Operatives
of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) have quizzed the
chairman of Arik Air, Sir Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide.
The
chairman was reportedly invited to its Ikoyi Lagos office after the operatives
stormed the airline's headquarters with policemen barricading the premises.
The
chairman's invitation came after some aggrieved passengers besieged the
headquarters demanding refunds of tickets on which flights were cancelled.
It was
not however clear if the chairman's invitation had anything to do with the
passengers' grievances or due to the takeover of the Airline by AMCON
Spokesman
of Arik Air, Adebanji Ola in a terse statement said, "Operatives of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday, 8 February 2017
visited Arik Air’s head office.
"They
held a brief meeting with Chairman of Arik Air, Sir Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide after
which the Chairman visited their Ikoyi, Lagos office for further discussions
and to respond to their enquiries.
Having
satisfactorily answered the query, the chairman later left the EFCC
office."
The
aggrieved passengers were however met with stiff resistance by a heavy
detachment of policemen who were mobilized to prevent the passengers from
gaining entrance.
Armed
security men blocked the gate of the airline's headquarters located along the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja Lagos with their Hilux
vehicles.
It was
learnt that the airline must have gotten wind of the plan by the aggrieved passengers
to storm the headquarters prompting it to mobilize the security men.
The
passengers claimed they bought tickets from the airline since last year but the
flights were cancelled yet they could not get refunds from the airline.
Arik Air,
the largest carrier in West and Central Africa, has been having a running
battle with its passengers in recent times over persistent flight delays and
cancellations.
Recently
the Aviation unions disrupted operations of the airline over non-payment of
salaries. The intervention of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)
pacified the workers.
There was
no official comment from the airline as of the time of filing this report as
the spokesman, Mr. Adebanji Ola did not pick several calls put to him by our
correspondent. He did not also respond to the text message sent to him.
However,
one of the aggrieved passengers who refused to disclose her identity claimed
that her N800,000 ticket funds have been trapped with the airline since
December 23, 2016.
The
funds, according to her, were paid for the tickets purchased on behalf of a
group of passengers travelling to Johannesburg, South Africa.
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