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Disabled pastor to drag airline, GCAA to court for taking him off flight

Mr Clement Ofori who is the General Overseer of the House of the Rock Ministry, said that even though he had paid for the ticket, he was not allowed to embark on the journey because of his disability.

Mr Clement Ofori

Mr Clement Ofori, who is the General Overseer of the House of the Rock Ministry, said that even though he had paid for the ticket, he was not allowed to embark on the journey to Nigeria via the airline.

He said that the authorities also refused to refund the $700 he had paid for the trip to Onitsha, Nigeria, in spite of his plea.

According to him, the authorities of the airline told him that they did not have facilities for disabled persons on the flight.

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"I felt so disheartened as to how a human being could be subjected to such inhumane treatment, simply because someone thinks disabled persons are a nonentity because of their disability.”

"I will not leave this issue to die here in Ghana. I have contacted my lawyers in London. I will sue the GCAA and Africa World. I am ready to lay down my life to fight for the rights of disabled persons," he told the Daily Graphic.

He said that the incident happened on April 25 this year when he booked the AWA flight to attend a church programme at Onitsha, Nigeria.

"I had the shock of my life when I was marched off the plane when the authorities realised that I was physically challenged.”

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"I was the first to get on board, but a few minutes later, one of the officials came and told me to get down because they were no longer flying.

"All attempts to seek clarification from them failed. When they escorted me to the departure hall, I heard an announcement that passengers should get on board the same plane for the journey.”

"I was later told that because I was disabled, they could not secure my safety. But they refused to refund the $700 I paid for the ticket, on the grounds that money paid was not refundable," he said.

Meanwhile, some disability organisations have decided to support him to take legal action against the airline.

AWA’s Response

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Officials at the Operations Control Department (OCD) of the airline declined to give any official position on it.

An unnamed official, however, told the Daily Graphic that “this issue has been addressed by our lawyer and Pastor Ofori's lawyer".

"They made some demands and our lawyer replied them. The two parties have met and ironed out things and our lawyer requested that the issue should not be put out in the media.

"If they have decided to go to the media, we should be suing them as well."

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