The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has alleged that Safiyanu Abba, head of the department of state security (DSS) at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja, stopped an aviation officer from further searching a visitor who set off a metal detector.
In a tweet on Tuesday, FAAN said Abba also slapped the aviation officer who had asked the former not to obstruct airport security procedure by preventing a further search of the visitor.
“We note with dismay that Safiyanu Abba, the head of DSS at NAIA deliberately obstructed airport security process, and slapped an aviation security officer who was performing his duty by calling on Safiyanu Abba to desist from doing so,” the tweet read.
“This happened on July 17 at about 15:25 hours. He breached security procedure by obstructing further searching of a visitor who had just walked through the metal detector and activated the alarm.
“The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria strongly condemns this abuse of power and the security process in our airport. This has also been duly escalated. FAAN committed to our core values of safety, security and comfort.”
This is the second incident in recent times that FAAN would allege that an airport staff was assaulted.
The first was Abdulaziz Yari, former governor of Zamfara, who allegedly pushed an airport official who was trying to disinfect his (Yari) luggage at the Mallam Aminu Kano Airport on July 11.