Celebrated fuji music legend, Alhaji Wasiu Ayinde, with the stage name, K1 De Ultimate, yesterday, offered his apology over Tuesday’s incident at the local wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, involving him and an airline operator, ValueJet.
Aside from describing the incident as unfortunate and one in which someone of his status should not have been found, he also clarified some grey areas, insisting, for instance, that the content of his gold flask was water and not alcohol. He also explained that he has to go about with water because he suffers a health condition of rare dehydration.
Maybe a well-scripted apology, which though should have come earlier if his handlers were quick on their feet. But any apology, no matter how badly intended, can always be a welcome development, even if put out solely for the record or make-good.
However, after an initial back and forth on one of the several WhatsApp groups I belong over the incident, I had penned a terse note considered my closing take on the unfortunate incident.
But after further engagements with some of the very brilliant minds that this country has produced, including experts in the aviation sector – some of them veteran pilots – I came to the realisation that we have not even properly interrogated the matter well enough.
The truth is that the action of K1 bordered more on mindlessness and evident ignorance rather than a function of bad behaviour or sheer arrogance as earlier inferred.
The failure of an average air passenger, home and abroad, to understand the governance of both the airport and the aircraft was what K1 displayed in Abuja, with the same habitual disposition with which some people approach their personal lives.
About eight years ago, I got talking with an aviator enroute Atlanta, the united States. We became friends afterwards and met a few times, both in London and Nigeria, just to catch up on work, life and other allied matters.
Working with a major international airline, I asked why some of their crew members were often reluctant to flying the Nigerian route.
The response was heartbreaking. They hardly liked this route as with several others, based on their experience with passengers and at other times, due to operational challenges. Although a general human behavioural factor, passengers in some routes can be unruly and poorly behaved.
To think air travels boast the highest safety regime in human civilisation, with civil aviation rules and regulations under strict international control, you can’t own it the “Nigerian way” and misbehave as your mood dictates.
K1, without a doubt, was unmindful of the governance of the airport and the aircraft and by implication exposed his ignorance. But he didn’t stop there. He went on to commit an act of terrorism, because he didn’t understand or know when to stop.
In a professionally manned airport, where the international rules and regulations governing civil aviation are followed to the letter, he would not have the flask with its controversial content beyond the security screening point. Two, he would not even get anywhere close to the tarmac let alone try to obstruct a plane from moving.
Even if exemptions had to be conceded to anyone, perhaps, on health or other grounds to enable them take along items ordinarily not allowed onboard a flight, there are professionally stipulated ways that these are done without compromising basic standards of the airport operations.
Curiously, some old videos of K1 boarding and disembarking with the same gold flask are proofs that the problem is largely with those manning the airports. Even if some had previously allowed him to take the flask onboard at different times, based on personal recognition, albeit against the standard procedure, he seemed to have considered the privilege his right.
Thus, contrary to the assumptions that K1 was arrogant or badly behaved probably because of his connection to high places, he actually didn’t know as much despite having traveled the world. It is a clear case of mindlessness and ignorance rolled into one.
The airport is one place, where a passenger with genuine case and solid grounds for grievance could become an instant criminal in a twinkle of an eye. How he or she addresses her concern or alleged mistreatment would determine their fate afterwards.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole recently put up a disturbing show, obstructing operations at the local airport in the name of seeking justice against poor treatment and alleged exploitation by an airline operator. Many believed he had a genuine ground to be angry but his approach was not just wrong but also criminal.
The senator and former governor of Edo State was equally unmindful of the fact that by his action, he had disrupted other flight schedules for that day.
No other flight could have been scheduled for that terminal at that time until the issue was resolved, causing avoidable delays under the guise of “operational challenges”. Everyone who had a business at that terminal at the material time paid the price for his indiscretion. Maybe he should try that elsewhere and see where it would land him.
Now, talking about the pilot – the other ugly side of this same coin – the best way to summarise Captain Oluranti Ogoyi’s action is to record it as a case of attempted murder. Perhaps, like the Aviation Minister, Festus Keyamo, said in his submission, it was probably a case of “momentary insanity” on both sides.
While many might hold the view that the First Officer should have intervened and reined in the obvious but “momentary insanity” of the pilot, she should not have even been allowed to fly again for that day, going by her visible anger. The flight environment was no longer safe with her in the cockpit.
Clearly, she did not get a proper clearance before she took off, acting based on anger and since she already claimed that the content of the flask (water or alcohol) was spilled on her when she tried to intervene, she thought it was enough ground to vent her disavowal against K1’s seeming bully.
Otherwise, she should have established, as a professional, that both the human and other ground equipment were at a safe distance before taxing and take-off. But K1, with other ground staff, were still by the wing of the plane in plain sight. She was going to crush him since she no longer could see whatever was on the ground at that point. After all, the plane does not have side mirrors.
Let’s face it, the nation had just dodged a bullet at close range with K1 escaping being hit by the wing of the plane. If he had not ducked and was hit, two things could have happened. He could have died instantly or be knocked out temporarily by the force of the machine.
Either way, that would have caused the aviation sector and by extension, the country a lot before the international civil aviation authority, probably with heavy sanctions.
To put it in proper context, what the pilots did was both ridiculous and unprofessional, and should be sanctioned thoroughly for allowing emotions prevail over and above requisite professional conduct. The crew acted irresponsibly. Simply put!
In the end, it must not be lost on all Nigerians that the development would be reported globally to the international civil aviation as an incident.
By implications, therefore, the development might determine the nature of insurance of an aircraft in the country, going forward. Even more, it might affect the prices of flight tickets since it is now potentially a flight risk zone, where “some ‘terrorist’ recently walked up the tarmac and almost hijacked a plane.”
Worrisome, still, is the fact that the news, expectedly, has begun to spread to many parts of the globe with seemingly inaccurate focus on the pilots’ reaction to K1’s mindlessness alone. In addition to this is that it has further beamed light on the aviation sector’s operations and her disposition to global best practices.
This is why, beyond the initial official response, which placed K1 on no-fly list and suspended the license of the pilot as well as the First Officer, there must be further comprehensive investigations with detailed reports of what truly happened.
It is, however, up to the leadership of the aviation sector if they want to prosecute those involved, even after the apology. Perhaps, to save the whole of the country from potential backlash.
Importantly, the conversations around the aviation sector and her governance structure must continue with unceasing education and enlightenment of the public on how to behave in and around the airports. Here is a space governed by international rules and regulations that cannot and must not be compromised.
The leadership of the nation’s aviation sector must take it upon itself to strictly enforce rules and regulations at the airports. They must further invest in their staff in terms of training and retraining – from the terminal halls to the tarmac – everyone must get a hang of their briefs and uphold professionalism at all times. Being star-struck or mesmerised by Nigeria’s familiar “big manism” is recipe for disaster.
Certainly, a lot still needs to be done in terms of human capacity development and general practice in this all-important sector.