THE
Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, was locked inside the Mallam
Aminu Kano International Airport on Sunday for an undisclosed number of
minutes after his chartered aircraft was grounded by the airport
authorities.
The State Commissioner for Information
and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, who spoke on Amaechi’s behalf,
while briefing newsmen on Monday, said all the gates leading into and
out of the airport were locked apparently to prevent the take-off or
landing of any aircraft.
Semenitari expressed surprise that the gates could be locked when it was clear that Amaechi was still in the aircraft.
She explained that the padlocks to the
gates had to be broken to allow Amaechi, who was in company with the
former Governor of Gombe State, Senator Danjuma Goje and Alhaji Kawu
Baraje go out of the airport.
The commissioner added that Amaechi was
denied take-off from the Aminu Kano Airport by a man identified as
Commandant, who insisted that the order was from above.
Amaechi, according to her, was forced to travel by road from Kano to Port Harcourt after the aircraft was grounded.
“Yesterday, my counterpart in Kano told
me that the people at the airport said they were directed not to allow
all non-scheduled aircrafts to take off or land. So, while the governor
was there, I am also told, they began to lock all the gates to the exit
of the airport and they locked the gates with the governor inside the
aircraft.
“For the governor to exit the airport,
somebody had to break the padlock of the gate. So, the governor and his
team could leave. That amounts to imprisonment without charge.
“I got the Kano State Commissioner for
State Affairs, who briefed me and told me that the chartered aircraft
that conveyed the governor to Kano, was denied take-off from Aminu Kano
International Airport by a fellow identified as the Commandant, acting
on orders from above.
“That was the only information he (Kano
State Commissioner for State Affiars) was willing to share when the
governor enquired about what offence he and the aircraft operators had
committed. With the governor was Alhaji Kawu Baraje as well as Senator
Danjuma Goje, a former governor of Gombe State,” Semenitari added.
She pointed out that the ordeal of the state governor, Amaechi, did not portend well for the nation’s democracy.
Describing the incident at the Kano
Airport as an ‘imprisonment’ of the governor, Semenitari, said the
development was a wrong signal ahead of the 2015 general elections.
“More seriously is the fact that this
does not portend well for our democracy. It does not portend well for us
as we enter into the next election. A situation where newspapers are
seized is the beginning of stifling Nigerians,” she stressed.
Amaechi had gone to condole with the Kano State Governor on the demise of the immediate past Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero