The foreign affair
ministry summoned the Egyptian Ambassador, Ashraf Salama yesterday to formally
lodge a protest over the treatment meted out to Joshua Abdul-Azeez, and
demanded an unreserved apology from the Egyptian Government.
According to
PremiumTimes, the Minister of State 1, Foreign Affairs, Viola Onwuliri, accused
Egypt Air of “child-abuse” for starving the young Nigerian of food for three
days, after wrongly routing his air ticket. She said it was unacceptable that
Egypt Air had failed to respond to repeated enquiries from the Nigeria Embassy
in Cairo on what led to the treatment of the Nigerian.
The Nigerian
authorities had sought explanation from the airline on reports that the
Nigerian passport of the 17-year-old Nigerian was torn to shreds by a staff of
Egypt Air in Istanbul, Turkey. Ms. Onwuliri expressed dismay that the Egyptian
ambassador’s initial reaction to the issue was to question the authenticity of
local media reportage on the Nigerian who was treated like “a common criminal’’
by Egypt Air. She said:
“Egypt and Nigeria are friendly countries
and they have built this friendship over the years, but I don’t think we should
allow things like this to happen. You (the ambassador) are worried about four
pages of newspaper report on the issue, but I am surprised that you are not
worried that a Nigerian passport was torn by an official of Egypt Air. I am
surprised that you are not worried that a young boy, a Nigerian citizen, was
left without food and water by an airline operated by your government.
I am really surprised at you Mr.
Ambassador,’’ she said. Continue..
The minister
told the ambassador that the Nigerian government would not hesitate to demand
compensation for the citizen when it concludes investigation on the matter.
“One Nigerian citizen is important to us
and part of our multi-track diplomacy is that every Nigeria everywhere must be
fully accounted for. The young boy in question was going back to school in
Ukraine and he complained here that he was issued the wrong ticket. Did you
(Egypt Air) employ people who cannot read tickets and issue correct codes even
after complaints?"
The minister
therefore demanded a formal explanation from the Egyptian government, which had
100 per cent control of Egypt Air.
In his
defence, the Egyptian ambassador earlier blamed the Nigerian media for
escalating a “small incident’’ involving a Nigerian passenger and Egypt Air.
Mr. Salama said that a Nigerian newspaper devoted four-pages to the issue. He
said the embassy had contacted Egypt Air and his home government on the
incident but had yet to receive a formal report.
“We have respect for our Nigerian brothers
and if this incident really happened, we will see who is responsible and punish
accordingly. But we must taste and verify the credibility of the news report on
the issue before we make a judgment,’’ he said.
Mr. Salama
called for restraint from the Nigerian authorities on the issue, saying:
“I do not think this incident should
escalate so much to affect our good relations built over the years. We have
been supporting and standing by each other and I think we should continue that
way.’’
He told the
foreign minister that so many Nigerians travel to Egypt every day, adding “we
have 16 flights daily and seven daily flights from Cairo to Abuja.’’ - See more
at: http://www.lailasblog.com/2014/09/update-on-joshua-abdul-azeez-nigeria.html#more
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