Lawyer: Keyamo Cannot Order Obi to Apologise
The demand by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, that Peter Obi apologise to airport workers and settle a N25,000 parking fine has now drawn a pointed legal rebuttal, with a Senior Partner at Justice Chambers, Ekemini Udim, arguing that the minister lacks the authority to pronounce anyone guilty or to impose penalties.
The dispute traces back to the evening of July 4, 2026, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja. Keyamo, in a statement on his X platform on Friday, said an internal inquiry backed by round the clock CCTV footage showed that a vehicle conveying Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, arrived at the domestic wing at exactly 8:28 pm, driven by a police officer. According to the minister, the vehicle was left unattended in a restricted drop off zone for about 30 minutes, in breach of a rule requiring drivers to remain behind the wheel, prompting security personnel to clamp its tyres. Keyamo said the car was released after Obi spoke by phone with an airport manager, and that the prescribed fine was never paid.
“Mr. Peter Obi must tender an unreserved, public apology to those hardworking, ordinary Nigerian workers at the airport,” Keyamo said, adding that Obi should “voluntarily goes back to the airport and pay the appropriate fine of N25,000 for wrongful parking.” The minister warned that failure to comply within one week would compel him to direct the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to take further steps, insisting that Obi “cannot be bigger than the law.”
Udim, in a video posted on Facebook, took apart the demand on two fronts. First, he questioned whether FAAN, as a federal agency, can lawfully impose fines at all. He pointed to a decided dispute between a Delta State lawyer and the Federal Road Safety Commission, in which the lawyer argued that the commission, “is not a court of law, it should not be given the power to pronounce people guilty for payment of fines.” Udim recalled that the trial court ruled against the road safety corps and that the Court of Appeal affirmed the position. Applied to FAAN, he reasoned, the same logic would strip the authority of any power to levy such penalties.
His second argument rested on the principle of personal criminal liability. “In our criminal justice system in Nigeria, and even internationally, the position of the law is that criminal liability is personal,” Udim said, stressing that it “is not transferable. It’s not inherited.” Citing the way charges are framed in matters such as Commissioner of Police versus Anthony and Federal Republic of Nigeria versus Abubakar, he maintained that Obi could only be liable if he personally drove and parked the vehicle. “If Obi was not the driver, then he has not violated any law,” he said.
The confrontation carries a heavier political charge because of its timing. Obi, a former Anambra governor who ran on the Labour Party platform in 2023, had earlier alleged during an appearance on the With Chude podcast that the clamping formed part of a pattern of persecution, and even suggested he might not survive to contest the 2027 election. The Presidency, through President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, rejected that framing.
Whether Obi responds to the ultimatum, or the matter shifts to court as Udim’s argument implies it should, remains to be seen.