The
Manager of Arik Air at Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Wednesday narrowly
escaped death when some passengers, who have booked flights with Arik Air, went
haywire over alleged termination of the flights.
In
a video, which went viral on the Internet on Thursday, the enraged passengers
descended on an official, said to be the customer service liaison manager of
the airline. He was identified simply as Andrew.
The
passengers shunned airport workers, who tried to prevail on them, beat up the
Arik official and demanded that their fares be refunded.
“I
don’t need any explanation. You cannot go anywhere. Give us our money back,” a
passenger said.
“Follow
am jor! Follow am (Follow him),” another aggrieved passenger exclaimed as the
manager made to escape from the crowd.
One
of them, who wore a white dress, went after the worker and pushed him down. The
passenger pummeled him before he was rescued by his co-workers, who took him
into an office at the airport.
According
to PUNCH, the passenger had had his flight from Lagos to Johannesburg, South
Africa, cancelled on three consecutive occasions without any explanation by the
airline.
Another
protester said, “You are mad! How do we get our money?”
The
Arik Air in a statement by its spokesperson, Ola Adebanji, said the change in flight schedule was due to
shortage of aviation fuel.
“On
Wednesday, January 4, our Lagos-New York JFK service which was to operate at
11.30 pm had to be rescheduled by 24 hours to operate at 11.30 pm on Thursday,
January 5, due to the shortage in supply of aviation fuel. Our
Lagos-Johannesburg service and Lagos- Accra service were also on ground
awaiting fuel while the Lagos-New York service was standing by for fuel.
“When
our Customer Service Manager at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport,
Lagos, approached the passengers to explain the situation to them, one of the
passengers attacked him. This was followed by a mob of passengers who brutally
beat up the Arik Air worker.
“Arik
Air strongly condemns the increasing number of attacks on our staff and
property in the recent months.”
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