Emirates: Buhari told me he’s ruling Nigeria as he did in 1984, Hadi Sirika says

Aviation minister Hadi Sirika has said President Muhammadu Buhari recently told him the ongoing retaliation against Emirates Airlines reflects some actions he took when he was Nigeria’s military dictator in the early to mid-1980s. Mr Sirika said this while addressing a group of northern Muslims in the wake of Nigeria’s ban on Emirates Airlines in purported retaliation over the Gulf country’s restriction of Air Peace’s flights to only one per week. But the UAE in a December 10 letter to Mr Sirika said it was only Sharjah authorities who restricted Air Peace’s flight slots and not the UAE as a whole. In fact, the letter said Air Peace will be granted the remaining two slots out of the three it requested to fly into other UAE airports. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have international airports, but Air Peace only currently flies to Sharjah, which is a separate and independent emirate just northeast of Dubai, the UAE’s commercial capital. Mr Sirika in a WhatsApp group discussion with members of ‘Talban Daura’ said Mr Buhari told him about an action he took in exerting diplomatic pressure during his military junta days that was “very encouraging,” promising provide additional details of the conversation to the members at a later date. “President Buhari shared with me an action he took in 1984,” Mr Sirika said while concluding his address to ‘Talban Daura’ members. “It’s very encouraging.”