BRITISH AIRWAYS, APOLOGIZE TO NIGERIANS OR FACE BOYCOTT!
Last year, Osamuyi Aikpitanhi (pictured below) was manhandled by Spanish authorities during deportation back to Nigeria. He was handcuffed, gagged, beaten and eventually suffocated to death. It took an uproar from Nigerians in the diaspora as well as prominent citizens in the country for the Spanish government to own up to the wrongful death of the young man.
Last month, another Nigerian who was being deported cried out while being manhandled by four or five officers onboard a BA aircraft. A fellow passenger, Mr. Ayodeji Omotade, after hearing the man’s continual moans and groans for about twenty minutes pleaded with the security men not to kill him.
The deportee was immediately taken off the plane. The officers then returned to arrest Mr. Omotade. He was handcuffed and dragged off the aircraft without being formally charged with anything. When other passengers protested his arrest, the pilot decided to evict all 135 passengers from the economy section of the aircraft!
Mr. Omotade, a British-born IT consultant from Chatham Kent, enroute to Nigeria for his brothers wedding was later charged with affray and accused of involvement in criminal activities. The money he had on, about £1613, which were meant for friends and relatives, was siezed and he was asked to prove they weren’t meant for or acquired through criminal means.
Ten hours later after bail, he returned to the airport and was told his luggages had probably been shipped off to Nigeria in addition to a lifetime ban from BA for being outspoken over the perceived maltreatment. In his own words:
Eventually, one week and one day later, my bags were brought to me at home. One was badly damaged and the other was intact. British Airways delibrately made sure I missed the wedding because if they were kicking me off their flight, they would have removed my bags from the flight. They were all there when the police officers made me to sit on the floor and heard me pleading to allow me fly for my brother’s wedding. I could have made either KLM or Virgin Nigeria the following Friday morning.
I will not want to believe that the authorities involved in the situation deliberately or cleverly punished me unnecessarily out of frustration for not being able to restrain or subdue a deportee or that I as a fee paying passenger was accused of affray with violence when I was voicing my concerns about the disturbances caused by the deportees. I never mentioned any abusive or swear words neither was I physically threatening anyone. My luggage mysteriously was lost and I have been banned on all British Airways flights without a chance to say my part of the story to redeem myself. 135 passengers were asked to leave the flight because they expressed displeasure regarding the disturbances caused by the deportees and the officers trying to restrain him. My ticket was even refused to be endorsed by BA to enable me to fly with another airline. I need full compensation of my loss and also a letter of apology from British Airways.
All protests and petitions have fallen on deaf ears. BA has kept mum about the incident despite calls for the airline to publicly apologize for the ill treatment of the 135 passengers by April 30th or face an allround boycott by Nigerians.
I have flown BA only twice in my life and sworn off it for good! I don’t want to wait to be booted off a flight to know that despite the high patronage by Nigerians, we are not regarded highly enough to be treated equitably. The pilot’s actions was unjustified and uncalled for. BA should apologize and compensate all the affected individuals appropriately; especially Mr. Omotade.
Much as the British govenment and it’s ilk despises us (Nigerians) they realize their dependence on us is crucial. It’s a mutual relationship really, yet, this is one among many inumerable incidences of prejudice and gross human rights violation routinely meted by airline staff on Nigerians. The most recent of which has come under fire is the spraying of disinfectants in all Lagos bound aircrafts. I know China Southern airlines, which I flew with recently, sprays pesticides because of mosquitoes, but I can’t understand why disinfectants should be applied unto passengers in aircrafts unless they are contagion.
The British govenment needs Nigerians. In the post 9/11 season of transatlantic flights decline, the Lagos-London route almost literaly kept BA afloat. Presently there are daily flights from Abuja and Lagos to London respectively.
In Britain both legal and illegal immigrants are a valuable tax-generating asset. The govenment is in a dillemma about tightening immigration laws. On one hand they risk inviting in the wrong type of people, on the other they risk loosing skilled workers. In the current HSMP point system Nigeria is grouped together with Afghanistan. The most unlikely country to be considered at economic parity with Nigeria. There can only be one explanation for the relative mark down; They need Nigerians!
