The Federal Government has suspended Executive Jet services, the aviation company that owns the private jet used to fly Naira Marley from Lagos to Abuja for his drive-in concert on Saturday, June 13.
The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, who announced this at the daily briefing of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 today June 15, said the aviation company violated the Federal government’s approval.
According to him, an approval was given to the company to fly Justice Adefope Okoji from Lagos to Abuja and back to Lagos on an official assignment. However, they used the approval to fly in NairaMarley.
Well, we approved a flight but certainly not for any musician. The flight, from the application, was to convey Honourable Justice Adefope Okojie from Lagos to Abuja and back to Lagos for an official assignment.
“In this challenging time, in our wisdom, we considered the judiciary to be part of the essential service to be delivered. Having to move the Hon. Justice from Lagos to Abuja was in order. The approval was given for the 14th of June, 2020, however, we do give them a leeway of 24 hours sometimes due to operational reasons.
They can operate the flight slightly earlier or slightly forward within 24 hours. In this case, the operator choose to fly on the 13th at about 6:00 pm. So, that itself is not a violation to operate earlier because we gave him the leeway.
The operator is Executive Jets Services and the approval was very clear and I will read part of it. This is the letter from the ministry of Aviation to the Chairman of the Executive Jets Services and it was signed by the Director of Air Transport Management on my behalf.”
Announcing the sanctions on the company, Sirika said
“The operation is a clear violation of our approvals which we take seriously, it seems this is becoming a norm, it’s the second time.
Execujet services are hereby suspended indefinitely. We’ll also fine them maximally according to the law. The captain of the flight will be sanctioned for giving wrong information to the control tower”.
On Sunday, June 14, the Federal Capital Territory Administration sealed off Jabi Lake Mall on Sunday for two weeks over Naira Marley’s concert which violated the government’s ban on public gathering.
