The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has asked Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, to issue a public apology to airport officials within seven days and pay a N25,000 fine for allegedly breaking parking rules at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

In a statement released on Friday, Keyamo said an internal investigation backed by CCTV footage showed that Obi’s account of the incident was wrong. Obi had earlier claimed that his vehicle was unfairly clamped and that the action was a form of political persecution.

According to Keyamo, the incident happened on July 4 when Obi arrived at the domestic terminal around 8:28 pm. He said that after Obi got out of the vehicle, his police driver parked in a designated drop-off zone, left the car unattended, and went into the terminal — which goes against airport rules.

The minister said the driver briefly returned to the vehicle but later left it unattended again, forcing airport security to clamp the tyres. Keyamo insisted that the airport officials had no idea the vehicle belonged to Obi when they took action.

He further claimed that when the driver noticed the clamp, he contacted Obi, who then spoke to the airport manager and asked for the vehicle to be released. The vehicle was released without the driver paying the N25,000 penalty.

Keyamo stated that leaving a vehicle unattended in a restricted airport zone for about 30 minutes posed a serious security threat and violated global aviation safety standards.

He accused Obi of trying to gain political sympathy by presenting the enforcement action as persecution. The minister noted that the matter had already been resolved before Obi went public with claims of unfair treatment.

Keyamo demanded that Obi offer an unreserved public apology to airport workers, who he said were simply doing their jobs, and voluntarily return to pay the parking fine. He warned that if Obi failed to comply within one week, he would direct the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to take further action