Group rises in defence of Air Peace founder over media attacks

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

A statement jointly signed by National Coordinator and Secretary, Abubakar Mahdi and Pastor David Anyeni, respectively, indicated that some people have risen against Mr. Onyema, with several allegations with a view to tarnish his image and reputation built over the years.

Part of the statement reads: “our attention has been drawn to an unfortunate news item published in an online media platform by some people who, obviously, want to discredit Mr. Allen and his business. Our findings revealed that the objective was to tarnish the hard earned reputation of Mr. Onyema and the integrity of Air Peace.

“In their desperation to achieve their target, they came up with a concorted fake news alleging that an American woman (name withheld) who allegedly helped the founder of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, to facilitate a $20 million bank fraud, has admitted receiving $20,000 for her roles over a period of two years.

“We could have elected to ignore this smear campaigns particularly in the media, but it has become imperative to dispel this concocted tissues of lies, fabrication and misinformation.”

The Group was, however, concerned that some credible media platforms could come down low and allowed themselves to be used as agent of destruction by publishing stories that are untrue just to tarnish the image and reputation of the Founder of Air Peace, Mr. Onyema.

It also said that some people had earlier alleged that Mr. Onyema purportedly used billions of Naira from the Amnesty Programme to purchase aircraft to start the Air Peace in 2019, which they failed to substantiate the claims, and are now using another American lie to try to tarnish his image.

It said: “We cannot fold our arms and allow desperate individuals mess up an honorable individual like Mr. Onyema. We have good reasons to believe just as we have it on good authority that this latest phantom allegations against Air Peace and its Chairman have the imprimatur of a desperate individuals.

“The latest allegations is a rehash of some previously unsubstantiated allegations against Mr.Onyema. It is akin to the proverbial voice of Jacob but the hands of Esau.”

The group maintained that Mr. Onyema had over the years built a reputation of integrity, peace and hard work, and has been impacting Nigeria and the continent with footprint of integrity as a Nigerian dedicated to the service of Nigeria and Nigerians in difficult situations at various points in time using his hard-earned income and God given wealth of wisdom.

“This desperation to tarnish his image has forced us to be deeply worry about the safety of Mr. Onyema and well-being of his family. We, therefore, draw the attention of Nigerians and the International Community to this plot to silence Mr. Onyema by all means.

“We can, without equivocation, bear testimony to the fact that, Mr. Onyema has always supported any cause that will uplift the name and image of Nigeria as well as whatever will accelerate the pace of socioeconomic transformation of the nation.

“If anything, these among others are the qualities that mark him out as a man of repute, unquestionable integrity and worthy of emulation,” the Group said.