11 May 2009 |
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RESPECT NIGERIANS COALITION (RNC) No 24 Barclay Road, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 1JN Tel: 07733356337 Fax: 02086863778 Web Address: www.respectnigerians.com www.nigeriavillagesquare.com Email: info@repectnigerians.com baprotest@
Press Release
Monday, 11 May 2009 Ladies and Gentlemen of the Press, We address you today on developments with regard to the case brought against Mr Ayodeji Omotade by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in the United Kingdom. As you know, on Friday, 5 July, 2008, Mr Omotade was formally charged with the offence of threatening /abusive/insulting/disorderly behaviour towards a member of the crew of the aircraft “CONTRARY TO ARTICLES 78(B) AND 148(5) OF, AND PART A OF SCHEDULE 14 TO THE AIR NAVIGATION ORDER 2005 MADE UNDER SECTION 60 AND 61 OF THE CIVIL AVIATION ACT 1982”. Mr Omotade first appeared at the Uxbridge Magistrates Court on Monday, 14 July, 2008. The case has lasted now for almost a year within which time it was transferred to Brent Magistrates Court where on Tuesday, 6 May, 2009, the case was concluded. After taking evidence from both parties over this period, the district judge, Deborah Wright found Mr Ayodeji Omotade not guilty of the charge and he was therefore acquitted. Thus, it is with pleasure that we inform you now that the battle for justice embarked upon by Respect Nigerians Coalition (RNC) on behalf of Mr Omotade has been vindicated. We have from the very beginning alerted the press and the public to the fact that the case against Mr Omotade was based on the lies and false claims made against him by the British Airways. We condemned, in unequivocal terms, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the British Police for what we considered as the “oppressive and provocative act of charging Mr Ayodeji Omotade for an offence they fully know he didn’t commit”. We felt there was already enough evidence to indicate that the charge was unnecessary as the account of what happened on the day has been told and retold in the public space. We pointed out that Mr Omotade himself was the victim of police brutality and high-handedness; that he was the one publicly and thoroughly humiliated, arrested, detained for almost eight hours for no just cause and the legitimate money in his possession confiscated as possible proceeds of crime. British Airways ensured that they prevented him from travelling to Nigeria for his brother’s wedding even after he was released from police detention. They banned him without even refunding his ticket money and his luggage was returned, damaged, more than a week after. Respect Nigerians Coalition (RNC) had informed you of why we thought Mr Omotade was being charged and prosecuted despite overwhelming evidence that there was no case for him to answer. We said we were of the strong view that Mr Omotade was being prosecuted primarily to keep him on a leash and bury the whole matter in a judicial process that the police themselves know will go nowhere. We felt that for them and British Airways, it was a cynical attempt to buy time. It was aimed at giving the impression (at least at the time) that BA had a genuine ground for complaint. This was despite the fact that time and time again, BA’s lies had been exposed both in the British and the Nigerian press. For instance, we recalled the Press Statement BA issued in Nigeria on the 1st of May 2008, which was primarily aimed at achieving two things – one, blunting our boycott campaign which commenced then and two, making false claims that their crew were subjected to physical assault by the passengers. We pointed out at the time that throughout the wide coverage of this affair in the British media for over two months prior to the release of their Statement, BA had ample opportunity to tell the world of this supposed assault (if it was indeed the case), but never did. We pointed out that the police who attended the scene never received a report to this effect and never took any statement from any member of staff supposedly physically assaulted. Indeed, the attempt by the prosecution to paint Mr Omotade as “a raging bull” was shot down by the district judge, who, on the face of the evidence, found that all Omotade did was make “a forcible but polite complaint” with regard to the “animalistic screams” coming from the deportee, Mr Augustine Eme, who was being forcibly restrained by the immigration and security personnel. Evidence was adduced to the effect that Mr Omotade never threatened any British Airways staff as the cabin crew were standing in the gulley area of the plane with the curtains drawn to keep them away from the view of passengers. It was further established that when the police came for him, Mr Omotade left the plane with them without any incidence. Thus, this trial has exposed what we have been claiming all along. We have said that British Airways and the police were displaying this “untoward eagerness to hang something on Omotade’s head in a desperate attempt to give undeserved credence to BA’s conduct on the day” and also to send “a message to Nigerians who think they can come into their planes and seek to be respected as fare-paying customers”. It was obvious that Mr Omotade was singled out because he dared to challenge the dehumanizing treatment meted out to a Nigerian, Mr Augustine Eme who was the deportee being brutalized on the plane. Mr Omotade was being punished for voicing the fears of his countrymen and women by pleading with the British immigration and security personnel to be more considerate in their forceful treatment of a helpless man. Yet, Mr Omotade was not trying to be a hero. He was only trying to be his brother’s keeper because, as an informed and well-travelled Nigerian, he is aware that many Nigerians have been unlawfully killed in similar circumstances. At this point, we need to inform you that throughout this ordeal, Respect Nigerians Coalition (RNC) did reach out to the Nigerian