TheCable

A group of protesters demanding justice for an employee of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) who was brutalised by officers of the Nigerian air force (NAF) are currently interrupting aviation activities at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed international airport, Lagos.

A senior FAAN official who pleaded not to be named said the protest was not by FAAN officials but by the national union of air transport employers (NUATE).

“The protest is not by FAAN officials, we just woke up today and found out that the offices were locked, and the unions are protesting against the air force brutality on a FAAN official,” he said.

“You recall there was an incident where a FAAN official was beaten up, that’s what they are protesting.”

Asked if it was in anyway related to the fuel scarcity, he said: “Not to my knowledge”.

But another airport staffer who also does not want to be named said the protesters are FAAN officials and that they are protesting fuel scarcity and non-payment of salaries.

“FAAN is protesting the situation in the country. The fuel scarcity, the payment of salaries – generally how the country is going,” he said.

“The protesters came from their quarters to the local airport; you know we have three wings – the international and the two local wings.

“They started from Arik and walked down to MM2. From there, they walked down to the international wing.

“They are not grounding flights, they are just protesting for everybody to know what is happening; and if they don’t solve the problems, probably by tomorrow, they may take actions on that. They may shut airlines down.”

Yakubu Dati, spokesman of FAAN, could not be reached for confirmation, as he neither answered calls to his telephone line nor responded to a text message.

On Sunday, May 17, 2015, Mohammed Shuaib, a protocol officer with FAAN, was beaten to coma by four NAF officers, who alleged that he broke the rule and obstructed the free flow of traffic.