The management of Egypt Air, which was
accused of maltreatment and wrongful deportation of a Nigerian medical
student, Joshua Kunle Abdul-Azeez, studying in Ukraine and tearing his
Nigerian international passport has admitted making a mistake and
offered to compensate the student.
This followed an intervention by the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora.
Having received a complaint filed
against Egypt Air, the committee, led by Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa
Wednesday met with representatives of the Airline on circumstances
surrounding the alleged negligence, harassment and deportation of the
complainant back to Nigeria aboard EgyptAir.
According to Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa
(APC, Lagos), “the error of not ascertaining the final destination of
the complainant from his ticket was that of Egypt Air.’’
‘’If you are going to London for
instance, your final destination must be known before your visa is
approved or before air ticket would be accepted by airline operators,’’
she said.
She added that ‘’ours is that, once a Nigerian is ill-treated anywhere in the world, we must make sure that justice is done’’.
Putting the issues in perspective, legal
representative of Egypt Air, Robert Clarke (SAN), told the Committee
that though the incident of maltreatment and harassment as reported did
not occur while the complainant was still in the physical custody of
Egypt Air, the issue of negligence arising from wrong routing of his
destination in the ticket was a mistake his clients cannot deny.
He said, ‘’although, my clients made a
mistake when his ticket was being routed which had to do with the
exchange between Egypt Air and a Turkish airline, however, the boy
partly caused the problem for himself when he entered a Turkish airline
that was not going to Kiev. He tried to board a plane that was going to
Moldova, that was when it was discovered that he did not have a visa to
that destination’’.
‘’The truth is that, we made a mistake
on his ticket; that much we are ready to admit and make compensation as
appropriate. We wronged the boy. We were negligent and he has suffered
tremendous damage for which we are ready to own up and address
accordingly. I feel for the young man for having suffered on the account
of our mistake of not routing his ticket to his final destination,
which was Kiev’’, he said.
He also hinted that the matter has
assumed a legal dimension following a notice of service by some lawyers
on behalf of the boy, claiming damages in huge sum of money.
‘’Two weeks ago, some lawyers wrote to
the airline claiming a huge sum of money in damages, so as we speak now,
the matter has gone beyond the realm of this Committee to a Federal
High Court according to the letter we got’’, he explained.
Joshua Abdul-Azeez, 17 was on his way to
Kiev, the Ukrainian capital when his passport was seized and torn by
Immigration officials at the Istanbul Airport in Turkey for not
possessing a visa to his preferred destination, Moldova.
However, in his petition to the House
Committee on Diaspora, he alleged that his ordeal was caused by the lack
of professionalism on the part of Egypt Air which handled his travel
arrangements from Nigeria.
The Committee however urged the Airline
to reach an amicable settlement with the young man and take necessary
measures to avoid future occurrences.
Vanguard had exclusively
reported how Mr Abdulazeez was detained two Saturdays ago, starved for
four days and his passport torn to shreds.
