Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State has allegedly flouted Covid-19 protocol put in place at the domestic wing of the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa.
The governor and his entourage reportedly refused to have their temperature checked at the airport on Tuesday, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria said in a statement.
This is coming barely a day after FAAN accused former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, of assaulting an airport official at the Kano airport enforcing the Covid-19 protocol at the airport.
According to FAAN, Fintiri and his team also refused to sanitize their hands and have their baggage sanitized.
The airport authority had released a set of guidelines for passenger facilitation and flight operations as domestic flights resumed in the country last week. 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”.
It said, “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 sanitized 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 travelers against acts of unlawful interference, infection and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.”