Paul Ohia
6 May 2008
Lagos — Against the backdrop of a recent maltreatment of 137 Nigerians on board the British Airways (BA), a group of Nigerians have launched a website against the airline to protest the development and apparently forestall a reoccurrence.
The website, www.antibritishairway.com, describes itself as a modern tool to resist injustice, racial discrimination and 21st century form of slavery.
The owners appealed to all civilised minds all over the world to join hands with them to make the world a respectable place for all citizens.
The homepage includes topics such as an introduction, general discussion, my experience with BA and BA in the news as its menu.
However, the other vital part of the website is its forum, obviously made to increase the page view and hit rate. As at press time yesterday, it has recorded 19 posts among 18 viewers.
On March 27 this year, about 137 Nigerian passengers who boarded BA flight 0075 from London to Lagos had witnessed the maltreatment of the said Nigerian, who was handcuffed and forced into the flight.
The way he was manhandled, which made the deportee to shout for help, prompted a Nigerian passenger, Ayodeji Omotade, to call on British Immigration officials to exercise restraint unless they wanted to kill him.
Angered by the words of sympathy from Omotade, the Immigrations officials took the deportee and the sympathiser out of the plane and arrested the latter and detained him, while the deportee was returned to the flight.
Outraged by that incident, Nigerians who were witnesses and many others who read the report in the British tabloid, Daily Mirror, wrote a protest letter, which was signed by over 1000 Nigerians to the President, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
They demanded a front page apology in a Nigerian national daily newspaper to all passengers on board flight BA0075; a written apology and appropriate compensation to Omotade; lifting of the life ban imposed on Omotade by BA and all criminal charges against him dropped forthwith.
The website owners, who simply identified themselves as Nigerian IT professionals, reminisced metaphorically on how the military rolled out submachine guns against people holding sticks and stones not against foreign invaders but against the very people that decided to have military set up.
The group lamented the fate of the black man who they feared was destined for maltreatment even when he pays more than others for the same service.
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