FAAN accuses Adamawa gov, Fintiri, of flouting COVID-19 protocol at Port Harcourt Airport

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has accused Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State of flouting COVID-19 protocols put in place at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, in Rivers State.

According to a statement by FAAN, the governor and his entourage allegedly refused to have their temperature checked at the airport on Tuesday.

It would be recalled that FAAN had also accused a former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari of assaulting an airport official enforcing the Covid-19 protocol at the Kano airport.

Yari later denied the allegation, claiming that no such incident took place.

FAAN also revealed in the statement that Fintiri and his team refused to sanitise their hands and have their baggage sanitised.

As part of guidelines put in place for the reopening of the nation’s airspace to domestic flights, FAAN had released a set of guidelines for passenger facilitation and flight operations. The guidelines include mandatory temperature checks for all passengers and the exclusion of the aides of very important personalities from the airport.

However, the government officials who came to receive Fintiri and his team on Tuesday were said to have driven right through the barricades up to the terminal building ignoring traffic and Aviation Security instructions.

The airport authority condemned the actions of the governor and his team as “irresponsible” and “unacceptable”.

The statement reads in part: “The Management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria hereby strongly condemns the conduct of the Governor of Adamawa State, Alh Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, who arrived Port Harcourt International Airport aboard aircraft 5N-IZY, at 17:08 hrs on 14th July 2020 with 8 others, and who flagrantly refused to observe the Airport Security and Public Health protocols as directed by the Federal Government through the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 by refusing to have his temperature checked, or being sanitised by the health officials.

“His whole entourage of 8 did exactly as he did. The team that came to receive them drove right through the barricades up to the terminal building ignoring traffic and Aviation Security instructions.

“This irresponsible act endangers all other airport users, it is unacceptable, and as such it has also been duly escalated. FAAN hereby cautions all airport users, especially our esteemed VIPs, to please respect the Presidential directive by observing airport Security and Public Health travel protocols put in place to protect all air travellers against acts of unlawful interference, infection and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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