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Chinelo Obogo
The Nigerian evacuees who were stranded for weeks in India have expressed their gratitude to Air Peace for bringing them home.
The letter titled, ‘Letter of Appreciation’ and addressed to the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, was sent to the company in care of the Nigerian High Commission in India and described the airlifting back to Nigeria as a patriotic act.
The letter, which was signed by the coordinators of the evacuees, Martin Osa Izevbokun from Edo state and Aliyu Bello from Nasarawa state, thanked the airline for offering to bring the Nigerians home at a very minimum cost and with offer of free tickets to about 20 of the Nigerians who went for medical treatment but did not have money to pay for their way back home after being stranded for weeks.
The evacuees said they were particularly grateful for Air Peace offer of a total approval of 79kg of luggage allowance to each of the travellers and 20 free tickets “you gave to our less privileged members who, without that support, would have been left behind in India.”
They also recalled that Air Peace had “come to the assistance of our fellow citizens in South Africa by evacuating them free of charge during the xenophobic attacks that took place there last year.”
“We the undersigned Nigerians who are being evacuated home aboard Air Peace flight APK 7830 on the 12th of June, 2020, after being stranded in India by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown hereby write to thank you most sincerely for the unparalleled patriotism, patience and magnanimity, which you have displayed during the long and tedious process associated with the evacuation.
“We are further impressed because you made those offers in spite of some unwarranted and unfortunate criticism, which was directed at you by few of our members for the delays, which were not your fault but which also caused you expenses that could have been avoided had they not occurred.
“We wish to thank our National Assembly which passed a resolution in support of giving our local carriers an opportunity to showcase their capabilities by evacuating our citizens who are stranded in different countries during this lockdown and we take immense pride in the fact that Air Peace has its stellar performance in that exercise, which vindicated the confidence that lay behind that resolution,” the letter stated.
