent’s Flight BA075, from London to Lagos without warrant or lawful justification by British police and law enforcement officers, with the assistance, co-operation and support of the officers and crew of the respondent, in the circumstances of this case, are unlawful in the municipal laws of both Nigeria and the United Kingdom.


As well as in international law, and violate Omotade rights guaranteed him by sections 34(1), 35(1), 39(1), 41(1) and 42(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999; articles 2, 4, 5, 6, 12, 16(1), 19 and 23 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; and articles 1 to 7, 9, 13 and 28 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.



The court is also asked for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondent, its officers or crew or any of them, whether by themselves, their agents, officers, privies or servants, or otherwise howsoever, from doing or attempting or purporting to do, or letting any authority or person do or attempt or purport to do on the respondent’s flights, any of the following: arresting, detaining, harassing, humiliating, intimidating, jettisoning, manhandling, molesting, persecuting, threatening or tormenting Omotade, or in any other manner contravening the Omotade fundamental rights.

The applicants are contending that the suit is predicated on the grounds that the respondent’s grievous desecration of the applicants’ fundamental human rights offends not only the municipal laws of the jurisdictions to which the parties respectively belong, but also international law.

source---->>http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/board/ba/47033-heat-ba-nba-others-drag-ba-court.html#post4295011516ource

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

thanks guys for all the nice posts

Phew, we finally agree on something, you this modakeke guy  .

Virgin Nigeria is owned by Nigeria.

51% owned by Nigeria and 49% owned by Virgin. Virgin is responsible for the day to day management of the airline, the Virgin brand is very successful, experienced and well recognised hence the huge percentage. Over time perhaps after their initial contract Virgin will sell more shares to Nigeria.

Therefore Nigerian national airline is VIRGIN NIGERIA.

Probably, probably not. We'll never know.

One thing I'm certain of though - if a Briton was being deported from Nigeria, I doubt he / she'd create such spectacle of him / herself, by resisting deportation.
If the Nigerian deportee had made things easy for himself, none of this would have happened.

hmmm

See logic in action. It looks like this your "virgin" Nigeria is an "half-caste"! I wonder what will happen if it were 100% red-blooded Nigerian.

100% ownership will be more befitting. Not half and half.  We know how the other "Virgin" Airline ended up. 

Raped!

And where did you get that?

No! Nothing wrong with a Nigerian marrying a white person.  I am all for inter-tribal, inter-racial or inter-planetary marriages if anyone so desires.

My point was that your "Virgin" Nigeria is not full blooded Nigerian.  The reason it is successful by any standards right now is that it is half-white like Obama!

Anything half-white will be more progressive than anythng full black! Including myself.  I am not partial.

When your Virgin Nigeria goes full Nigerian, it becomes the classic "Soso-lie-lie-Lisos", falling off the air like sick vultures!