Reps, other passengers stranded at Kano Airport

Members of the House of Representatives were on Wednesday left stranded at the Kano International Airport by Azman Airline for hours, as officials allegedly absconded from the airport.

The lawmakers boarded Azman Airline for an official assignment with the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and waited for hours unattended to for a flight that was scheduled to take off at 12:30pm as the airline kept shifting the take-off time for over 12 hours.

It was gathered that the flight was reportedly delayed from 12:30pm till 2:30pm, then till 6pm.

The flight time was again moved to 9:45pm, after which the lawmakers were told that they would leave at 12:15am on Thursday.

Officials of the airline are said to have failed to address the passengers on the cause of the delay.

Speaking on the matter, the House’s spokesman, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who was among the stranded passengers, expressed worry that airline operators, especially Azman Airlines have resolved to treat Nigerians without respect.

He said such was against the consumer protection law of the country, adding that if a passenger is delayed for two hours, the operators should reach out to their passengers.

He said: “It is important the people we represent know where we are and the National Assembly knows we are still stranded here and as we speak to you, nobody is at the counter to address us, not even the manager.”

Representative Kalu, who spoke on behalf of the lawmakers, expressed concern that this is what the ordinary Nigerians pass through on a daily basis while travelling.

“We just came out to see the manager and other members are still inside. In the hall, a lot of Nigerians were left stranded; there are other Nigerians who are stranded and we are witnessing this firsthand and we are feeling it. Some of the citizens were abandoned here.

“We are raising this call for common Nigerians; sometimes when citizens bring their complaints it appears as if they fabricated it. But this one we are involved and we are seeing this for ourselves,” the House’s spokesman noted.

“We have shown interest to find out from the Ministry of Aviation and Consumer Protection Council what is happening to the Aviation sector as soon as we return,” he added.

(Daily Trust)