Who the heck???

The official title is Sultan of Sokoto and includes the style "Amir-ul-Momineen". The post has become increasingly ceremonial since British rule, but the Sultan, considered a spiritual leader in the Muslim community in Nigeria, can still carry a lot of weight with Fulani and Hausa people from northern Nigeria.
List of Sultans of Sokoto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So, despite them ranting on about him being a king and should be treated as one, he is only a symbolic Sultan in a country that is a federal republic.

Obviously his many acolytes were too busy to notice the clock was ticking on departure. A pity that personal appeals to the pax in VIP suite on a silver tray to kindly join the aerie have gone out of daily use. He should be firing his staff and they are kicking up a ruckus to divert the blame. :=

One day someone will write a book about his/her experiences with Nigerian aviation. Not only will it be almost unbelievable, it will also spark off "I can better that" stories!
There is a biblical reference that I cannot remember, along the lines of "As it was yesterday......". Perhaps someone can fill in the dots?
(Expat Nigeria 1956-1966 and frequent visitor as 747 Capt 1990 -2002 -due lack of seniority!).

With a name like "sokoto" you would think one of the kronies would say SOGOTO the gate, Sultan of, er I can't remember.

I thought that the definition of happiness was a dry fart on the climb coming out of Lagos!

you'd think Nigeria wouldn't need World Bank handouts in a $100+/bbl world...

Just remembered. There's a G3 sittinging up at Signature Luton with "Federal Republic of Nigeria" painted on the side. Been sitting there for at least 5 years or so. Maybe they could have used that. Doh :ugh: What am I thinking?! He might have had to leave some of the entourage behind :eek:

I like the story of the Foreign Office chappie posted to a little known outpost of the Empire who intended to hold a dinner party, and not wanting to cause a diplomatic embarassment, signalled the Embassy in Cairo requesting the protocol to be observed for the the dining table seating plan.
The response came......
"To his believers and followers, the Emir of Wadi-Hal-Qatam is a direct descendant of God. (An Imperial Airways Captain takes precedence.)"

Please don't upset the Nigerian community - any day now I am expecting 10% my share of US $41,000,000,000,000,000 that I am helping smuggle out of the country. I have already spent $25,000 setting up the bank transfers and the money is due in my account any day now. If you guys keep upsetting the nice chaps form Lagos - I fear it may not arrive. Could we please stop posting on this thread until the money has been safely transferred !!! :\

And is it not high time the foreign Airlines and Missions of the world signalled that they will no longer tolerate the shouting at and abuse of their staff, not to mention the scamming and ripping off that they face on a daily basis by Nigerian Citizens ?.

Well done BA.

:D

One is thinking maybe Naomi Campell was part of the so called Sultan's entourage.... As "Lady" Naomi is well known for hating BA for well.... putting her back to her place!

Once again, well done BA:D:D:D:D

Rgds,
ATS

Point8Six:

Hebrews 13 verse 8... after you have looked it up you have my permission to use the reference as often as you like, usually at mealtimes....But you have to make people look it up! :ok:

O how I love these stories! Just dont envy the crew on the next flight out!!
I assume the Sultan still needed to get to Harrods:}

I think the Nigerian G3 at Signature has been inpounded for many years! But dont know for fact! Maybe the crew left the Sultan behind and havent dared to return to Nigeria since :ok:

Didn't his picture appear on Robertson's Silver Shred Jars? ;)

One of my fave moments in African aviation was when I flew Budgies for Air Malawi back in the 80s and was fed up with a certain minister who used to send his flunky / chauffeur to the strip in Mzuzu to ' Check-in ' ( the local Airline Staff could never dare to refuse this abuse ) and then carry on carousing and keeping all the decent punters waiting on board.
One Friday I was operating the last flight back to Blantyre for 48 hours ( ie no other way to get home for the weekend ), the usual happened , I waited until I could see his Merc coming back down the airport road ( this time with him in it ) , then I started #2 knowing that he would see this , the Merc picked up speed , then we were all treated to the sight of said ' Fat Controller ' attempting to propel his Size 12 bod at warp speed across the tarmac without bursting his M & S top of the range suit , crawling up the wobbly steps by the forward cargo/ crew door as we started #1 2 seconds later !! Great applause from various punters . The highlight for me was the appearance of a flunkey on the F Deck in the cruise ( good old days ) and rather than forcing the expected notice - of - execution on me , thanked me profusely on behalf of now half -dead minister for ' delaying' flight etc !!!!
Needless to say , he was never late again .
Still wondering why my contract was never renewed though.

