Edo North Senator and former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, has debunked claims that he disrupted Air Peace operations at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The senator, whose confrontation with the airline’s staff was captured in a viral video, insists he was merely standing up against what he described as systemic injustice and exploitation of Nigerian passengers, including himself.
The incident, which took place on Wednesday morning, gained widespread attention after footage showed Oshiomhole challenging Air Peace officials over their handling of a Lagos-Abuja flight. According to the senator, the airline unfairly denied boarding to several passengers who had complied with the check-in policies, only to prioritize new ticket sales at inflated prices.
Reacting to a statement issued by Air Peace accusing him of disrupting airport operations after allegedly missing his flight, Oshiomhole held a press conference to set the record straight. He explained that while he did miss a 6:30 p.m. flight on Tuesday evening due to what he called “deliberate obstruction,” he and his aide had already checked in and arrived at the airport by 6:10 p.m., well ahead of time. Despite this, they were denied boarding, prompting an overnight stay at a hotel and a fresh booking for a 6:30 a.m. flight the next morning.
However, Wednesday morning brought a repeat of the ordeal. Oshiomhole said he arrived before 6:00 a.m., having checked in online the previous night at 7:46 p.m., but was still refused entry onto the flight. He noted that other passengers, including a woman with a six-month-old baby who arrived at 5:55 a.m., also faced the same denial despite their punctuality.
“The real scandal,” Oshiomhole said, “is that Air Peace closed boarding for a 6:30 flight as early as 6:05, yet continued to sell new tickets at the airport for as high as N250,000 while denying boarding to those who had already paid online at N146,000.”
He accused the airline of deliberately shutting out passengers with pre-booked, lower-cost tickets in favour of walk-in customers who were charged nearly double the price. According to him, this practice amounted to extortion and showed blatant disregard for airline regulations and passenger rights.
Rejecting what he described as VIP privilege, Oshiomhole revealed that Air Peace staff and security operatives offered him special treatment once they recognised him, but he refused. “I told them, don’t help me, enforce my rights like every other Nigerian. Big men get sorted while ordinary citizens are left stranded. If speaking up for the masses makes me a troublemaker, I’ll cause trouble forever,” he declared.
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The senator also narrated how security officials later tried to resolve the issue by offering him and the affected woman slots on a later flight, but only if she paid an extra N109,100 on top of her original N146,000 fare. In total, the woman would have spent over N256,000 for a one-hour flight from Lagos to Abuja. Touched by her situation, Oshiomhole said he transferred N500,000 to her to cover the cost.
He concluded by warning that unless the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) enforces stricter oversight, Nigerian passengers will continue to suffer arbitrary treatment at the hands of airlines more concerned with profit than fairness.
Under Nigerian aviation law, particularly NCAR Part 19, airlines are required to communicate boarding times and check-in deadlines clearly. While they have the right to deny boarding to late passengers, the enforcement must be uniform and non-discriminatory. Oshiomhole argues that Air Peace’s actions on both days violated not just these laws, but basic principles of fairness and customer service.
As the video continues to spark national conversation, many Nigerians have praised the senator’s stance, calling for broader reforms in domestic aviation and stronger enforcement of consumer protection policies. With pressure mounting on Air Peace to respond transparently, the controversy has reignited debate over airline accountability and the treatment of Nigerian travelers.
