Dr Ifeanyi Onyike Beyond calling out Air Peace, Ikechukwu Amaechi apparently carried his anger a bit too far. He leveraged anger to pour invectives on a thriving business, in a seeming bid to destroy reputation and franchise.
He faces the kind of questions that Kenneth Starr had to answer in 1998 after his relentless efforts to prosecute US President Bill Clinton for the latter’s illicit affairs with White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Starr was an American lawyer, judge and independent counsel, whose report tried, but failed to remove Clinton from power because Congress and indeed Americans, chose Clinton’s economic excellence over his personal malfeasance nourished by a common human tendency.
Likewise, Amaechi tried to throw away the baby with the bad water, forgetting that there had been many cases in which the baby brought bundles of joy to its parents. Amaechi acknowledged that many Nigerians still choose Air Peace, but smothered this with his claim that it was a choice amidst lack of options. According to records, Nigeria has about 23 licensed domestic airlines – the popular ones being Air Peace, Overland, Arik and Dana.
Judging by recent memory, Air Peace reflects patriotism and has a track record of air transport safety. In May this year, Air Peace expended millions of Naira in a desperate rescue effort for 280 Nigerians trapped in war-torn Sudan. The airline had also rescued scores of Nigerians from Ukraine after Russia invaded the country.
To belittle the anguish and losses of Mr Amaechi, no doubt, would be outrightly unconscionable in the face of the ordeals that many Nigerians face, especially their inability to get anyone to hear them. Yet the elders often warn the aggrieved about the manner of reply to ensure that they do not become convicted after presenting a case of mistreatment before the village council.
Throwing tantrums will always detract from the case of an aggrieved person who employs uncouth language in the fit of anger. Extreme anger leads to momentary insanity. But insanity is insanity, and can nullify the cause of anger in the first place.
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All of Amaechi’s points went without the support of evidence. He merely stated the time of his arrival at the airport, which Air Peace contradicted with CCTV camera footing. Though it is hard to verify both accounts, at least, one party, Air Peace, cited evidence in proof of its position. It was totally charitable of Amaechi to acknowledge that Air Peace had cited a CCTV evidence in his December 14 article.
In writing his articles, Amaechi made a recourse to the Court of public opinion. He has promised to press further with his case as he is not satisfied with the amount of refund made by the airline – without the slightest consideration of the terms of his purchased ticket. However, it is very necessary to be armed with concrete evidence about the particular time of arrival, because it is at the heart of his case. If there is no way of proving that he arrived in time, he would not just lose the case, he would also be holding out himself as being uncharitable to the scores of other passengers who arrived in good time and boarded the flight. He would be perceived as seeking to undermine the schedule integrity of his flight because of his personal circumstances with possible departure delays. He would similarly be unfair to Air Peace, whose business he tended to bring into disrepute with his three-paged diatribe.
Recall that Air Peace suffered unwarranted attacks in May 2023 when the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress defied security lines to disrupt the flight operations of the airline in Lagos. The result was the loss of over seven hundred million Naira due to flight cancellations, according to the Chief Executive, Allen Onyema – who literally wept over the curious activities of the NLC and TUC. The NLC and TUC said they were trying to prevent Air Peace from flying passengers into Owerri Imo State on the basis of an alleged disruption of May Day activities by Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State. Mr. Onyema had asked: Why only Air Peace? Why vent the anger on the airline which owed transport obligations to its passengers? Against the background of very harsh operating environment, Air Peace deserves encouragement and not a tear down.
There is a lot to celebrate about the airline judging from the testimonies of the millions who use its services. To blight the long-built reputation of a business may prove to be anger taken too far, especially after the dust settles. Words can inflict festering sores long after the wounds of a missed flight have healed.
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