We Only Stopped Patience Jonathan From Being Driven To Tarmac � FAAN's Official Statement

Posted by Odinaka on Wed 29th Jul, 2015 - tori.ng

Former First Lady, Patience Jonathan was reportedly stopped from using the VIP lounge of Port-harcourt airport. But the FAAN has said it was not so in a new statement.

Few days ago, it was widely reported that former First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, was stopped from using the VIP lounge of Port Harcourt International Airport by the security operatives of Federal Airports Authority (FAAN), who reportedly said they were working based on orders from above.

Reacting to the report, FAAN, in a statement on Tuesday, described the viral reports as misleading and mischievous, stressing that the wife of former President Goodluck Jonathan was not denied access to the VIP lounge at the Airport on July 27, 2015.

The authority stated that what its security officials did was to stop the former First Lady’s convoy from gaining access to the tarmac where her aircraft was parked.

General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Yakubu Dati, said the security officials explained to Dame Jonathan’s team why her convoy was stopped, adding that the officials were only abiding by international safety standards.

"The former First Lady’s convoy was only denied access to the foot of the aircraft during boarding formalities at the airport in line with international aviation best practices, strictly for safety reasons, as prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. Our security officials explained this fact to details of the former First Lady.

We wish to recall that former President Goodluck Jonathan, in his recent trips from the same airport, had had to walk to the aircraft from the protocol lounge, in recognition of this ICAO regulation.

We wish to state that no such thing happened as Dame Jonathan, like other family members of former Presidents and other designated principal officers of government, are officially entitled to the usage of airport VIP and protocol lounges under the management of FAAN."