The federal government says it has launched a probe into the cancellation of Air Peace passengers’ visas after their arrival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from Kano.
Francisca Omayuli, spokesperson of the ministry of foreign affairs, made the announcement in a statement posted on the ministry’s X account on Wednesday.
The flight, which took off from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, via the Aminu Kano International Airport in Kano, on Sunday night, was said to have arrived in Jeddah on Monday.
Upon their arrival, the Middle Eastern nation asked the airline to return all 264 passengers to Nigeria, announced that all their visas were cancelled, but later allowed 87 passengers to remain.
A source had told NewMailNG that the cancellation was a shock to passengers and airline personnel because they went through the advanced passengers pre-screening system (APPS) — which was also monitored by the Saudi Arabia authorities before the flight left Nigeria.
The source questioned whether the development was a plot to dissuade Air Peace from continuing its operations on the route given that the carrier has been recording a high load factor.
The flight disruptions came amid a business meeting involving the governments of Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
Addressing the issue, the ministry of foreign affairs noted that while it is the prerogative of a sovereign nation to determine who is permitted entry into its territory, “Nigeria and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are traditional and strategic partners, who are willing to guard against a reoccurrence of this unfortunate incident”.
“In this regard, investigation is ongoing in both Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. The affected passengers are therefore, implored to keep calm, while the matter is being resolved,” the statement added.
John Ojikutu, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Centurion Aviation Security and Safety Consult, Nigeria, had said the action of the Saudi authorities was due to geopolitics.
Geopolitics underscores the effects or influences of territories or borders on foreign relations.
To prevent the situation from reoccurring, he suggested that the Nigerian government should designate domestic airlines with foreign operations as flag carriers as the United States does.
Earlier in November, Air Peace, Nigeria’s flag carrier, expanded its operations into the Middle East with the commencement of direct scheduled commercial flights into Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
