Peter Okoye, PBA Journalism MenteeThe Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has denied any knowledge of the Federal High Court judgment granting the former owner of Arik Air, Chief Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, “unfettered access” to the company.
The court-appointed receiver of Arik Air, Mr Kamilu Omokhide, disclosed this to newsmen. He expressed surprise at the alleged judgment which gave the former owner access to the airline, noting that AMCON had filed a stay of execution on the High Court judgment.
He added that as the receiver manager of the airline, part of his job is to protect the investments of the firm and advised Chief Arumemi-Ikhide to rather settle N200 billion debt to AMCON.
“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 N200 billion. 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?” he queried.
The court-appointed receiver, Omokihide maintained that AMCON appointed a receiver manager for Arik Air, at the time the company was on verge of collapsing due to the inability of the former management to pay salaries and buy fuel.
He claimed that Arik Air failed because of bad business decisions taken by the former management, especially in its international expansion plan.
He further disclosed that AMCON took over and restructured some financial institutions in the country because of Arik Air and other business debts, which were crumbling the sector at the period.
“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 added.
Prime Business Africa had reported that the founder of Arik Air, Chief Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide was denied access by the security operative into the premises of the company on Tuesday against the Federal High Court ruling which was said to have granted him access to the airline’s offices.
He, however, resorted to going back to the court to lay his complaints as a law-abiding citizen after his effort to convince the Arik Air security operatives to allow him access to the office failed.
Meanwhile, the airline in a statement said it has appealed the High Court’s judgment. “…This matter is currently the subject of an ongoing dispute in the Courts. Although a Judgment has been delivered at the High Court, it has been appealed, and an application for a stay of execution has been filed and served. As the legal proceedings are still ongoing, we shall not provide further comments at this time, as the matter is sub judice.” It said.
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