The attention of the Ministry of Aviation has been drawn to a story in the Vanguard Newspaper of today, May 16, 2013 under the above headline. Our attitude would have been to ignore the report because of the politics that is being dragged into purely professional matters. This will, however amount to consent or admission of guilt. We are therefore constrained to clarify, for the umpteenth time, the main issues surrounding the Bombadier Global Express 5000/Registration N565RS allegedly belonging to the Rivers State government.
The point to note here is that there are three major issues in contention here. The first is the question of the true ownership of the aircraft while the second and more serious one is the question of operating with falsified Clearances dubiously collected in the name of Caverton Helicopters. The third relates to why the aircraft was still operating in the country even when the false Clearances had expired.
On the first score, we want to state again and again that this particular aircraft is foreign registered in the name of Bank of Utah Trustees of 200 E. South Temple, Suite 210, Salt Lake City, UT 84111-1346 in the United States of America. This is the documentation available to the Ministry of Aviation. To date, neither the Rivers State government nor any other individual or corporate organisation for that matter has presented contrary documentation to debunk the fact that this aircraft is owned by the Bank of Utah Trustees. He who alleges must prove. The onus is therefore on the Rivers State government to present documents showing that it is the rightful owner of the aircraft and not the Bank of Utah Trustees. To date, we are yet to see any such documentation.
The second and more serious issue has to do with the question of the authenticity or otherwise of the Clearances provided by the NCAA. During the House of Representatives Public Hearing on the various controversies surrounding this aircraft, the question of where and how the Clearances were secured was very clear. These Clearances, we must not forget, were secured in the name of Caverton Helicopters. Who, more than Caverton is more qualified to identify documents emanating from its offices? In the public glare, and in front of television Cameras, the Vice Chairman of Caverton, Adeniyi Makanjuola disclaimed all the Clearances allegedly emanating from its offices. If there is anyone who ought to protect a Client as important as the Rivers State government in this matter, it should be Caverton. So it was not, and can never be in the interest of Caverton to deny its Client-and in public!
Caverton has admitted that they had initial contacts with the Rivers State government with a view to helping it import an aircraft, but when the deal fell through, the company seized further contact and communication with the state government as far back as August 2012 when the aircraft Management Company, ACASS of Canada told them that they ”were no longer responsible for the management of the said aircraft. We have not had any dealings WHATSOEVER with the said aircraft neither have we given any approvals, tacit or otherwise to any third parties to seek or obtain Clearances on behalf of the owners of the aircraft”, Caverton declared in one of its presentations to the Public Hearing.
But if anyone was still in doubt as to how the Clearances were illegally obtained in the name of Caverton, the Pilot of the aircraft, Capt. Tosin Odulaja cleared all such doubts. In the glare of everyone and in front of television and still Cameras, the Pilot said they were collecting the Clearances from the PA to the Managing Director of Caverton. Of course, any layman would know that the PA is not the Right and Proper Person to issue documents as important as Clearances on behalf of Caverton and Mr Adeniyi, the Vice Chairman, said so publicly. Clearly, Rivers state government was securing Clearances from a Kabu Kabu merchant unknown to Caverton. This is a very serious case of forgery and the Ministry is exploring all options of redress.
Now, let us assume, even for the sake of argument that the Clearances were authentic and legally obtained from the NCAA using the name of Caverton Helicopters. The last Clearance for the said aircraft to operate within the shores of Nigeria was valid up to April 2nd, 2013 with a 48 hour leeway. So effectively, that aircraft had a ‘Clearance’ up till April 4, 2013. But we are all aware that the aircraft was still flying all over the country up until the incident of April 26 in Akure airport where the intransigence of the Pilot in refusing to provide the flight Manifest as mandatorily required by regulation exposed their illicit operations.
Significantly too, this same Pilot admitted before the House Public Hearing that he was wrong not to have supplied the Manifest containing full details of the souls on board, but explained away the misconduct by saying that he was not aware that his Co-Pilot did not supply the full details of those on board. What was presented to Air Traffic Controllers as Manifest, it must be stressed, was Ameachi and 5 (five) others and this is unacceptable. The Pilot has since apologised to the Ministry for his misconduct. So there was no political victimisation when the Air Traffic Controllers at the airport refused Start Up for the aircraft, which caused a slight delay that was blown out of proportion by Governor Amaeachi.
However, immediately the Manifest was provided as stipulated by regulation, the aircraft was allowed Start Up and it departed en-route Port Harcourt.
So here we are with an aircraft whose ownership is at best, doubtful; operating with forged Clearances that had even expired at the time the Akure incident occurred. To insinuate, therefore that Caverton, a company that has built a solid clientèle through a track record of operational integrity was politically pressured to disclaim the forged Clearances is a clear case of naked mischief, utterly preposterous and actually begging the question. We however challenge anyone with any evidence of how political pressure by the Aviation Ministry or anyone else in government forced Caverton to disclaim ownership of the said Clearances to present such before the general public. Until that is done, this shameless resort to playing to the gallery and peoples sentiments will be a futile effort at salvaging the pretty bad shape which governor Ameachi and the Rivers state government has wrought upon themselves through unconventional business practices. If this tradition had succeeded and thrived elsewhere, it has failed and will continue to fail in the Aviation sector that is governed by rules, regulations, international standards and best practice.
Joe Obi is SA (Media) to the Hon. Minister of Aviation. He contributed this piece from Abuja.