It’s ridiculous for ExecuJet CEO to link me with noncompliant flight – Babatunde Fashola
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has described as ridiculous the letter signed by the Chairman and CEO of Executive Jets Services Ltd (ExecuJet), Dr Sam Iwuajoku, claiming he assumed it was the Minister who was flying to Abuja when he saw a certain ‘Fashola Babatunde’ on the manifest sent to him by his staff.
Fashola, a former governor of Lagos, in a short statement by his Special Adviser on Communications, Hakeem Bello, late on Tuesday night, said he has not travelled out of Abuja since March 22, 2020, when he returned there after an inspection tour of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway construction work and a visit to Lagos, before the lockdown.
“It is therefore ridiculous for Dr Iwuajoku to attempt to link the Hon. Minister with any noncompliant flight,” the Minister said.
ExecuJet was suspended indefinitely on Monday by the Federal Government for violating the approval given to it to fly a Judge to Abuja from Lagos by flying controversial singer Azeez Fashola aka Naira Marley and his crew to Abuja for a concert at the weekend.
In defence, the airline’s CEO in a statement had said that after going through the manifest sent to him by his staff he found ‘Fashola Babatunde’ (Naira Marley’s younger brother) and “thought it was the Honorable Minister of Works going to Abuja with his men, so we decided to do the flight since is (sic) a serving minister…I didn’t know it was a bunch of useless people.”
Iwuajoku’s letter, which has attracted backlashes on the internet, also sparked a war of words between the CEO and Naira Marley who described his letter as arrogant and silly.
