Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo north, has denied claims by Air Peace that he disrupted the airline’s operations after missing a flight.
Oshiomhole, a former governor of Edo, said instead of causing a disruption, he stood firm against what he described as extortion and arbitrary policy changes by the airline.
Air Peace had, in a statement, accused Oshiomhole of arriving late for a flight scheduled to depart Lagos for Abuja at 6:30 am.
But addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Oshiomhole said he arrived at the airport on Tuesday at 6:10 pm for a 6:50 pm flight and met the airline’s 30-minute check-in deadline.
“Yesterday, I got to the airport 40 minutes ahead. My luggage was already checked in. But they told me they had stopped issuing boarding passes. Meanwhile, I saw others arriving after me who were allowed to board,” he said.
Oshiomhole said despite holding a business class ticket, he was denied boarding while his aide was allowed through.
He said the incident forced him to lodge at a hotel, where he paid N1.5 million to accommodate himself and two Ghanaian passengers who were also stranded.
The senator said he returned for the 6:30 am flight the next morning, having checked in online at 7:46 pm the previous night.
The politician said he was again turned back, along with other passengers, after a “sudden” change in policy that now required passengers to check in 45 minutes before departure — up from the usual 30 minutes.
“I got there at about five minutes past six. They told me the counter was closed. I told them, ‘No, I’ve already checked in.’ I showed them the evidence of my online check-in,” he said.
“Even before then, they had asked if I had checked in, and I told them yes, and that I had no luggage. They looked at it but still said the gate had been closed. Meanwhile, I noticed they were still taking other people in.
“So I asked, ‘How can you close boarding for a 6:30 flight at 6:05? What is the purpose of online check-in, then?’ If I had to go through another check-in process, then what’s the point of checking in online?”
Oshiomhole said what he witnessed was a pattern of extortion, with airline staff denying boarding to passengers with online bookings and reselling tickets at inflated prices.
He cited a woman who bought a ticket online for N146,000 but was denied boarding, only to be told to buy another for N250,000.
“I was told the counter had closed. But people were still being allowed to buy new tickets at higher prices,” he said.
“Those of us who had booked online for N146,000 were told we were late, while they sold new tickets for N250,000. That is not policy enforcement, it is extortion.”
‘I refused VIP privilege, stood with stranded passengers’
Oshiomhole said he did not cause any scene and refused to accept preferential treatment when it was offered.
“I didn’t disrupt anything. I refused to let them ‘sort me out’ while others were left stranded,” he said.
“They offered to help me once they recognised me. I said, don’t help me, enforce my rights like every other Nigerian.”
He said Nigeria’s aviation sector is plagued by “VIP impunity,” where elites are offered preferential access while ordinary citizens are left stranded.
“That’s the real problem — big men get sorted, and the rest of Nigerians are ignored. If speaking out makes me a troublemaker, then I’ll cause trouble forever,” he said.
Oshiomhole described how a woman with a baby was denied boarding, even though the plane was still on the ground.
“You have regulatory agencies, and they are all compromising. You cannot board people buying tickets on the spot and deny those who booked days ago or checked in online,” he said.
The lawmaker said Air Peace staff eventually offered the woman a seat on the next flight — at an extra cost of N109,100.
“She would spend about N256,000 for a one-hour flight to Abuja. There were many others in the same situation,” he said.
“I said to the manager, ‘You must follow the rules.’ Many people were stranded, except those who could afford another ticket.”
Oshiomhole said people urged him not to leave and to speak out, as they were tired of the exploitation.
“I had to send that woman N500,000. That’s basically what happened,” he said.
‘NCAA has failed, FG must act’
The senator criticised the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for failing in its oversight duties and urged the federal government to step in.
“How can you profit from your own inefficiency? This is ruthless, primitive capitalism. Nigerians are unprotected. The government must act,” the politician said.
He warned that continued exploitation could spark deeper unrest.
According to Oshiomhole, when people give up hope, “bullets will not stop them”, adding that the least a government can do is to “protect its citizens from exploitation”.
