By VITUS OZOKE, PhD

Enugu Air’s CEO, Captain Tolu Ita, made a public address following the Enugu Air runway incident in Benin City. It was reassuring in tone, sought to calm public anxiety, and rightly emphasized that passenger safety remains the airline’s highest priority. That much deserves acknowledgment.

Unfortunately, the address also raised uncomfortable questions – not only about crisis communication but also about Governor Peter Mbah’s broader philosophy on appointments to strategic positions in Enugu State.

The first issue is one that many Ndi Igbo have quietly discussed for some time. Enugu Air is not merely another airline. It is the flagship aviation project of Enugu State. Symbolically and economically, it is one of the crown jewels of Ala Igbo. Given the longstanding complaints of discrimination, exclusion, and underrepresentation of Igbo professionals in many strategic sectors across Nigeria, one might reasonably have expected the chief executive of Enugu Air to be an Igbo aviation professional with the experience, competence, and confidence to build a new regional airline into a model institution.

Instead, Governor Peter Mbah once again placed a non-Igbo professional at the helm. That, by itself, is not the problem. A governor has every constitutional and political right to appoint whoever he believes can best deliver results. Competence should always take precedence over ethnicity. Indeed, if the best-qualified person for the job is not Igbo, so be it.

The real issue is this: if a governor looks beyond his own people for key appointments, the public should at least expect unquestionable excellence. That expectation becomes even more compelling when those appointments involve institutions that carry the hopes, resources, and reputation of an entire state.

Listening carefully to Captain Ita’s video address, one aspect of her remarks immediately stood out. In Enugu Air’s official written statement issued shortly after the incident, the airline described the event as a runway incursion. Yet in her subsequent video address, Captain Ita repeatedly referred to what sounded like a runway excursion. Twice, she said ‘escursion’ (escursion is not an English word, by the way).

Ordinarily, one might dismiss this as a minor semantic difference, but it is not. In aviation, a runway incursion and a runway excursion are two distinct safety events. A runway incursion is the unauthorized presence of an aircraft, vehicle, person, or object on an active runway, creating the potential for conflict with another aircraft.

A runway excursion, by contrast, occurs when the aircraft unintentionally departs the runway surface – either by veering off the side or by overrunning the end of the runway during takeoff or landing.

These are not interchangeable expressions. They describe different operational events, different causal factors, different investigative pathways, and often different safety recommendations. That raises an obvious question: Which was it?

If the official press statement was accurate, why did the Chief Executive Officer appear to describe the event differently in her public address? Conversely, if Captain Ita’s characterization reflected what actually occurred, why did Enugu Air’s earlier statement use a different technical term? The flying public deserves clarity.

Airlines build credibility through precision, especially in crisis communication. Safety incidents are not the time for inconsistent terminology. Every public statement should reflect a single, verified account of what happened. When an airline appears to speak with two voices about the same event, confidence inevitably suffers.

Crisis communication is not merely about reassuring passengers. It is about demonstrating that the organization understands exactly what occurred, communicates it accurately, and inspires confidence that the matter is being handled professionally and with technical competence.

Captain Ita also stated that there were no injuries. If that assessment holds after all passengers and crew are medically evaluated, it would indeed be welcome news. However, such categorical assurances issued very soon after an aviation incident naturally invite scrutiny because injuries – particularly minor ones – are sometimes identified only after passengers have been examined. More measured language, such as confirming that there were no fatalities and that assessments were ongoing, might have better balanced reassurance with caution. Public confidence is built not only by optimism but also by accuracy.

These concerns extend beyond a single airline executive. They point to a broader pattern. Governor Peter Mbah has repeatedly shown a willingness to entrust major projects to individuals from outside Enugu State and, in many cases, outside the Igbo ethnic group. Again, there is nothing inherently wrong with that. After all, merit has no tribe. Competence has no ethnicity. Excellence speaks every language. But merit must be demonstrated.

Enugu State has already faced controversy over the smart school project awarded to Sujimoto Luxury Construction Limited. The state has publicly alleged serious contractual breaches and sought the EFCC’s intervention, and recoveries and legal proceedings have been reported. Whatever the ultimate legal outcome, the episode has inevitably prompted questions about the administration’s due diligence in selecting major partners for flagship projects.

That experience should have prompted even greater caution in subsequent appointments. Instead, the Enugu Air episode risks reinforcing the perception that the administration’s confidence in certain appointees is not always matched by public confidence in their performance.

The issue, therefore, is not whether an appointee is Igbo, Yoruba, Ibibio, Hausa, Tiv, or from any other ethnic background. The issue is whether that individual is demonstrably the best fit for the position. Governor Peter Mbah cannot ask Ndi Enugu to overlook ethnicity in his appointments while simultaneously asking them to overlook mediocrity. The public will tolerate diversity. What it should never be asked to tolerate is preventable incompetence.

Enugu deserves better.

If Governor Peter Mbah believes the strongest team for Enugu includes many professionals from outside Ala Igbo, that is his prerogative. But the standard must be exceptionally high. Those appointments must be beyond question. They must inspire confidence rather than uncertainty. They must demonstrate excellence rather than invite controversy.

Leadership is ultimately measured not by who is appointed, but by whether those appointments consistently deliver competent performance, sound judgment, and public trust. That is the standard by which every governor should wish to be judged. And that is the standard by which Governor Peter Mbah’s appointments should now be carefully and critically evaluated.

•Dr. Vitus Ozoke is a lawyer, human rights activist, and public affairs analyst based in the United States. He writes on politics, governance, and the moral costs of leadership failure in Africa.

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