BY OLAPEJU OLUBI
As Arik Air and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) flex muscles over an alleged N455 billion debt, the shareholders of the flag carrier have accused the Corporation of spreading falsehoods and engaging in a campaign of misinformation regarding the airline’s operations under its receivership.
The accusation follows a press conference organised by AMCON on Friday, January 17, 2025, at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja.
At the event, AMCON’s Head of Corporate Communications, Jude Nwauzor, addressed aviation editors on the theme: “Explaining the Indebtedness of Sir Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, Arik Air Limited (in Receivership) to AMCON.”
However, in a statement signed by Godwin Aideloje of the Arik Air Shareholders Media Office, the shareholders described the press conference as part of AMCON’s pattern of spreading “manipulative propaganda and baseless claims.”
“This latest effort underscores AMCON’s recklessness, dishonesty, and lack of transparency,” the statement said.
The shareholders alleged that AMCON’s press conference was strategically timed to coincide with the looming arraignment of former AMCON Managing Director, Ahmed Kuru, Arik’s Receiver Manager Kamilu Alaba Omokide, the Chief Executive Officer, Capt. Roy Ilegbodu, Union Bank Plc and Super Bravo Limited at the Lagos State High Court on Monday, January 20, 2025.
They face charges filed by the Federal Government concerning mismanagement during AMCON’s eight-year receivership of Arik Air.
The statement also pointed out that AMCON’s conference followed a 90-day pre-action notice issued in December 2024 by Arik shareholders, signaling legal action against AMCON for its alleged “systematic destruction” of the airline.
AMCON’s claim that it inherited 30 aircraft in 2017 has been called into question by Arik’s shareholders. According to them, the agency must explain the disappearance of 27 aircraft during its receivership.
“Today, Arik Air operates only three planes,” the statement read.
“The Nigerian traveling public can attest to the airline’s drastically reduced route network, which has been a hallmark of AMCON’s incompetence.”
The shareholders further dismissed AMCON’s inventory claims as fabricated and unreliable, asserting that the receivership was imposed forcibly with armed police and lacked proper authentication.
AMCON’s allegations of Arik Air’s insolvency before the takeover, reportedly based on a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, were described as “patently false.” The shareholders countered with audited financial reports from 2014 and 2015 management accounts submitted in 2016, which they say contradicted AMCON’s claims.
The statement also criticized AMCON for failing to comply with a Federal High Court ruling in 2023 to file audited financial reports for its period of receivership, alleging the agency instead uploaded manipulated accounts to Arik’s website.
The shareholders enumerated the consequences of AMCON’s receivership, including: a reduction in operational aircraft from 30 to 3; the shutdown of over 85% of domestic routes; the cessation of all regional and international flights, including the loss of slots at London Heathrow and JFK New York; a depletion of spare parts inventory worth over $200 million and the abandonment or seizure of aircraft in various countries, including Lithuania, Malta, South Africa, and Ethiopia.
The shareholders also accused AMCON of fabricating Arik Air’s alleged debt, which the agency pegged at N455 billion.
They claimed this figure contradicts the sum presented in the court case (FHC/L/CS/175/17) that facilitated AMCON’s takeover of the airline.
“AMCON has repeatedly made false claims about debts involving entities such as Ojemaie Farms Limited and Ojemaie Investments Limited, which were resolved in court over seven years ago,” the statement noted.
Concluding their response, the shareholders called on AMCON to embrace accountability and cease its campaign of misinformation.
“We remind AMCON that ‘lies have short legs; they cannot run far.’ It is time for AMCON to embrace accountability and desist from its campaign of misinformation,” the statement said.
This latest development adds a new dimension to the ongoing controversy surrounding AMCON’s receivership of Arik Air, with both parties set for legal battles that could reshape the narrative around the airline’s future.
