The Federal Government and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State appear to be locked in a clash of egos over the arrest of two pilots of Caverton Helicopters.
Wike had accused Caverton of violating the lockdown order imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the state.
The pilots were subsequently arraigned at a magistrate’s court on Tuesday and remanded in prison till May.
This was despite the airline revealing that aviation authorities granted it permission to fly into Rivers
However, in reaction, on Wednesday, Minister of Aviiation, Hadi Sirika, rebuked the governor, saying he doesn’t have the right to do so.
Addressing a press briefing organised by the presidential task force on COVID-19, Sirika accused security operatives who arrested the pilots on the governor’s order of “displaying ignorance”.
He said the Federal Government would do every thing legally possible to secure the release of the pilots.
, “Civil aviation is on the exclusive list, on item number three. So, no other person except the Federal Government has the authority to legislate upon it. So, also the Nigerian Air Force, part of the Armed Forces, is on the exclusive list. There is no other authority but the Federal Government that has the legal right to legislate upon.
“So, the Air Force officer, who jumped the Commander-in-Chief and ignored him, who also jumped the chief of defence staff and the chief of air staff and ignored them, to call a governor and come into the property of the Federal Government and the Nigerian Air Force to make an arrest have exhibited dangerous ignorance and incompetence grossly.
“On whether we gave approval for the flight, yes we did and we did so in national interest. All of those flights are for the purpose of improving the national revenue to which Rivers State is the greatest beneficiary.
“So, those flights by Caverton, by Aero Contractors, by Bristol and Arik and a couple more were for national interest.”
