By Dickson Omobola
Senior Partner at Justice Chambers, Ekemini Udim, has identified reasons why the presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Mr Peter Obi, may not apologise to airport officials and pay a N25,000 fine over an alleged parking violation at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, had made the demand in a statement on his X platform, Friday, following an internal inquiry he said was instituted to verify Obi’s claim that his vehicle’s tyres were “unjustly” clamped at the airport.
The minister said the investigation, supported by CCTV footage from the airport, showed that Obi’s vehicle was parked unattended in a restricted area, leading airport security personnel to clamp the tyres.
Keyamo said Obi arrived at the domestic wing of the Abuja airport on July 4, 2026, and left the vehicle after being dropped off by a police driver.
He alleged that the driver later returned to the vehicle briefly before leaving it unattended again, prompting airport security officials to enforce the parking regulation.
Keyamo said the vehicle was eventually released after the driver contacted Obi, who spoke with an airport manager and requested the release of the car.
The minister also claimed the appropriate fine was not paid before the vehicle was released.
Keyamo subsequently demanded that Obi issue a public apology to airport workers whom he said were only carrying out their official duties and return to the airport to pay the N25,000 fine for the alleged parking violation.
Meanwhile, Udim, in a video posted on Facebook, argued that, in law, Keyamo does not have the power to pronounce anyone guilty and impose a fine because he is not a court of law.
He added that Keyamo had also failed to establish whether Obi personally drove and wrongly parked the vehicle or whether it was his driver who committed the alleged infraction.
The lawyer said, under the legal principle of criminal liability, it is the person who commits an offence that should be held liable and made to bear the consequences of the offence.
His words: “If you park wrongly, you pay the fine. Now, if you remember the case between a lawyer in Delta State and the Federal Road Safety Commission, the lawyer went to court and said: ‘my Lord, the Federal Road Safety Commission is not a court of law, it should not be given the power to pronounce people guilty for payment of fines’.
“The lawyer said: ‘if the road safety has found anybody to have committed an offence, the road safety should take that person before the magistrate’s court or any other court of competent jurisdiction, but that the road safety does not have the right to impose fine because the road safety is not a court of law.’ The trial court held in favour of the lawyer and against road safety, saying road safety is not a court of law and cannot impose fines.
“That matter went to the court of appeal. The court of appeal held the same thing. If that is applied to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, which is an agency of Federal Government of Nigeria, it would mean that FAAN doesn’t have the power under the law to impose fines. Why? It is because that agency is not a court of law.
“Let us even leave all of that and accept the fact that FAAN has the power to impose fines on motorists. For the purpose of this analysis, the question would be, is the minister of aviation right in asking Peter Obi to pay the fine and apologise within seven days? Is he right? Now, my answer to this is embedded in the legal principle of criminal liability, which is in criminal law.
“In our criminal justice system in Nigeria, and even internationally, the position of the law is that criminal liability is personal. It is the man that commits the offence that should be made to pay for the offence. It is not transferable. It’s not inherited. That is why people are charged to court in their names. For instance, Commission of Police vs Anthony. State vs Adamu. Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Abubakar. You cannot charge Mr. A for the crime or violation of Mr. B. That’s the law.
“Now, Obi can only be made to pay the fine that the minister is talking about if Obi was the person that drove that car by himself and parked it wrongly. If Obi was not the driver, then he has not violated any law and the minister would be wrong in insisting that Obi must pay a fine of N25,000 fine within seven days with public apology to members of staff of the airport. If it is not Obi that drove that car, then the minister is wrong in even mentioning Obi’s name as the person to pay the fine.”
