Fed Govt in Talks With Wike Over Detained Pilots

The federal government is talking to the Rivers state government about detained Caverton Helicopter pilots, the COVID-19 Presidential Task Force (PTF) reported yesterday.

The police arrested the pilots for violating government policy when flying to the Air Force Base in Port Harcourt after Governor Nyesom Wike gave a lockdown order.

Wake gave the directive after the spread of COVID-19 and confirmation of the index case in the states of Southsouth.

Updating his daily briefing on Monday, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, Hassan Musa, said that it is necessary to accelerate the release of the pilots, considering the threats of several unions in the aviation sector to go on strike.

He said: “The federal government is in consultation with the Rivers state government to release them as soon as possible, because their prison is taking on a different dimension as the Air Traffic Union and other unions in the aviation sector threaten to go on strike.

“We hope that this misunderstanding will be resolved soon so that we can resolve them, as their operation was legal.”