Photos: Desperate Businessman Seals Up Dana Office

In a move that caught Dana Airline unawares and had its employees locked out of their offices, a businessman whose furniture warehouse and printing press were destroyed by the crash of Dana Flight 992 this morning locked up the company’s gates and prevented the airline from carrying out any business.

The businessman, Mr. Daniel Olawunmi, arrived early and sealed off the premises, locking the gates with a padlock.  The action left the security man, who resides in the premises, along with the arriving staff, unable to access the offices, and in the rain.  

Unlike his last protest where he called on some members of a civil society organization to help him disrupt the activities of the Dana Airline office, the frustrated businessman this time acted alone.  

Mr. Olawunmi said he lost stock worth N500million in the crash.  The airline, however, offered him only $30,000 to help him resettle his family in another accommodation, the same compensation paid to families of victims of the crash as initial compensation. Since then, he said, the Airline has kept mute on the question of restoring his business.

This afternoon, the businessman’s unusual intervention was still holding, and the Dana staff was still stranded on the street.  At the time of this report, a police team called to handle the situation had arrived and parked a van at the gate.

“This is another reflection of the failure of the current government,” an analyst said today, “driving people into desperation.  The same government that could so easily return Dana’s operating licence failed the people and businesses in the crash area despite all the pledges they made and the crocodile tears they shed.”