The Federal High Court in Lagos failed to sit on Monday 13th of February 2023 on the ongoing case between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Airline Operators of Nigeria [AON] over the proposed establishment of the national carrier, Nigeria Air of which Ethiopian Airlines is said to be the preferred partner.
Following the late submission of defence documents during the last hearing on Monday 16th of January, the counsel to AON requested for time to study the Defence Documents and the presiding judge adjourned the case to February 13th, 2023, which sadly did not still hold.
The suit has Nigeria Air, Ethiopian Airlines, Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation, and Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation [AGF], as the first to fourth defendants.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government of Nigeria had through the Ministry of Aviation selected Ethiopian Airlines as the preferred bidder for Nigeria Air.
However, AON kicked against the move, saying that Nigeria Air should be a “wholly Nigerian investment”.
On November 15, the court granted the airline operators an interim injunction which restrained the federal government from selling the shares of Nigeria Air to Ethiopian Airlines.
Despite the boastful attitude of the Minister of Aviation then that no rational court in the country can stop the take-off of Nigeria Air, he was humbled by a Federal High Court in Lagos ruling eventually.
Meanwhile in another development, the Airline Operators of Nigeria [AON] has disowned two of its Board of Trustees [BoT] members who filed a counter suit challenging its authority to sue the Federal Government on the national carrier project, Nigeria Air.
Also, the court has granted the AON lawyers one week to study the request of the Federal Government to have the case transferred to Abuja from Lagos.
The two names withheld], including a former Chairman of AON, had approached the Federal High Court, Lagos Division in December 2022, distancing themselves against the suit filed by AON on the appropriateness of Nigeria Air.
The two had claimed that the BoT had not given the AON executives the power to sue the government over the national carrier project.
But the AON executives at the Federal High Court on Monday, filed a countersuit to the claim of the two, which showed the minutes of the meeting where it was agreed that the AON should pursue both the legal and political options for redress on the issue of Nigeria Air.
Despite the shenanigan of the unnamed two board members of the trustees, Sources confirmed that the entire AON members at a meeting, including one of the former chairmen who filed the suit, was at the meeting where the decision was reached to challenge the emergence of the airline.
The source also insisted that the BoT does not have the power to grant the AON executives power to challenge any case in the court of law, describing it as an advisory board to the executives.
The source said: The BoT assumed that they have the power to dictate what will happen to the executives. The issue is very clear; the larger body had sat in an annual general meeting. The BoT cannot make decisions for the members.
But I think some people in the government are trying to use some of our BoT members.
“They thought there would be a divided house, but it is working against them right now as it stands. At the court today, when their lawyers saw the position our lawyers presented by way of the minutes of the meeting and everything else, it became clear that they could not do anything. So, their lawyers now asked for an adjournment to study our documents. How do you now say the decisions taken at the larger body are not binding on you, you have to come out straight on the issue.”
On the request by the Federal Government to have the case transferred to Abuja, it was gathered that the application was not ripe for hearing as it was filed just on Friday 13th of January.
The AON lawyer was given a week to study the request of the government on the issue by the court.
However, AON is insisting that the Federal High Court in Lagos has the jurisdiction to hear the case in Lagos, maintaining that not all the plaintiffs reside in Abuja as claimed by AON.
Meanwhile, as of today, the average cost of a return ticket to London from Lagos and Abuja on any African Airlines on economy is over a million naira on Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, RwandAir, Air Maroc and Egypt Air.
On the Middle East and European Airlines, an economy return ticket to London is about two million, a situation experts attributed to absence of a national carrier that has exposed Nigerians to constant exploitation by them.
Sadly, no date has been fixed for the next hearing.
By Lucky Onoriode George [Lagos]