By Chuwuma Umeorah
The Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF) has called on the Federal Government to take a firm stand in support of the President of Air Peace Limited, Dr. Allen Onyema, in the case of alleged indictment by the United States in 2019.
National President of the group, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, in a statement, at the weekend stated that the Federal Government cannot stand by and watch a predetermined persecution of one of its true nationalists to continue unchallenged.
He said, “We wish to call on the Nigerian government to stand firmly with its citizens in moments of challenges abroad. Our government owes us a duty to protect the integrity of its citizens and their corporate image whenever it is called to question. The government should wade into this matter immediately to end it. Nigerians would not accept our government sitting on the fence while one its best is been destroyed by the might of a foreign country. If this is allowed to continue, Nigerian youths would lose faith in their nation. The Federal Government should repose implicit confidence in our citizens by protecting Allen Onyema. Every nation protects its interest.”
He noted that the 2019 case is currently being deliberately promoted by a section of the Nigerian press that is bent on maligning and tarnishing the image of Onyema. He queried how much longer the Federal Government would wait before it comes to the aid of the Air Peace boss.
Shettima further said, “Why are we watching and waiting for him to be consumed? What has he done wrong? Even if he did any wrong, is the wrong enough to waste the over 15,000 jobs he created for his nation if he falls? What is the government doing?
“Pfizer, a US pharmaceutical company, orchestrated the death of hundreds of Nigerian children by deliberately using them as guinea pigs to test how their drugs kill. The US Government waded in to save theirs.
“The US caused the arrest of the daughter of the managing director of Huawei, a Chinese company, for money laundering. The Chinese government acted swiftly and the rest is history.
“Mr. Akinwunmi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank was accused by American of fraud and wanted him removed. African leaders and our government stepped in and it was halted.
“A Nigerian girl was arrested in Saudi Arabia for carrying drugs. The Nigerian government waded in to save her. Why the delay in wading into Allen Onyema’s case?
“We call on the Federal Government to immediately engage with the American government to halt this unfortunate indictment.”
Shettima said that Ebony Mayfield, a staff of Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a United States based company had admitted in court that no bank suffered any loss whatsoever in the transactions of Onyema.
The statement read in part, “This admission, by implication, equally confirms the assertion by Onyema’s lawyers that every money used in the payment for the aircraft using the letter of credit instrument was legitimately owned by Allen Onyema and his businesses contrary to the previously held notions and insinuations that he committed bank fraud by fleecing the US banks of millions of dollars.