Ultimately Aviation in Nigeria had been led into what may appear as irrecoverable turbulence if an urgent intervention is not caused by the leaders in our country.
The 31 March 2023 judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos in a matter of Arik Air Shareholders Vs Kamilu Omokhide, AMCON & Ors exposed corporate rascality and the sense of unaccountability by the Receiver Manager of Arik Air Limited so much so that the Founder and Chairman of Arik Air, Sir Jonson Arumemi Ikhide, was turned back at the gate of the company by Mr Tom West, his company’s CSO on the ‘orders from above’,- in this case, orders of Mr Kamilu Alaba Omokhide.
The pitiable sight of Sir Arumemi in a viral video persuading his CSO with a certified true copy of a subsisting order of the federal high court in order to access his office, and yet denied entry shows the level of impunity and disrespect for the rule of law in our society.
That Arik Air went into receivership and fell into the hands of Kamilu Omokhide is no longer news, but that Omokhide who became a receiver-manager of Arik Air through an exparte process/ order of the federal high court can now disparage the same court that now gave an order through an originating court summon process to render accounts of his 6 years stewardship smack of arrogance and gratuitous audacity of a man who has so much to hide. Interestingly while he, Omokhide emerged through 2016 order that did not hear the story of Arumemi,the 2023 order of court that he defied derived from the averments and presentations of both and other parties to the honourable court.
That Omokide required a court order after 6 years to compel rendering an account shows incompetence, bad faith and lack of neutrality that is required to lead a receiver management, His sheer failure to comply with the company and allied matters act in itself makes him underserving of that role, and his crass disobedience of competent order of the federal high court simply puts him in contempt for which the court needs to purge him and use him as an example for others to learn from.
It is now a shame that Arik Air under the receivership and management of Arumemi’s town’s man Kamilu Alaba Omokhide FCA and another Edo man CEO, Roy Ilegbodu has become a sorry state of the pride that the Arik brand displayed from launch in 2006, its long-haul and regional routes including some domestic routes have been suspended and millions of dollars investments in London Heathrow, New York and Dubai slot, all lost.
Arik’s several state-of-the-art aircraft have been abandoned while some have been cut to pieces and sold as scrap cheap metals by the receiver manager.(only in Nigeria). It is quite disturbing that a country with a 21-year age restriction on aircraft allowed to operate in her airspace will have a Kamilu Omokide cut 10-year-old airplanes bought brand new by Arik into pieces and sold for peanuts. It is now not surprising that since the receivership by Kamilu Omokide who had hitherto accused Arik led by the erstwhile Managing Director, Chris Ndulue under Arumemi’s chairmanship of mismanagement, had sunk the company’s fortunes into a great abyss of failure as it is now a shadow of that proud Naija airline with only 4 serviceable aircraft.
Rather than lift the fortunes of the company and deliver as expected by his fiduciary responsibilities to the creditors, shareholders of the company, Omokide ran aground the company completely, floundered the good will, depleted the fleet and wasted the valuable category 1 certifications for Nigeria in, threw away the TCO, third country operators’ certifications of Arik. Sadly, all under the watch of entitled AMCON appointed Dr Harold Demuren, an erstwhile DG of NCAA who should know the value and the goodwill of Arik which he celebrated as flagship during his tenure as DG.
As it becomes clearer by the day, the arrogance and audacity of the Receiver Manager to deny Arumemi access can also be the fear that, he may start asking about the multimillion-dollar spare parts inventory of Arik Air and a lot more assets and resources of Arik Air that the all-knowing receiver manager in his wisdom has mismanaged. It is such a contradiction that while airlines are looking for foreign exchange to support their operations, Omokhide abandoned multi-million-pound sterling London Heathrow slots purchased by Arik Air upon his takeover of Arik, cancelled long haul flights and abandoned multimillion dollar traffic slots in London, JFK – New York and Johannesburg. Now that shareholders are asking for accountability, he is locking them out of the company’s property in audacious defiance and absolute contempt of the federal high court orders.
Transparency and Accountability – a timely solution While The Honourable Court served the cause of justice in delivering equity and fairness. The Court ordered that Mr Kamilu Alaba Omokhide FCA, the receiver manager account for his mismanagement and control of Arik. But rather than do this, he is disparaging the courts in a very contemptuous manner through his actions of denying access to Arumemi and media tirades and commentaries on the courts, her processes, appropriateness of decisions and jurisprudence.That the court considered his actions as flagrant abuse of office and breach of he, Omokide’s fiduciary duties as Receiver Manager of Arik to the shareholders and creditors of Arik Air is no surprise. This indictment is a sordid reflection that his receivership-management is arbitrary and no longer within the purview of law having assumed a state of impunity. This is an example of how a society doesn’t live by its own rules, no stewardship, but corroded values. At this instance, it is not in doubt that Mr Alaba Omokhide and Co have made Arik Air, a crime scene. While the Court upheld the right of AMCON to appoint a receiver manager for Arik Air. It perhaps did not anticipate the audacity of impunity aided by the gratuitous arbitrariness in the brazen display of disrespect for the rule of law by the receiver manager. It therefore might be expedient that the AMCON CEO quickly relieves him of that role and set an unbiased interface up with the Shareholders of Arik Air to forestall the Corporation complicity in the growing impasse. This also presents Mr Ahmed Kuru the opportunity of proper housekeeping ahead of the inauguration of new government in a few weeks, rather than say never, there are a few more of such cases on the AMCON plate.It does not speak to reason that a man of Omokhide standing in that Corporation, moreso holding fort for AMCON as a Receiver Manager, a role created in law and by law will flagrantly disobey court orders, where even Mr President directed the CBN to obey such orders and will yet be left in the position.
As it appears now , the issues for Omokhide may be more than receivership and perhaps now personal. Rather than obey a subsisting order of court pending appeal if he so desires, he chose grandstanding. It might not be too late for AMCON to rescue itself from the crosswinds created as a result of lack of professionalism and respect for the rule of law by its receiver manager.
It will serve equity and justice that the receiver manager renders account as stipulated by law and ordered by court.
Abdulkarim Isa writes from Lagos.
