A northern group, Arewa Patriotic Youth Front (APYF), has concluded plans to hold a one million-man march over what they described as the unfair trial of Barr. Allen Onyema, CEO of Air Peace.
US authorities had accused Mr Onyema of moving suspicious funds from Nigeria to American bank accounts between 2017 and 2018, with the funds allegedly disguised as being meant to purchase aircraft.
Although Mr Onyema has denied wrongdoing, he is wanted in the US over the bank fraud charges filed against him and a co-defendant at the District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta since 2019.
But reacting to Mr Onyema’s trial, the group’s national coordinator, Comrade Bagudu Joseph, and his secretary, Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed, said the group was fully prepared to stage the protest at the US embassy in Abuja to protect the businessman’s image.
“We will, therefore, not fold our arms and watch our best hands get drawn by obvious enemies of our people and our country,” they said.
According to the group, “We will resist these continuous rehearsals of falsehood targeted at Barr. Allen Onyeama.
“Barr. Allen Onyeama, CEO of Air Peace Limited, is a shining light and a worthy role model for Nigerian youth who has transformed the aviation sector in Nigeria, thereby creating jobs for thousands of Nigerian youths.
“His demonstrated passion and love for Nigeria is only equal to that of our founding fathers, no wonder he’s quick to identify with ordinary Nigerians anywhere in the world who are in dire need.
This he demonstrated clearly during the Covid-19 pandemic and during the xenophobic attacks on our fellow countrymen in South Africa, to mention but a few.
“The continuous trumping up of money laundering charges against Barr Allen Onyeama and his co-defendant by the Northern District Court of Georgia in Atlanta US and their co-conspirators from Nigeria is a deliberate attempt to extinguish the light of the aviation mogul who took the industry by storm in less than a decade stepping into the industry.
“Barr Allen Onyeama has since denied those allegations since 2019, and until proven otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction, we frowned at these continuous distractions and rehearsal of falsehood, and we call on the government of Nigeria to stand by Nigerians who do legitimate businesses and are making the country proud in the eyes of the world.
“We have concluded plans to submit a petition and protest letter to the US Embassy in Abuja for an end to this harassment on Barr Allen Onyeama, CEO of Air Peace Limited,” they said.