Perhaps for an encore BA could deliver him to T5 and lose all his bags?

Been based here for almost three years now - feel sorry for me !!

Just wish I had had the chance to do something similar but can't afford to lose the business....

These so-called Sultans, Rulers, State Governors, Government Officials and Advisors, State Officials, City Management, etc, etc, etc are just about the lowest form of life imaginable - arrogant, useless, incompetent and almost without exception totally dishonest by European standards....Let's just say that the item in our Expenses Column with the second highest cost after fuel is ' Facilitation Fees '.....

Many stories / anecdotes, etc, but try Googling for the the report into Governor Daniel of Ogun State and his expenses, etc, etc.... And the State Governor whose name I have forgotten who a couple of years ago managed to legally claim $60k per diem when travelling on State business...

And still the World Bank provides cheap loans and debt write-offs to Nigeria which almost without exception end up in bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechenstein while those of us trying do business here are screwed left, right and centre...

I shouldn't imagine that BA will not worry for one second about an embargo / boycott / sanctions from these people or Nigerians in general - watch their passenger numbers skyrocket if non-Nigerians know that they won't have to share and suffer the aggravation of sharing a flight with 300+ of them....

Won't be long before the other foreign carriers engineer a similar boycott for themselves when they see the ex-pat traffic flocking to BA...

Sorry if all this sounds offensive or racist, but simply true....

It is the fault of the ground handling agent and executive staff of the VVIP. That the UK High Commission is obliged to intervene is a travesty.

Some years ago I was operating a scheduled service from one of the more pleasant West African countries and was informed that the President of that country was travelling to London on our flight.

We waited 45 minutes for him to emerge from the VIP lounge. I would dearly have loved to depart on time and without him but the poilitical consequences of doing so, assuming ATC would have let us go anyway, did not bear thinking about.

It is interesting that any member of royalty in the UK would never dream of keeping a flight waiting. I suppose it all comes down to manners and courtesy and a certain cultural difference where those that live high of the hog in Africa treat those they consider beneath them with utter contempt.

Well done B.A. :ok: After leaving B.A. my next airline Traffic Despatcher once asked for a 15 mins. Tech Crew delay to accommodate Wife of Eastern Potentate (known as the Sultana of XXXXX ) still in Duty Free. I refused and suggested that he call it a Traffic delay, then he would have to explain to Mgmt. not me.

15 mins. later, same request, same answer, told him to get off and close door, he triumphantly reminded me that Sultana's bag was on board and so I couldn't depart, told him that Sultana not considered a security risk so get off and close door and I would take responsibility for not offloading bag as locally required . Unfortunately at that point black Mercedes appeared and parked under the nose wheel and so I lost another 10 mins as they pushed her upstairs ( no common boarding ramp for Madam ) 400 pax. delayed 30 mins by this prickess, I dearly wished I could have gone without her - I was near the end of my contract anyway !

death treats...
 

As cabin crew, we tolerate behaviour on Nigeria routes that we WOULD NOT entertain on other routes...treats of death and kidnapping when T4 baggage problems led to many bags to LOS being delayed.

Remember telling a woman that we had run out of chicken whilst working in traveller---her response "You BRING me chicken OR I KILL YOU..."; now on any other flight this would have been handled as a disruptive passenger by flying into LOS what can one do?? Left her a beef lasagne only to pass by 10 minutes late to see this salad dodger of a woman licking the bottom of the foil container!!!

Whilst LOS/ABV are profitable routes, so are JFK/IAH/JNB and the customers don't behave the way they do on flights to Nigeria. Glad BA has treated the Sultan the way any other customer who delayed a flight would have been treated as his party was costing the airline £1,000's a minute for the delay.:D