By Uche Mbah
There was jubilation, hand pumping and-wait for it-tears from the Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema as he received a batch of the returnees from Xenophobic South Africa, with the returnees singing praises of him and bursting into the Nigerian National Anthem. About 169 people were airlifted in the first batch by the airline. Second batch is expected Saturday.
In the wake of the Xenophobic attacks, Air Peace had volunteered to Airlift Nigerians who are willing to leave the country after the attacks. The last attempt at attacking and looting foreigners’ interests were vehemently resisted by the Nigerians themselves, supported by a more alert South African Police, who have made dozens of arrests.
The federal Government made no attempt to procure an Aircraft to airlift its citizens until Onyema volunteered Air Peace, then there were talks of helping them to settle down.
As the plane touched down at Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos, and Onyema walked in and was introduced to the returnees, there was an outburst of jubilation, with the song”onyema kayigeso, monjej monanana onyema kayigeso”-an igbo song declaring complete loyalty to Onyema.
The returnees were predominantly from South east.
In the midst of this, Onyema covered his face and wept profusely.
He wept for Joy.
There has been nothing but praises by Nigerians across divides on the patriotic gesture of the business mogul. Some vented their anger on religious leaders who according to them, “refuses to send their Private Jets to evacuate Nigerians but will expect them to come to their church for thanks giving when they return”.
Meanwhile, contrary to reports, no sanctions were targeted at the South African government to jolt them to take positive action against Xenophobic attacks. instead, the South African government officials were outdoing themselves trying to either justify the attacks or sit on the wall in morbid attempts at political correctness. “They must align with the expectations of the masses for election purposes”, an analyst told this magazine last week
Reports also indicate that South African authorities were busy trying to prevent Nigerians from leaving. For those who left, their Visas were cancelled to make sure they do not come back.
