The Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace, Allen Onyema has explained the motivation his gesture of evacuating stranded Nigerians entrapped in crisis prone areas in different parts of the world.
Onyema noted that his goal was to make use of his blessings to unite Nigerians, harness the opportunities abound in the diverse ethnic nationalities of the country.
The Air Peace boss stated this while speaking in an interview, monitored by our correspondent on Arise TV on Wednesday.
He said, “Nigeria is a country of about 370 ethnic nationalities. This is supposed to be our strength, the diversity we have today is envy to all. It pains me that we have not been able to weave the country together in over sixty years of our independence.
“So whatever I have to do to encourage people to come together to promote unity and encourage broad nationalism against ethnic and religious nationalism that is currently in the country. Why do I do it? I do it because i love this country, and i believe we could be better than what we are now.
I love using my God-given blessings to help my country. I laid down my life in the Niger Delta for this country. To me, that is my greatest service to this nation because Boko Haram would have been child’s play But I laid down my life and got Niger Delta sorted and today everybody is enjoying it, everyone has forgotten about that.
“Everyone is talking about my intervention during the COVID period in Thailand, Malaysia, and India, our people there were destroying the Nigerian embassies over there, which will not be a good image for the country so I sent in my jets. Honestly, I feel personally honored to be allowed to do that,” he said.
Recall that Air Peace had expressed its willingness to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Sudan free of charge as fierce fighting continues to rage in Khartoum.
Clashes broke out in the North-Eastern African nation on April 15 as rival factions of the military government of Sudan battled for control of the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region.
Onyema, in a statement on Monday, had said the stranded Nigerians in Sudan need urgent assistance.
According to him, Nigerians could be moved to a neighbouring country the airline would fly there and evacuate them, as Sudan’s airspace is closed from civil aviation flights.
“I am compelled to help because Nigeria cannot afford to lose her citizens in that country. It would be my own commitment to making sure that the stranded Nigerians in the war-torn country are safe.
“Everything must not be left for the government alone, especially as the situation calls for urgency and immediate action.
“Again, Air Peace is willing to evacuate Nigerians stranded in Sudan free of charge if the government can get them to a safe and secure airport in any of the neighbouring countries bordering Sudan.
“Everything must not be left for government and government alone. It will be a privilege and honour of tremendous pride that we will be out there to give every Nigerian stranded in Sudan a sense of pride and oneness in their country.
“We are very ready to do it immediately. No time wasting. Any action that would promote national pride, national cohesion, peace and unity, we are for it. Again, we have no apologies for believing in our nation and loving the nation despite certain national challenges.
“If they are moved to Kenya or Uganda or any other country, we will move in to get them out. Some parents have started calling on us to help. We are ready to do this again and again.”
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