The British HIgh Commission of Nigeria makes millions of Naira from visa applications (on a monthly basis, I dare say). Less then 20% of all applications are successful. For the unsuccessful, their application fees are not refunded. The High Commission generates an absurdly high amout of revenue from application fees alone, all their offices in Nigeria are self-sustained. Consequently they’ve been weaned off financial reliance on the Home Office.
The British High Commision has no qualms about issuing visas to looters and thieves, but when the common man applies they almost have to pry open his mouth and count his teeth to make sure they’re really his and he is not in fact stealing them. Despite this, many will continue to try their luck to migrate to the UK where they can be productive and enjoy the fruits of their productivity. Thousands of students will also apply to study in the UK because of the warped perspective of Nigerian employers who value UK degrees over locally obtained ones.
Needless to say, it’s high time Nigerians demand better treatment in this symbiotic if not equal relationship. We no longer live in collonial times where we have to fear offending the master.
I urge Nigerians to register their protest by contacting the British Airways. You can fill up an online complaint form by clicking Customer Relations. Or call 0844 493 0 787 (UK).
Read also Ayodeji Omotade VS British Airways by Reuben Abati and It’s easy to be snotty with an airline so haughty that it regards it’s customers as an inconvenience by Robert Fisk of the Independent.
*
References:
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/8937/55
http://www.nigerianmuse.com/nigeriawatch/abati/Ayodeji_Omotade_vs_British_Airways_by_Reuben_Abati
Picture of Osamuyi Aikpitanhi culled from: http://www.ligali.org/article.php?id=1811
http://russellwise.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/nigerians-call-for-boycott-of-ba-after-deportation/
20 comments so far
Leave a reply
[...] Continue reading On my other blog [...]
I read the story on one blog like that and I was struck by the implied meekness of the victim. I would have expected Mr. Omotade by now to have instructed his lawyer to file a suit against BA cos with this oyinbo people, we cannot simply allow them to continue to take us for fools. Abeg, there are other airlines like Emirates, Air France, Virgin Nigeria and other airlines who are not as ill-mannered as BA.. Nan, at some poin tin time, i’ll be filling in the complaint form as you said but meanwhile, i’m waiting to see what Mr. Omotade will do to defend his honor…or is he afraid of being stripped of his british citizenship?
I don’t know if i’m biased or what cos I know that the federal government has actually commissioned an investigation into this matter, but I think it’s time we learnt to stand up for ourselves to redeem our battered image cos just as that black woman took a proactive action by giving up her seat for a white woman (can’t remember the era now…but it’s a popular story)Mr. Omotade should stand up for himself and make sure that BA apologises and compensates him for the error done. Chikena!
Sorry, I mean’t to say that the black woman refused to give up her seat…
Spot on Jan! Like you the concensus is that he should engage the services of a lawyer to have his rights reinstated. But for those 135 others who were evicted the BA has to own up to the fact that their pilot acted tactlessly. I’ve heard of Nigerians behaving unruly on planes, but this just takes it to another extreme. It’s obvious they’ve absorbed the ‘local mood’ and realized they can get away with a lot of things. But enough is enough.
The problem now is BA enjoys a high monopoly of flights coming to the UK from Lagos as Reuben Abati points out. A boycott will be impossible if other airlines aren’t given the opportunity to ply the route. All our efforts will come to naught if the appropriate authorities in Nigeria don’t back the people up by applying the necessaary sanctions on BA.
I didn’t even see the mistake. As soon as I read ‘black woman’ and ’seat’ I knew exactly what you meant,
I sincerely hope the investigation doesn’t end with the commissioning because I personally see this as an insult to the country of Nigeria. I read the Nigerian dailies are reluctant to touch on the issue. If I were a journalist I would have had a field day with it; make sure I remind our leaders to get off their fat bums and redeem us dammit! All we need is ONE predecent for everyone to know we want to stand up and be counted as equals.
On this, I agree with you Nan.
When Will Enough Be Enough?
