As the deadline given to British Airways to address the five demands made by the Respect Nigeria Coalition over their extreme 'bad attitude' to some Nigerian passengers on board flight BA075 expired on the 30th of April, the Boycott of British Airways and their services commenced today May 15, 2008 all around the world.
As the RNC had planned, the commencement of the boycott had started a day earlier in some parts of the world and, in Lagos, Nigeria; the boycott was officially kicked off this morning at exactly 11am in the morning.
Princess Tosin Awotesu and Ahaoma Kanu led the delegation of Nigerians that stood up to inform Nigerians to henceforth boycott British Airways.
The day started very well and the trio of Kanu, Awotesu and Cyril Udoh, who was a passenger in the plane and witnessed what happened in there frist hand, got in contact and it was agreed that the protest would start at BA’s HQ located at #5 Oyinkan Abayomi Close in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Kanu had earlier informed the press, both Television and Print media, about the boycott that was about to commence and members of the Nigeria media were on time at the venue waiting for the boycott to kick off.
But while the coordinators were on the way, Kanu received a call from some of the media people on ground that a heavy troop of mobile police men armed to the teeth stormed the premises of the BA office in response to a call from BA officials who obviously wanted to prevent the protest from happening, an action similar to what they did on the 27th of March.
The policemen, numbering about 25, were armed with AK-47 rifles, pistols, tear gas and had an armoured tank on standby.
The first crew that arrived the scene was Kanu and some members of RNC and on arrival, went straight to meet with the policemen and inform them on what was about to start.
They policemen were very civilized and explained that the protest should be suspended since the police authorities did not approve the protest. But they were informed that according to the Nigerian Constitution, a permit is not needed for a peaceful demonstration which was what the group wanted to hold.
When it appeared that the police were under instructions not to allow the protest hold, the journalists insisted that the issue has been made bigger with the presence of the policemen and wanted to see the end of the matter. The journalists were from Superscreen Television, MBI, Galaxy Television, News Agency of Nigeria, FRCN, Metro FM, National Daily Newspapers, Vanguard, Punch and so on.
They debated with the policemen for some time before the MOPOL commander in Lagos Command, Mr. Patrick Ejebawe, came out from the BA premises to meet with the group.
While explaining that he was aware of the right of Nigerian citizens to express themselves freely, he advised that such activities should be carried out with the police's co-operation.
He wanted to know the number of people that would be taking part in the protest and was informed that many were on the way especially Cyril Udoh, one of the passengers on board the plane. The police chief agreed to allow some members of the group meet with BA management which was a nice suggestion.
While the debate was going on, Kenn Emetulu, a member of the RNC, called from London and spoke to the journalists informing them of why the boycott was necessary.
Awotesu and Cyril arrived almost at the same time and she went on to ask the police who called them to come to the venue and there the information came; BA did. It was at this junction that some SSS agents came and asked that four people can go in for the meeting with BA management.
Awotesu, Kanu, Cyril and Efe, a presenter with Super screen Television went into the BA premises and were met by Mr. Andrian McLoy, BA country manager, Miss Feran Shonuga, Tunji Semo and Demola Adedoyin, BA’s PR person.
After the introductions, Kanu shared the leaflets round to everybody in the room including the SSS agents and then, Miss Shonuga replied by passing round their own press release; that show of wits commenced the real matter.
The first question asked was why Mr. Ayodeji Omotade should be banned for life from flying BA. The country manager said that he was not banned for life.
At this point, VOR took over in a very polished, impressive and authoritative voice that made the BA officials listen and listen carefully. She informed them that the information was just news as Mr. Omotade has not been informed about the development. She asked a question, since it was the BA office in London that informed him that he was banned for life from flying BA, why are we just hearing from him?
The reply was that the country manager needed to consult some people in UK before it would be announced. But then, why life ban? He then informed that it was a ban for six months but still the question why the ban? Then the supposed “unruly” behavior of the Nigerian passengers was the excuse. It was then that Kanu suggested that since Cyril was on the plane, it would be better he give an account of what happened inside the aircraft.
