The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria indigenous air carrier, Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyeama has been commended by the Community Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria (COMPASS), the umbrella body of all community media in Nigeria for voluntarily releasing his Air Peace Boeing 777 to airlift 187 Nigerians from South Africa following the xenophobic attack on foreigners in South Africa on 11 September, 2019.
According to the press release from the office of the association’s President, Tayo Aderinola who hinted that such voluntary gesture to airlift Nigerians in South Africa after the xenophobic attack that left countless of Nigerians dead and properties worth millions of Naira lost is an exemplary gesture of a patriotic citizen like Onyeama.
“For a business tycoon like Allen Onyeama, he deserves to be commended for such move to save the lives of his fellow countrymen who all went to seek greener pasture from been cut short as a result of hatred from fellow Africans”.
“If not for his timely intervention, who knows what would happen to those Nigerians that were brought back into the country a few weeks ago. The trauma alone is agonising”. he lamented
“Allen deserves to be appreciated and celebrated for singlehandedly spearheading the evacuation of Nigerians couple with the financial implication of such evacuation put at over N280 million. I think he truly deserves to be rewarded”.
However, the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila has thanked and recommended the Benin born businessman to the federal government for the role played in ensuring that Nigerians who decided to return rejoined their families back home in Nigeria safely.
“The Chairman of Air Peace Airline, Allen Ifechukwu Onyema is the man of the moment. This is what I regard as selfless service not only to his fellow citizens but to his nation, Nigeria”
Tayo, in his speech never hesitated to remind Nigerians to be our brothers’ keeper so as to keep the spirit of one united Nigeria alive.
