Abuja Airport Parking: Keyamo asks Peter Obi to apologise, pay ₦25,000 fine

Festus Keyamo, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, has threatened to give Peter Obi, the Nigeria Democratic Congress’ presidential flag-bearer, seven days to make a public apology and pay a N25, 000 fine for allegedly flouting parking rules at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

As revealed in a statement issued by Keyamo on Friday, an internal investigation, corroborated with CCTV evidence from the airport, proves Obi’s recent assertion that his car was clamped unfairly as a means of political victimization to be false.

In the statement, Keyamo claims that the incident took place on July 4 when Obi arrived at the domestic terminal of the airport at about 8:28pm.

Keyamo alleged that after Obi got down from the vehicle, his police driver parked it in the designated area for drop off of passengers and left the vehicle unmanned as he proceeded into the airport premises, against the airport’s protocol.

Keyamo explained that the police driver only returned momentarily to the vehicle but left it again unmanned.

He further stated that the airport authorities were unaware of the ownership of the vehicle by Obi at the time of enforcing the regulation.

The minister further claimed that upon realizing that his car had been clamped, the driver called Obi, who subsequently communicated with the manager of the airport and asked for the release of the vehicle.

According to Keyamo, the vehicle was freed without payment of the fine of N25,000.

He said leaving a vehicle unaccompanied in a restricted airport area for about 30 minutes is very dangerous and violates international aviation safety regulations.

Obi was accused of attempting to create political goodwill for himself by portraying the act of enforcement as persecution.

He noted that the matter was already sorted before Obi went ahead to make claims of being persecuted.

The minister ordered Obi to issue a public unreserved apology to the airport staff, who, according to him, were only performing their legal responsibilities, and also return voluntarily to pay the fine for parking.

Keyamo further warned that in case of non-compliance within a period of one week, he will direct the authority of the Nigerian airports to take action.