British Airways is a racist airline, has always been and probably will always be. The question is “Will we Nigerians continue to tolerate their racist acts against us. This is only one of several incidences of maltreatment acts against Nigerians, but they feel immune because there always those Nigerians who refuse to act collectively for the good of the masses. Should we decide to embark on a financial protest by refusing to fly them, there are always those that would have ridiculous excuses for selfishly refusing to partake.
British Airways has always gotten away with many atrocious acts against its paying passengers and I can firmly state this because I myself have experienced their racism, maltreatment, extreme rudeness, spraying of insecticides, several damages, losses or missing of my baggages, ruined vacations and business trips, being bumped or left stranded, being stranded overnight at the airport by their extremely rude staff, apart from travelling in their crampy, broken down planes with malfunctioning radios, movie screens, broken chairs, broken food trays, non-working air ducts amongst other undesirable experiences.
I’ve tried the petition route which Dr. Umez collected years back, by personally getting at least 100 family members and friends to sign up, but we all no that yielded nothing, the airlines, and consular representatives addressed, simply avoided responding or slighted the whole endeavour and the few that responded had nothing tangible to say.
http://www.liberateafrica.com/petitionairlines.html It all boils down to money. Their financial interest keeps them mute. What difference does it make if Black people, especially Africans, and specifically Nigerians are complaining about maltreatment, being sprayed by insecticides, being charged excessively for tickets or having their baggages damaged, missing or stolen amongst many other shabby and unjust treatment? Absolutely nothing!!! So far they can keep Nigerians flying and make huge profits to make up for losses on their many other transatlantic routes, why should they care?
I tried to get the Nigerian media involved after my last very traumatizing ordeal with British Airways, but it was as if they had been snuffed not to raise any topics that would create any negative uprising against them, and unfortunately, the only one that was willing to do his minimum wanted me to pay to have my ordeal made public. Really a shame. This is part of the reason why Nigerians are still being maltreated and sprayed like insects in exchange for exorbitant fares. http://naijapositive.myfastforum.org/Travellers_Flay_Spraying_of_Pesticides_on_Europe_Bound_Fligh_about259.html or http://naijapositive.myfastforum.org/My_Experience_on_Virgin_Atlantic_about257.html
I even went as far as attending meetings in Abuja regarding the issues of maltreatment, lost baggages and excessive fares by these airlines, but as usual it was all talk, as no tangible change emerged thereafter either under Fani-Kayode or under the following and present aviation heads. To date I have not received one single response from the aviation dept. where my complaint was supposed to be followed up after I handed it over to their head in person.
It is a shame that in this era, after having being enslaved against our will for generations, we are still treated as slaves and 3rd class citizens, by these same racist b*astards, only this time we are PAYING to be treated like slaves. http://naijapositive.myfastforum.org/Racism_amp_Maltreatment_of_Nigerians_on_Air_France_amp_O_about10.html
I don’t blame the deportee who was shouting for his life under undue restraining, considering other uncelebrated Nigerians have died under similar circumstances a few are http://naijapositive.myfastforum.org/Nigerian_Dies_on_Deportation_Flight_from_Spain_about326.html or http://naijapositive.myfastforum.org/Lufhansa_Kills_Asylum_Seekers_about173.html The deportee should thank God that he wasn’t snuffed due to the heroic intervention of Omotade and those who chose to speak out on his behalf. These are the kind of citizens Nigeria needs. Those who are not only willing to speak out, but sacrifice and pay the dues for saving their fellow citizens from undue maltreatment.
It is now time for us Nigerians to not only speak out, but to ACT on behalf of all we Omotades that have been maltreated over so many years. While Omotade’s experiences are plastered all over the media and he will obviously get help, some of us have been pushed under the wraps and our stories haven’t been heard, nor have injustices against us been rectified.
My advice to Omotade is to use the publicizing of his ordeal to his advantage so he does not become another forgotten statistic. I also have missed 3 significant family events due to British Airways and guess what, they couldn’t care less. My neice and her husband also almost got their wedding ruined recently due to lost baggages, where the husband did not receive his clothes by his wedding date and her wedding gown only arrived last minute after not arrived on their flight with them. I missed their wedding because of British Airways.
