The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), has grounded the fleet of Arik Air over the $2.5 million debt owed by the airline and in compliance with the Supreme Court judgement.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NAMA, Alhaji Abdullahi and made available to Aviation Correspondents in Lagos.
The statement explained that NAMA and the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development were served by the court ruling and that Arik Air was indebted to one Atlas Petroleum International Ltd. by attaching its airplanes leading the grounding of the airline’s fleet.
It explained that on July 19, 2024, the enforcement department of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, enforced an order made by the court regarding the $2.5 million and that Arik Air was further given a notice of Public Auction of the airplanes by the court, which was slated to hold on July 26, 2024 if the management failed to pay the judgment debt.
The records, the NAMA statement revealed that on March 8, 2016, the Judgment Debtor (Arik) appealed the decision of the High Court of Lagos State entering judgment against it to the Court of Appeal and on September 30, 2021, adding that the appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision with cost.
“Arik Air again appealed to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal, and on the 9th day of January, 2024, the Supreme Court, per Okoro, J.S.C., delivered its Ruling dismissing the Judgment Debtor’s application for leave to appeal.
“The Judgment Creditor registered the Judgment of the Lagos State High Court in The High Court of FCT and On the 26th day of June, 2024, Honorable Justice O. A. Adeniyi, then sitting in Court 8, Maitama, Abuja) made an order after hearing Motion No: M/9785/2024 filed on behalf of Atlas Petroleum attaching all the moveable properties belonging to the Judgment Debtor, including the Judgment Debtor’s aircraft with Registration No: B737-700/ 5N-MJF, B737-800/ 5N-MJQ, DASH8-Q400 and 5N-BKX in satisfaction of the judgment debt. Copies of the Order and Certificate of Judgment were also served on us and the Minister.”
The NAMA statement pointed out that it equally understood that Arik obtained an exparte order, stopping further execution of the order, but that it was not formally served.
It added that in these circumstances, since the first execution took place by attaching the aircraft, further execution by way of sale could be halted whilst the parties go back to court to resolve the issues.
NAMA stressed that to preserve the subject matter of the present dispute, which are the aircraft in question (the res), the government decided to comply with the effect of the Supreme Court order, by grounding the aircraft (subject of dispute) so that they were not taken out of the jurisdiction of the court or tampered with in a way as to frustrate the courts.
In addition, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr. Festus Keyamo, being a member of the inner bar himself, understood the implication of the Supreme Court order dismissing the motion for leave to appeal and would not risk his license as a legal practitioner or his privilege as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) by engaging in acts that would frustrate an order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
The airspace agency advised the parties involved in the dispute to resolve their issues as quickly as possible to enable the Arik aircraft in question to resume flight operations.
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