TheCable

Festus Keyamo, minister of aviation and aerospace development, says the comments by Osita Chidoka, his predecessor, are “hypocritical”.

On May 22, Chidoka, former minister of aviation, said the federal government must not allow Emirates Airlines to resume operations in Nigeria without being held accountable for their “disrespectful and demeaning conduct”.

According to Chidoka, the audacity of the airline to return to Nigeria “reeks the contempt and disdain towards our nation”.

In his reaction on X on Wednesday, Keyamo said Chidoka’s advice should have been directed to Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president and presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

He asked Chidoka why Atiku was not advised to sell his assets in Dubai as a protest to the ban on visa and flights.

UAE and Nigeria have been engaging in a diplomatic row over issues involving flight allocations and travel bans since 2021.

On December 13, 2021, UAE issued a travel restriction on passengers from Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, citing a surge in the countries’ COVID-19 cases from passengers of the two African nations.

However, TheCable reported the travel ban might not be unconnected with the diplomatic row between Nigeria and UAE, over Air Peace’s flight frequency to the Arab country.

Air Peace had requested a slot of three weekly flights from Nigeria to Sharjah Airport in UAE, but only one was granted by the country’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

GCAA said Air Peace should not expect to retain its flight frequency after pulling out of Sharjah Airport — the Nigerian airline, however, denied the claim.

In retaliation to Air Peace’s treatment in UAE, the federal government dropped Emirate’s slots from 21 to one — leading to the Dubai-based airline suspending all its flights to Nigeria.

Speaking further, Keyamo questioned why Chidoka “fail to similarly advise” Atiku as he has done regarding the Emirates Airlines’ resumption announcement.

“To demonstrate your patriotism, sincerity and fidelity to the touted ‘Nigerian Pride’, the big puzzle is, why did you fail to similarly advise your boss, principal and mentor Atiku Abubakar to immediately relocate from Dubai to Nigeria and sell off all his assets there in protest when the ban on visa and flights were announced?” Keyamo asked.

“Hypocrisy has never been this audacious!

“Again, it is curious that, as a member of the think-tank of the PDP, your election strategy at a time (popularly dubbed ‘the Dubai Strategy’) was hatched in the same Dubai and not in Nigeria before the ban was announced. Why export a purely Nigerian project to Dubai if you loved Nigeria so much?”

Keyamo said the effort by the current administration is focused on fostering healthy relationships with major partners around the world for the ultimate benefit of Nigerians.

“Considering the huge investments and interests of Nigerians in the UAE, should we continue to engage in ‘Bolekaja’ (motor park) diplomacy capable of hurting the interests of Nigerians?” he asked.

“Will the imminent return of Emirates to Nigeria and in reciprocal manner, Air Peace returning to operating that route, not lead to better competition which will ultimately crash the present high fares on that route?

“Who will benefit more? How many Emiratis visit Nigeria and invest here as much as Nigerians visit the UAE and invest there? Have you bothered to ask about the lifting of the visa ban before issuing your warped statement? For your information, that has been resolved too and the announcement is imminent.

“Rather than craftily resorting to the card of false nationalism in pursuit of cheap political points, you should have told Nigerians the economic disadvantages Nigeria stand to suffer, if any, as a result of the commendable effort of the Tinubu administration to straighten our relations with our friends in the UAE.”

Keyamo also said Chidoka should advise the PDP to work harder to regain power in 2027 so they can resume the hostilities with the UAE authorities.