Victor EzejaThe Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF) has called on the Nigerian government to intervene in the case involving the CEO of Air Peace Allen Onyema in the United States to bring it to a permanent end.
The group said the government has the duty to protect the interest of its citizens and their corporate interests when such is at stake.
The northern group was reacting to the Friday court judgement in the United States which admitted that there was no financial loss suffered by any bank or individual in the case involving Onyema over transactions made for purchase of aircraft for his Nigerian airline, Air Peace.
READ ALSO: Allen Onyema’s Case: US Gov’t Admits No Loss Suffered By Any Bank
Onyema had been accused of engaging in money laundering and bank fraud to the tune of $15 million and $20 million in conjunction with an American woman, named Ebony Mayfield.
Following the allegation against Mayfield, a former administrative staff of Springfield Aviation Company owned by Allen, a US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia filed a charge at the District Court in Atlanta.
Onyema, however, maintained that all transactions done in respect of the Letters of Credit were done in good faith and funds mobilised were legitimate.
In the Friday ruling, the US District Court held that no bank or third party suffered any loss as a result of the transactions.
Onyema’s lawyer, Austin Alegeh in a statement on the the same day, explained that Mayfield had limited knowledge of Letters of Credit Transactions and was only handed a fine of $4,000 and probation for three years, with no prison sentence, house arrest or confinement.
The Arewa group in a signed statement by its National President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, said the court judgement showed that Air Peace CEO was innocent of the whole allegations and indictment, hence the need for the Nigerian government to wade into the matter to protect him as citizen who has contributed immensely to national development through his airline company that has provided over 15,000 jobs.
AYCF also bemoaned the attitude exhibited by some Nigerian media organisations that consistently used the matter to deliberately malign the personality and businesses of Onyema.
What AYCF is saying:
Part of the statement reads, “In recent times, we have all watched with nostalgia and shame how the 2019 US Indictment of Allen Onyema has been used and promoted deliberately by a section of the Nigerian press to malign the character and businesses of one of Nigeria’s true nationalists in a calculated bid to bring him down and ultimately, Air Peace, Nigeria’s leading airline.
“The recent admission of the US government in court in the case of Ebony Mayfield, a staff of Springfield Aviation Company LLC, a United States based company, that no bank suffered any loss whatsoever in the transactions of Allen Onyema, is a pointer to the fact that this man never intended to commit any fraud in his dealings.
“This admission, by implication, equally confirms the assertion by his 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.
“There was no victim in his transactions and no crime was ever intended.”
The group pointed out that the matter had also been reviewed by various Law Enforcement Agencies in Nigeria and no evidence of criminality was established against either Allen Onyema or Air Peace.
“We are convinced and, it is very obvious that this case, at best, arose out of the clash of misunderstandings of the processes of two different financial jurisdictions, Nigeria and the United States of America!
“This is not enough to be allowed to be used in bringing down a man who has given his all to his nation right from his teenage years in the university to this moment,” the statement added.
The group further remarked that Onyema has played series of patriotic roles in Nigeria at different times such as interventions at critical times like: evacuating Nigerians of every ethnicity trapped in South Africa during the xenophobic attacks free of charge; and during the Covid-19 worldwide lockdowns, when he went to evacuate Nigerians trapped in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and China, among other national interventions.
“Is this the person we, as a nation, are willing to sacrifice on the altar of an indictment that has become obviously very abusive? ” The group queried.
“We condemn the press release that even heralded this unfortunate indictment in 2019. That press release violated his rights and even American and Nigerian laws by making very extreme judgemental statements against his person. The press release even found him guilty even before trial!
“How could Nigeria allow their own to face a trial that has been already predetermined irrespective of proofs to the contrary?”
It said that other nations like America, China, etc., cannot fold hands and allow their patriotic citizens suffer such undue persecution, and charged government not to sit on the fence but take action and repose confidence in the citizens by protecting Onyema.
“We call on the Federal Government to immediately engage with the American government to halt this unfortunate indictment,” the statement added.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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