Key highlights
- Arik Air’s court-appointed receiver has denied knowledge of a court judgment that granted former owner access to the company.
- The receiver has the responsibility to protect the company’s assets and advises the former owner to settle the over N200bn debt owed to AMCON.
- The receiver alleges that Arik Air failed due to bad business decisions by the former management and that the former owner owes Nigeria, not the other way around.
The court-appointed receiver of Arik Air, Mr Kamilu Omokhide, said the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) is not aware of any Federal High Court judgment granting the former owner of the airline, Sir Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, “unfettered access” to the company.
Speaking to Nairametrics, Omokhide expressed surprise at the alleged judgment which supposedly gave the former owner access to the airline, saying that AMCON had filed a stay of execution on the High Court judgment.
He insisted that as the receiver manager of the airline, he had the responsibility to protect the assets of the company against anyone he was not comfortable working with.
He also advised Rather Arumemi-Ikhide to settle the debts he owes AMCON, which he put at over N200 billion. He said:
- “He cannot take the laws into his own hands. He’s not the executioner of the judgment. If he believes that we have infringed on his right, I think he can go to court, but I assure you that everything we have done was done lawfully and in the best interest of Arik Air and receivership.
- “While it is not in my place to determine whether a judgment is right or wrong, I must tell you that many people in the insolvency practice in Nigeria are surprised at the judgment and that is why AMCON has also exercised its right to appeal and to file an appropriate stay of execution.
- “So, if those things have been filed and served on him, I have been advised by lawyers that he should stay and for refusing to stay, I think he wants to make a statement about the airline.
- “The orchestrated noise against Arik, I can see that the intention is to undermine Arik. He is not talking about the debt and for the record, Arik owes AMCON over N200bn. He has not given us any credible proposal on how to deal with the debts. I want you to ask him if he has paid the debt and his settlement proposal or does Nigeria owe him?”
More details
Omokhide insisted that at the time AMCON appointed a receiver manager for Arik Air, the company was in decline as the former management could not pay for salaries and fuel.
According to him, Arik Air failed because of bad business decisions taken by the former management, especially in its international expansion strategy.
For instance, Omokhide said the former management acquired Airbus A340-500 aircraft, which he alleged were commercially obsolete from the point of purchase.
The receiver manager declared that AMCON had to take over and restructure some financial institutions in the country because of Arik Air and other business debts, which were crumbling the sector.
- “So, Nigeria does not owe him, he owes Nigeria. I think the story he should tell us is his plan to pay. We carried out the audit of Arik Air from 2015 and the company was technically insolvent and that audit was done by PWC,” he said.
In case you missed it
Arumemi-Ikhide had claimed on Tuesday that the Federal High Court ruling granted him access to the airline’s offices but alleged that he was stopped by some security operatives at the airline.
Ikhide expressed surprise that he was not allowed entry into the complex, saying that it was in contradiction to the Federal High Court judgement.
Arumemi-Ikhide told journalists that he was at the complex pursuant to the court judgement in suit no: FHC/L/CS/1175/2021, which stated that he should be given access to his offices in Arik Air, which would enable him and his team to perform their duties. He said:
- “The court has affirmed that notwithstanding the appointment of a receiver manager that the organs of Arik Air remain intact and those organs such as the board and shareholders must be allowed to function. It is because I, being the chairman of the board, came to the office today.
- “Being aware of the service of the order of the court on the company and having met the management led by Capt. Roy Ilegbodu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on Wednesday, 4th April 2023 with whom I discussed the orders made by the court and our intentions to adhere strictly to including the orders of the court to be given office spaces.”
The backstory
AMCON had in February 2017, taken over the running of Arik Air from Arumemi-Ikhide, claiming that it wanted to save it from total collapse, but the former management had kicked against the takeover.
Arumemi-Ikhide had challenged the takeover of the airline by AMCON.