[b]Cyril stated by saying that he had been reading so many accounts of the incident from several newspapers quoting BA’s press release and called the stories rubbish.
“Nobody assaulted any member of the crew nor subject them to verbal abuse as reported by BA in their explanations,” he said.
He went on to explain that he was sitting five rows away from where the whole thing started and witnessed everything that happened.
“The guy that was being deported was making a muffling sound like someone that was being strangled and we had a case last year of a Nigerian killed in that process. Besides, there was a family with kids near where the guy was and the kids were crying so Ayo stood up and said don’t kill him which to me was not provocative nor assaulting.”
Cyril went on to disclose that before the Nigerian passengers were ordered out, BA officials first gently asked two Caucasians (White people) and a black man from the plane before drawing the curtain.
He also said that they were kept without food or water for all the hours they spent before been put on another plane that was re-routed through Dubai to Lagos.
“Wee ended up spending 18 hours for a 6 hour flight that we paid more than ₤700 for a ₤500 flight,” he regretted.[/b]
When asked if BA was going to tender an apology to Nigerians and Nigeria, the PR person started by saying that the addressed that issue in their press release.
Awotesu challenged her that, “You cannot piss on me and tell me it’s not raining- how can you tell me you regret something without telling me you are sorry,” No BA official answered directly.
The country manager kept mute and allowed the Nigerian BA officers deal with their own people.
They tried but did not make an impression.
The PR guy started talking loudly, obviously he was doing his job and VOR asked him a quaetion.
“If all of us are talking like you are doing now, will it be enough for you to call in the police and order everybody out of a plane? Mum was the word.
The Country Manager then said that the pilot was the person that took the decision, an answer that led to him been asked if it was the pilot that was supposed to take such decision instead of the management? He said the UK police took the decision.
It became apparent that the blame was being shifted to UK police. Folks in UK, that’s your call.
Then came the question from VOR,
“Who called the troop of armed anti-terrorist policemen outside your premises?”
The BA officials explained that it was for security reasons but could not explain why that number of armed policemen was called to guard their premises.
Kanu then asked the questions, Is BA going to apologize to Nigerians or not? They were adamant on the issue of regretting the incident and RNC informed them that the Boycott has just begun and will continue unabated.
BA now asked that they would look into some of the questions raised and get back to RNC but were told that thousands of emails had been sent to Willie Walsh concerning the matter, VOR made it known that BA had enough time to address the issues but refused to.
When it was clear that BA was not ready to address the demands of RNC, VOR thanked them for their time and the whole group got up to walk out but Mr. Tunji Semo, who was said to be the oldest Nigerian staff of BA pleaded that the meeting should not end like that. He appealed for 5 minutes to talk.
He started by expressing that he is a Nigerian and knows how Nigerians are feeling on the issue but he promised that with BA’s long relationship with Nigeria, it was clear that the issue will be looked into again.
With that said, RNC members then went out to address journalists on the outcome of the meeting. VOR read out a call to Nigerians urging them to boycott BA and their services until they will be humble enough to apologize and compensate the Nigerians they insulted on board their airline. Cyril also shared his experience on camera and answered questions from the press men.
The group then left the BA premises and stopped at Falomo where the distribution and awareness of the Boycott leaflets and posters were shared to Nigerians.
They later went to some parts of VI, Marina and Ikeja to create awareness of the commencement of the BA boycott.
As at the time of this report, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) a.k.a Radio Nigeria had reported the news in the network news.
Source: http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/ahaoma-kanu/boycott-of-british-airways-commences-in-ni.htmlNOTE: Boldened fonts - my emphasisI must say at times like this I am damn proud of my fellow country men. Forget the naysayers, we deserve more respect than these people are willing to give to us most times. Time we started letting them know what time it is. I'm wondering - the VOR referenced in this article, is this the same nairaland VOR?  |