Her return flight wasn’t smooth either, she was bumped off her flight, and was shocked to see me at the airport still trying to find my missing baggages weeks after her wedding. The same night I was maliciously treated by a British Airways staff and left stranded overnight in their baggage room at the airport.
The nasty and traumatizing experiences I’ve had on British Airways is the reason why I would never again pay to fly them. They are not only nasty and condescending, they are outright racist, lying, sucking up and being extremely patronizing when it serves to benefit them financially.
It is time we Nigerians stand up collectively and REFUSE to fly them, not just now, but in the peak season when it will have the greatest financial impact on their pocket.
Our actions should not be limited to British Airways only, but should be extended to all the other condescending carriers that snuff and kill our fellow Nigerian citizens, endanger our lives with insecticides, especially Virgin Atlantic and treat us like scum instead of fellow human beings and upstanding citizens who have worked and paid for the undue exorbitant fares they charge us. We need to PUT AN END TO THIS EXPLOITATION. We need to EFFECTIVELY CURTAIL THEIR CONTINUING ACT OF RIPPING US OFF. We NEED TO STAND UP FOR OUR RIGHTS even if our government and embassies won’t stand up on our behalf. The voice of the people is the voice of reason, and we need to SPEAK THROUGH OUR ACTIONS.
I was not even aware of Omotade’s story http://naijapositive.myfastforum.org/Ayodeji_Omotade_vs_British_Airways_about1958.html when I wrote the article on airline services http://naijapositive.myfastforum.org/Is_Good_Service_History_Rate_the_Airlines__about1871.html but I’m glad I did and I can say God works in mysterious ways, because it evidently is good timing. Speak up and ACT my fellow Nigerians.
Cxsm
16th April ‘08
© Cxsm 2008 All Rights Reserved
que deus de vida longa as meus inimiguos para que eles possão aplauir de pé a minha vitori…
I agree with Nan. And i know how much British can come to be Racist.
Once my dad was living in UK for awhile. He went to a post office to post something. They asked him which country he want to post. My dad answered Iran. They said:”We dont know Iran”
My dad said:”Ah, so just when your country was stealing the oil of my country, you could remember Iran?!”
Then the guys got shut up and did post the package!!
Nigeria is a big nation in this world no body should take us for greanted, We can never be inferior to any body and the BA most not go just like that, Iam tired of seeing this thing happenning to us.
Please somebody do something for us we cant keep quiet
I’m a US citizen residing in Baltimore. The first thing I have to say is that I have spent 2 summer vacations in the UK, and in many respects, it is a backward country, inferior to even Nigeria in several respects. From high brow restaurants that dont accept credit cards (Jesus) to inefficient banks that take a month to process a wire from the UK to the US (Nigeria to the US is roughly 7 hours send to recieve). I can’t help but despise and again reiterate the fact that it is so backward, and if you’ve never lived in the US, you just don’t know. Period. Now BA is disrespecting Nigerians. It’s been happening. Before Delta Airlines (a US carrier) started flying direct from the US, I’d been on both Virgin and BA enroute to Nigeria, and the service to and from Nigeria is borderline illegal. Air Moluwe is what I call it. Delta on the other hand maintains pretty high standards on it’s way there and back. They wouldn’t dare pull any discrimination. Lawsuits are a way of life in America, and I have personally successfully sued a number of companies over various things. America is a lot more sensitive to discrimination and bad service than Europe is. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve encountered rude agents in London and have to put them in their place, ocassionally intimidating them with my burly stature.
My fellow Nigerians, you should make more noise about banning BA from Nigeria than you should about boycotting. It should’ve been initiated by default, prior to any discussion. Airlines are struggling to stay afloat, and when you have power, you need to be able to utilize that said power. My fellow Nigerians, you really have a lot to learn, and you better start doing it quick. Nigeria has a lot more power than it thinks. Not only should Nigeria have banned BA, it should also have placed a temporary ban on British oil companies, even if it was only for a few weeks. With record oil profits, I’m sure Nigeria can afford that for a few weeks. You’d be surprise how top foreign executives and government officials would have dished the so-called apologies together with promotional discounts for all Nigerian citizens. Nigeria really needs to relearn how to show it has balls. Even Abacha would have kicked out BA by noww. He did it before!. Jeez.