government with a view to calling BA to order and intervening on Mr Omotade’s behalf with the British government, which had entered the fray with its High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr Robert Dewar virtually taking BA’s side, despite apologizing to the Federal Government over the incidence with the passengers in the plane. We robustly rebuffed this deceptive attempt at diplomacy and called on the Nigerian Federal Government to focus on the real issues, especially considering the fact that, as early as late April last year, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua himself had set up an investigation into the matter. Indeed, we urged him to use the occasion of his state visit to Britain, coincidentally, a day after Mr Omotade first appeared in court, to let his hosts know that they were prosecuting Ayodeji Omotade in bad faith and that this was about giving BA time to continue pretending it has a legitimate reason for its ignoble conduct of March 27, 2008. We wrote the President explaining in detail what was going on; we petitioned the Nigerian National Assembly; we waited for the report of the presidential investigation, all to no avail. Despite the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom being fully briefed on the issue, they could not even send a representative to the court. In the end, a first class patriot, Mr Ayodeji Omotade was abandoned by his own government whose trumpeted doctrine of citizen diplomacy could not be used to defend its citizen being wrongly prosecuted.But, at this point, we can only continue with our own efforts. The fight for justice continues because what the outcome of the criminal prosecution has done is further strengthen our resolve to pursue this issue to its logical conclusion as it has finally pulled the rug from under BA by officially validating the claims by Respect Nigerians Coalition (RNC) that BA’s case is constructed on a tissue of lies. There are consequences which BA must acknowledge and pay for. In our very first Statement on Tuesday, April 15 2008, we made five specific demands on British Airways over this issue. We asked that they: • tender a clear and well-worded apology to all passengers affected by their discriminatory and intimidatory conduct aboard flight BA075 on 27 March, 2008 in a Nigerian national newspaper; • tender a clear and well-worded written apology and appropriate compensation to Mr Ayodeji Omotade for financial and emotional losses suffered as a result of the conduct of British Airways and its agents on the day; • withdraw all adverse statements made to the police about Mr. Ayodeji Omotade over this incident; • lift the ban imposed on Mr Ayodeji Omotade, even as he would still retain his right to decide whether or not to fly British Airways in the future, and • issue an undertaking that British Airways shall improve its customer care culture and desist from such practices that give the impression that the airline is arrogant, uncaring and discriminatory. Despite everything we have done to make them do these, including organizing a worldwide boycott of British Airways goods and services by Nigerians and well-wishers of Nigeria, conducting peaceful protests in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, writing and meeting with BA shareholders and sending signed petitions by thousands of Nigerians to Mr Willie Walsh, the BA Chief Executive, all we have got from BA is a combination of silence and various embarrassingly inept attempts at painting Mr Omotade and the other Nigerian passengers as trouble-makers. The UK Guardian newspaper in its Thursday, May 7, 2009 report of the court proceedings indicated that British Airways has issued a statement in which the airline is still referring to what it called its “long and proud history” of serving Nigeria and its people, rejecting any claims that they discriminate against one particular nationality and claiming that any call for apology should be directed to the police and Crown Prosecution Service and not British Airways. Of course, we are not surprised that they are continuing in their shameful tradition of arrogance and stonewalling which has led us this far, at great cost to their business and credibility in Nigeria and the world over. Leadership and responsibility have been sorely lacking from BA over this issue from the beginning and we do not expect that to change until they are further made to see the errors of their ways, again, by the courts.Thus, this is to put them on notice that Mr Ayodeji Omotade intends to pursue a civil claim for costs and damages in the courts. They can be guaranteed that with the way the criminal prosecution went and with the shredding of the airline’s credibility, Mr Omotade will seek to recover for everything legally recoverable. We are also in contact with a number of other passengers on the plane who now feel that Mr Omotade’s victory at the court and the evidence adduced therefrom has given them confidence that they can now institute a class action lawsuit against British Airways for what they all suffered in their hands on the day. While we are presently committed to Mr Omotade’s case, we will be supporting these other passengers in their cause if and when they decide to sue British Airways, whether in the United Kingdom or Nigeria. We cannot conclude this without thanking Nigerians and well-wishers of Nigeria who have stood by us up till now. Their advice, support and encouragement have been crucial in pushing us on. We also thank you members of the press for being the most important pillar of institutional support we have had throughout this struggle. It is you that put this issue on the front-burner of national and international discourse. Please, continue to stand solidly with us, for we shall not rest until justice is fully done. Thank you for your support, care and attention.
Signed:
Chidi Okorie Tosin Awotesu Bola Balogun
(For and on behalf of Respect Nigerians Coalition)
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