Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has described the action of Sen. Adams Os­hiomhole, the Senator repre­senting Edo North Senatorial District during an incident with Air Peace on Wednesday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos as un­ruly and unexpected of a poli­tician of his class.

The body has also chal­lenged the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), to make public the footage captured by the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) camera on the crisis.

Speaking on behalf of AON on Friday in Lagos, Prof. Obio­ra Okonkwo, its Public Rela­tions Officer (P.R.O), said that the senator’s behaviour was below the industry’s accept­able standards.

He insisted that it was wrong for Oshiomhole to re­sort to self-help irrespective of the alleged poor service he might have received from Air Peace, insisting that he ought to follow the due channels.

He said: “We have been talking about unruly be­haviour. So, what you saw was a typical case of unruly behaviour. This is not accept­able. Air Peace is a respected airline. No matter what you talk about, they carry 40 to 50 per cent of all the domes­tic passengers. They deserve some respect.

“This is somebody’s invest­ment and you don’t have to leave a simple issue of wheth­er you are late or not and start demonising the airline. I can see some kind of ‘bad belly’ and malice in that aspect. As a matter of fact, inasmuch as we appreciate and under­stand that every passenger has a right, their right is only limited to what is allowed within the ICAO and aviation industry.

“It is way too far from dis­cussing the issue. And as a matter of fact, as operators who have looked at those things, I do not see any logic in the things he (Oshimhole) is saying. There is no airline who will not want to carry its passengers.

“Come to think of it, we’ve seen a number of Nigerians who are saying, ‘Air Peace is delayed.’ And here it is, Air Peace is saying, ‘we don’t want to delay.’ That means they are ready to lose revenue for them to be on time.”

Rather than castigation, Okonkwo insisted the airline deserved praise from the pub­lic and charged FAAN to make public the CCTV camera’s footage of all that transpired on the said day.

He expressed regret that despite the crisis, FAAN was yet to give its own side of the event, despite having staff and Aviation Security (AVSEC) at the terminal on the said day.

“This is not a young man who is frustrated. This is a class of a person that can afford a lot of things. So I can tell you that we, from the airline operators, are observing and watching to see what will happen.

“And we don’t think there should be rules set differently for high people and low peo­ple. When there is an unruly passenger, the person must have to face the wrath of the law. You see, for us in AON, an unruly passenger is an unruly passenger,” he added.

He also said that the AON may take “some actions” against the senator, but not­ed there had been “interven­tions” coming from some plac­es on the matter.

Air Peace had on Wednes­day, accused Oshiomhole of disrupting its early morning flight out of Lagos Abuja after he was denied boarding.

The airline had alleged that the senator arrived late to the counter for boarding, but Oshiomhole in his reaction, accused the airline of ticket racketeering.

Oshiomhole and other pas­sengers in a viral video, had accused the airline of over­booking and suddenly closing the counters even when the time for closure of counters had not elapsed.