WHEN A NATION RESPONDS WITH SENSE: THE ARIK AIR ENGINE FAILURE AND THE CASE FOR FAIRNESS TO AIR PEACE

 WHEN A NATION RESPONDS WITH SENSE: THE ARIK AIR ENGINE FAILURE AND THE CASE FOR FAIRNESS TO AIR PEACE

By Fred Chukwuelobe

Nigeria did something refreshingly right this week.

Following an engine incident involving Arik Air’s Boeing 737-700 (registration 5N-MJF) operating Flight W3 740 from Lagos to Port Harcourt, the crew detected a fault mid-flight and executed a precautionary diversion to Benin City. The aircraft landed safely with about 80 souls on board. No injuries. No loss of life. The Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) promptly announced a formal investigation.

That is the kind of news every passenger, every family, and indeed the entire nation, prays for.

Even more commendable was the public response. There was no hysteria. No lynch-mob outrage on social media. No instant calls for heads to roll. The regulators did what they are paid to do: moved in calmly and professionally. The flying public trusted the process. That is how mature aviation cultures behave.

We should commend both the authorities and the public for this measured reaction. Aviation incidents, though rare, are part of global air transport realities. Engine issues have occurred even in countries with far more advanced aviation systems. What matters is how professionally such events are handled, and in this case, the system worked.

But this moment of collective sense raises an uncomfortable question.

Where was this calm in July 2025, when Air Peace experienced a runway incursion in Port Harcourt?

That incident, by all factual accounts, resulted in no injuries and no harm to passengers, crew, or equipment. Many passengers did not even realise anything unusual had happened until the pilot calmly announced that they would disembark on the runway rather than the apron. There was no mid-air emergency. No panic. Just a procedural safety event handled professionally.

Yet what followed was a national spectacle. A troubling one. 

Social media went up in flames. Calls were made for the suspension of Air Peace’s Air Operator Certificate (AOC). The National Assembly summoned the airline’s management for grilling. Banners were printed and displayed at the venue of aviation committee hearings. An entire theatre of outrage was staged over an incident that caused no harm and no damage.

Air Peace was hauled before the National Assembly, even though several other Nigerian airlines had recorded similar runway incursions within the same period. None faced equal summons. None was subjected to the same intensity of public condemnation.

Now contrast that with the Arik Air engine failure, an event objectively more serious in aviation terms, yet one that attracted no witch-hunt, no political theatre, and no mob justice. Had it been Air Peace, calls would likely have followed for the airline to submit the maintenance records of its entire fleet to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the NSIB, the DSS, and even the National Assembly. Parallel panels would have been set up to “probe” maintenance standards, safety culture, and management competence.

The contrast becomes even starker when we recall how that the Port Harcourt incident investigation was handled. Without first carrying the airline along, the NSIB’s preliminary report alleged that the pilot and co-pilot tested positive for alcohol, immediately casting a cloud of suspicion over the airline. It further alleged that another crew member tested positive for cannabis. All 103 people on board the Boeing 737 were unharmed, yet these preliminary findings were released to the public without the airline’s input, as due process would ordinarily require.

Why the double standard?

If Air Peace has, in the past, accused sections of the public and regulatory authorities of unfair targeting, can we honestly say those grievances are completely unfounded? This is not to diminish the importance of safety oversight or to politicise aviation incidents. Accidents and incidents can happen to any airline. What must not happen is selective outrage and uneven treatment.

Air Peace has carried millions of Nigerians. It has invested heavily in domestic connectivity at a time when many foreign carriers were scaling down operations in Nigeria. It has created jobs, trained manpower, and kept the wheels of local aviation turning under punishing economic conditions. That does not place the airline above scrutiny, but it should entitle it to fairness.

What we saw with the Arik Air incident is the template Nigeria should adopt going forward: calm investigation, professional oversight, respect for due process, zero hysteria, and no weaponisation of safety incidents for politics or vendetta.

The Air Peace witch-hunt must stop if Nigeria is to build an aviation industry capable of competing favourably on the global stage.

If we truly want a safer, stronger aviation sector, then consistency, fairness, and maturity must be our watchwords, no matter whose logo is on the aircraft.

What is good for the goose must also be good for the gander.

© . Fred Chukwuelobe , is a Public Affairs Commentator