The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has given Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi a seven-day deadline to publicly apologise to airport officials and pay a N25,000 fine over an alleged violation of parking regulations at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.
In a statement released on Friday, Keyamo alleged that the vehicle conveying Obi to the airport was left unattended in a restricted parking area for about 30 minutes, contrary to airport rules.
The minister’s response comes after Obi, during an interview with Chude Jideonwo, claimed his vehicle was clamped for allegedly parking in the wrong place despite other vehicles being parked in the same area.
Obi also stated that some airport staff who know him have become reluctant to greet him, fearing they could be targeted by the government because of their association with him.
Rejecting the allegation, Keyamo said an internal investigation supported by CCTV footage showed that Obi’s account of the incident was inaccurate. According to him, the vehicle was parked in a designated drop-off zone by Obi’s police driver after the former presidential candidate entered the airport terminal.
The minister explained that the incident occurred on July 4 at about 8:28 p.m. when Obi arrived at the domestic terminal. He alleged that after dropping Obi off, the driver left the vehicle unattended, briefly returned, and later abandoned it again, prompting airport security officials to clamp the vehicle for violating established regulations.
Keyamo insisted that airport personnel were unaware the vehicle belonged to Obi when they carried out the enforcement action.
He further claimed that after discovering the vehicle had been clamped, the driver contacted Obi, who then reached out to the airport manager to request its release. According to the minister, the vehicle was eventually released without the payment of the mandatory N25,000 fine.
The minister maintained that leaving a vehicle unattended in a restricted airport zone poses a serious security threat and breaches internationally accepted aviation safety standards.
He also accused Obi of attempting to portray the enforcement action as political persecution in order to gain public sympathy, arguing that the issue had already been resolved before the former presidential candidate made it public.
Keyamo called on Obi to issue an unreserved apology to airport officials for carrying out their lawful responsibilities and voluntarily pay the outstanding parking penalty.
He warned that failure to comply within seven days would compel him to direct the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to take further action.
