The management of Azman Air has tendered an unreserved apology to the director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu over a statement issued by an “overzealous staff” which cast doubt on his (Musa’s) integrity.
It would be recalled that the agency had suspended the operations of the airline for safety reasons.
Following the action the carrier issued a statement alleging among other things that the director general of the agency demanded a N15 million bribe for a publication which carried the airline’s advertisement.
But a statement by the accountable manager of the airline Mr. Hadi Abdulmunaf apologised for such allegation saying “there wasn’t and there is still, no iota of truth in the allegations which are capable of damaging the reputations of the DG and the NCAA.”
The release entitled RE: The suspension of Azman Air and the purported reaction from Azman Air – our unreserved apologies to the person of the director general of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu reads: “On March 21, 2021, we issued a press statement expressing our surprise and shock at a publication credited to us in which the integrity and reputation of the director general of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, came under attack as a result of the decision taken by the regulator to suspend our operations based on safety considerations.
“In the said press release, we denied management’s knowledge and approval for such careless and unfortunate allegations made against the person of the DG but promised to conduct internal investigations as to the source/s of the allegations. We have now conducted such in-house investigations which led to accusations and counter accusations amongst our staff as to who did it. We have established that, at least, it came from one of them hence our disappointment with ourselves.
“It is true that we were contacted, just as other airlines in the country, to advertise our services in the ICAO magazine for which payment was to be made. We inadvertently failed to make this payment which however had nothing to do with the personal accounts of the DG but the publishers of the magazine.
“At the suspension of our services by the NCAA, an overzealous staff, who erroneously thought that the suspension was dictated by our failure to pay for the advert, without the knowledge and consent of management of Azman, authored the unfortunate allegations against the DG.
“We wish to unreservedly tender our apologies to both the person of Capt. Musa Nuhu and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. We state categorically that there wasn’t and there is still, no iota of truth in the allegations which are capable of damaging the reputations of the DG and the NCAA. We equally extend our apologies to the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, for any embarrassment our actions may have caused him and the government.
“We regret every inconvenience caused the DG, NCAA, the Minister of Aviation and the aviation industry in Nigeria as a result of our publication of that falsehood.
“While we seek forgiveness for our actions, we promise to tighten our communication controls to avoid future embarrassing situations as this one caused by us.”
