Human rights lawyer, Ayodele Ademiluyi, has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government over the alleged “special treatment” of veteran Fuji singer, Wasiu Ayinde, popularly known as KWAM 1, in the recent saga at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
Other respondents in the suit are Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN); the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON); the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS); and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
Ademiluyi, who spoke as a press conference, said he instituted the suit to ensure accountability and protect public interest in the aviation sector.
The lawyer decried the “double standard treatment” of airport cases involving KWAM 1 and Comfort Emmanson, the Ibom Air passenger.
Ademiluyi said while Emmanson was arraigned and remanded in prison, KWAM 1 was neither arrested nor prosecuted but was given an ambassadorial role, despite both allegedly committing nearly identical offences.
“Our aviation system needs a complete overhauling. We cannot allow impunity to reign or degenerate into a banana republic where someone can stop a plane with their bare hands and walk away without consequence,” the lawyer said.
“It’s a gross imbalance. There was no arrest, no arraignment, and no prosecution of Mr. KWAM 1.
“In fact, he was rewarded with a brand ambassadorship for the aviation sector. What message does that send to the public?
“The honourable minister for aviation, Mr. Festus Keyamo SAN, in a widely circulated statement announced the withdrawal of charges by Ibom Air against Comfort Emmanson and designated both KWAM 1 and herself as “brand ambassadors” among many other compromises.
“However, the ‘peace deal’ has not addressed the issue of the maintenance of balance of the scale of justice, as the person of KWAM 1 is being serenaded instead of being arrested, arraigned and prosecuted.”
