Wehner says Government must give account for all the African visitors who did not take return flight to Nigeria on Sunday

The United Progressive Party’s Mobilization Officer, George Wehner, is asking the Browne Administration to give account for those passengers who did not make it onto their return flight to Nigeria on Sunday, November 6.

Purporting to be the inaugural flight of Antigua Airways, a chartered Euro Atlantic Airways craft arrived here on November 1, reportedly with about 150 passengers – or half its capacity – from Lagos, Nigeria.

Among the Nigerian visitors were reportedly nationals of Cameroon, Senegal and The Gambia who came on vacation.
 
However, Wehner says the return flight – which began boarding on Sunday sometime after 3 p.m. and departed at 4:10 p.m. – was short of passengers. Other sources tell REAL News that only 38 persons were actually on board.
 
Accordingly, since the purpose of their visit was vacation and they should have had return tickets to Nigeria, Wehner says the Government needs to explain what has happened to the missing passengers.
 
The Mobilization Officer says this situation is closely being monitored, as he finds the “deafening silence” of Sir Robin Yearwood, Minister of Aviation, alarming.

Wehner notes that, since the Government claims to have shares in the airline, it would make Sir Robin even more closely involved as the Chairman of the National Asset Management Company (NAMCO), through which the Government’s investments are funneled.
 
Meanwhile, Wehner is asking whether some untoward activity, facilitated by the charter, might have taken place.
 
And he is still posing questions about the cargo allegedly carried on the flight, which reportedly was loaded some 18 hours before the plane departed Lagos.

The trip to Antigua and Barbuda was advertised as a six-day trip, from November 1 to 6.
 
Meanwhile, Wehner says the UPP has nothing against forging a link between the African continent and the Caribbean region, which he deems a good initiative; but the way in which it was approached was a botched undertaking, he says.