NaijaWire

Nigerians in Diaspora to boycott of British Airways

London - British Airways may soon loose the patronage of hundreds of Nigerians in Diaspora if threats of boycott after the deplorable conduct of the officials of the airline towards Nigerian passengers, is put to action.

The threat came about on a day the airline inhumanly treated a Nigerian deported last month on March 27. The 137 Nigerian passengers on board the British Airways flight 0075 from London to Lagos witnessed the maltreatment of the said Nigerian, who was handcuffed and forced into the flight.

The way he was manhandled, which made the deportee to shout for help, prompted a Nigerian passenger, Ayodeji Omotade, to call on British Immigration officials to exercise restraint unless they wanted to kill him.

Angered by the words of sympathy from Omotade, the Immigrations officials arrested and detained Mr Omotade. The other Nigerians on the flight were totally outraged and vehemently protested the maltreatments and subsequent arrest. Many others who read the report in the British tabloid, Daily Mirror, wrote and signed a protest letter, to the President, the Senate President, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, demanding a front page apology in a national Nigerian daily newspaper to all passengers on-board flight BA0075; a written apology and appropriate compensation to Mr. Ayo Omotade; lifting of the life ban imposed on Omotade by BA, and all criminal charges against him dropped forthwith.

The Nigerians also demanded that BA should sign an undertaking that it should desist from such attitude in future and April 30 was given as deadline for the airline to respond.

“Failure on the part of the British Airways to comply to the above demands will result in us calling for worldwide boycott of British Airways by Nigerians”, the petition stated.

Maltreatment of Nigerians and spraying of disinfectant inside the flights coming into Lagos were the butt of dispute between the former Minister of State, Air Transport, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, who insisted that the spraying must stop and that BA should adopt a better attitude while dealing with Nigerian passengers.

Commenting on the issue, Omotade said, “There are also numerous accounts of less than acceptable customer service by BA to Nigerians on board flights to and from Nigeria. Such treatment must stop.”

Daily Mirror reported that the BA pilot took the “extra-ordinary” decision to boot off everyone who had witnessed the arrest of Mr. Omotade, an IT consultant from Chatham, Kent.

“The captain took the view they were all guilty of disturbing the flight, although no more passengers were arrested. After the economy class section was virtually cleared, the deportee, aged about 30, was brought back on and the flight left”.

A passenger and eye witness on the flight, Mrs. Rosemary Almaroof-Lawal, confirmed to Naijawire.com that the airline transferred all the other passengers to another flight going to Lagos via Dubai, as a way of punishing them [passengers] for intervening in the matter. Needless to say, the passengers endured 16hrs of flight to Lagos, a flight which was supposed to have taken only 6hrs.

Mr. Omotade for his part, was banned from flying on any British Airways flight for life.” British Airways will likely feel th impact of the boycott, as the London-Lagos route is a very lucrative route for all airlines. Virgin Nigeria stands a lot to gain from any such boycott.

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