Salaam,
I am to pissed to say anything…….i hate to be the one who pulls the race card…..but this only happens to people with melanin in their skin….
fjbgjnfrgkntgkmnhtk
ewwww i am so mad now…
[...] the President and one month later, BA finally ‘apologized’ for the way it handled the March 27 crisis: British Airways (BA) has apologised to Nigeria over the maltreatment meted out to Nigerian [...]
[...] and eventually suffocated to death. It took an uproar from Nigerians in the diaspora as well as prhttp://intellectualismo.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/british-airways-apologize-to-nigerians-or-face-boyc…European Stocks Snap Three-Week Advance UBS, Swiss Re, BA Drop Bloomberg.comMay 10 Bloomberg — [...]
Its funny how, easily we sweep thing under the carpet in Nigeria. Now i believe that Nigeria is the only the Country where when pushed to the wall a person will rather scale the fence as against fighting back.
Mr. Omotade, is British-born so first things first, he is British and as such deserves every respect accorded a British citizen, So i do not see how the Nigerian Government come in on this case. Can someone tell me why Mr Omotade can not pick up a lawyer, take BA to court, Involve the ever hungry British Media and get paid for it while getting the apology and compensation he deserves? For an event that has a witness base of 135 passengers. I see no reason why i should be reading about it in Blog.
If we are talking about a boycott and the best we can do is a blog then we have a long way to go. If i have not seen this thread today, i would be oblivious to this event. Imagine the number of Nigerian who do not even know about this? In fair honesty if Mr Omotade was Pakistani or Indian or Chines, would this be an Issue for the Blog?
My Opinion is where a clear case of Human right violation is established Mr Omotade need to put his feet down and shut every one involved on the feet rather than making a blog out of it. Come on Nigerians WE DON’T HAVE TO BE POSH TO BE PRIVILEGED!!!
Gimoney, clearly my blog entry caught your attention so I wouldn’t say blogging about the incident was entirely pointless.
You’re right, the average – by that I mean struggling – Nigerian doesn’t have much stake here unless they plan to travel in which case they would have been forewarned about the sort of reception they can expect flying with BA.
If they didn’t hear about it, I blame that on residual kolo mentality. The Nigerian and British media didn’t report the incident untill NID’s instigated a boycott and petitioned the president.
Mr. Omotade HAS already engaged the services of lawyers.
If he was Pakistani, Indian or Chinese, I’m sure the Pakistani, Indian and Chinese bloggers would have blogged about it. That’s what bloggers do, Gimoney, they blog about stuff no matter how insignificant you might think it is.
I’m so appauled at the way Nigerian people are treated by British Airways, and the Spanish authorites, disgusted, i’m white and british, my partner is Nigerian, one thing is for sure i’ll never fly with B.A ever again, my nigerian boyfriend is well mannered and very polite, can’t say the same for the staff of B.A, they need to learn manners, i say Boycott B.A and fly with a better Airline.
This not a reply, but just a little word for you guys to ponder upon.
I am Nigerian myself and have experienced maltreatment from different authorities.
Personally i fell bad for myself and the trustworthy Nigerians that have to go through this pain.
Nigerians are the least respected people i know, apologies for saying this but in my opinion we are not reckoned with in circles that matter.
Rather than continually attacking the people that treat us in this way, i think we should turn our anger towards our people that are the cause of these problems in the first place.
I noticed some respect Nigerians coalition of some sort that has been started, i am not sure what thats about; its either we are begging for respect or demanding respect. This should no be the case my people let us earn respect as a people.
654 ujujn ,
buy soma, buy tramadol, lorazepam, valium, buy cheap fioricet, hoodia, norco hydrocodone, ultram er, generic ultracet, buy xenical online,