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Rights group protests as Britain sues Nigerian passenger for alleged assault
A NIGERIAN allegedly manhandled by British Airways (BA) officials in March this year, Mr. Ayodeji Omotade, has been formally charged with the offence of threatening, abusing, insulting and disorderly behaviour towards a member of the crew of the aircraft.
Omotade, who appeared in Oxbridge Magistrate's Court on Monday, is being represented by a law firm, Stephen Fidler and Co.
However, a civil society group, Respect Nigerians Coalition (RNC), accused the airline and the British government of twisting the story, arguing that at no time did Omotade assault British security personnel.
The organisation noted that other well-wishers of Nigeria had been trying for the past three months to get British Airways to apologise for its despicable conduct.
The group pointed out that though what Omotade was being charged for was a criminal offence, it was only punishable by a fine on conviction.
It urged President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who was scheduled to visit the United Kingdom yesterday, to suspend BA operations in Nigeria as the airline was only seeking to stamp a criminal record on Omatade as a cover-up.
"It is important also to remind ourselves that the police had earlier investigated Mr. Omotade on a presumptive charge of being in possession of money that is proceeds of crime. They even obtained a further 90 days extension order from a Magistrate's Court to hold on to the money seized from him on the plane. This was obviously an oppressive act, as the money was clearly nothing to raise eyebrows, being only £1,613.00 (one thousand, six hundred and thirteen pounds) - money, Mr. Omotade, a respectable Telecommunications and Information Technology contractor, was able to instantly account for.
"Omotade provided the police with every proof they needed to establish that he's a model citizen who earns his money legitimately.
"The police were possibly baffled by the fact that there is one Nigerian on whom they could pin nothing. So, they had no choice but to finally hand back his money a few weeks ago. But clearly, they were not satisfied with that outcome. They still had to find something to pin Mr. Omotade. And that is where this new charge comes in".
"RNC hereby condemns in unequivocal terms the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the British Police for this oppressive and provocative act of charging Ayodeji Omotade for an offence they fully know he didn't commit.
"While it is trite to say Omotade will have his day in court to establish his innocence, we venture to state that there is already enough evidence to indicate that the charge was unnecessary as the account of what happened on the day has been told and re-told in the public space. Mr. Omotade was the victim of police brutality and high-handedness".
Recounting the ordeal of Omotade in the hands of British Airways crew and security personnel, RNC explained that he was the one publicly and thoroughly humiliated - dragged out of the plane, slammed against the wall, beaten, bundled into a police van, arrested and detained for almost eight hours for no just cause.
RNC added: "Omotade was prevented from travelling to Nigeria and, therefore, could not attend his brother's wedding. BA banned him without refunding even his ticket money and his luggage was returned, damaged, more than a week after. We are of the strong view that Omotade is being prosecuted primarily to keep him on a leash and bury the whole matter in a judicial process that the police know will go nowhere.
"But for them and British Airways, it is a cynical decision to buy time. It is aimed at giving the impression (at least in the meantime) that BA has a genuine ground for complaint. Now, how can this be when time and time again, BA's lies have been exposed both in the British and the Nigerian press? We all recall the press statement BA issued in Nigeria on May 1, 2008, claiming that their crew was subjected to physical assault by the passengers.
"We pointed out at the time that throughout the wide coverage of this affair in the British media for over two months prior to the release of their statement, BA had ample opportunity to state this (if it was indeed the case), but never did. We pointed out that the police who attended the scene never received a report to this effect and never took any statement from any member of staff supposedly physically assaulted".
On April 24, 2008, the British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Robert Dewar, met with the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Ojo Maduekwe, and expressed outrage over the treatment of Nigerians by BA and the British Security Services on that flight.
Dewar assured the minister that he was investigating the matter and would get back to the Nigerian government once he got more information.
Also on June 4, 2008, the High Commissioner was reported in The Guardian as saying that the British government had issued BA a query over the incident and that the latter has submitted a report to the Brown Administration.
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