LAGOS – Air Peace has distanced itself from the Monday’s arrest of Comrade Joe Ajaero, the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) by the Nigeria Police.
The airline in a statement by Omotade Makinwa, its Spokesperson, expressed shock over a report linking the airline to the NLC leader’s arrest.
Makinde also said that his arrest had nothing to do with the September 2023 petition filed by the airline against NLC, stressing that this development, which led to negative publicity, did not reflect the current relationship between the airline and the NLC.
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The statement emphasised that on May 3, 2023, the NLC had disrupted Air Peace operations as part of a broader conflict with the Imo State Government despite the fact that the airline had no involvement in the dispute between the organised labour the State government then.
It regretted that its airline was unfortunately used as a tool to exert pressure on the government, stressing that this “unlawful disruption” of is services caused significant financial losses and impacted the travel plans of many of its passengers across the country.
“In response to this disruption, Air Peace’s legal team submitted a formal petition against the NLC to the Nigerian Police. Despite our repeated efforts to follow up on the petition, the police failed to take prompt action.
“However, over a year later, the Nigerian Police have chosen to act on the original petition, which has now led to the alleged arrest of the NLC President. Prior to this arrest, the airline and the NLC had already reached an amicable resolution and Air Peace had withdrawn its petition, allowing a positive working relationship to resume between the two organisations.”
