Na’Alla stated this while reacting to the grounding of his private plane by NAMA in Lagos.
Speaking during a telephone interview with LEADERSHIP yesterday, Na’ Allah said he was not informed of NAMA’s decision to ground his jet which is about four years old in the country’s airspace.
Na’Allah contended that under the Nigerian Civil Aviation Act (2006), NAMA does not have the right to ground any aircraft, a task, he said, rightly belonged to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). He, however, called on the NCAA must follow due process before grounding any plane, including an official notification to the owner of the aircraft.
The former chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary further alleged that the grounding of his plane might not be unconnected to a recent interview he granted a private television where he highlighted some of the problems in the industry, including the lack of functional airfield lightning systems in some of the airports.
He said, “It is just vindictiveness. I have a current certificate of airworthiness that is valid from November 28, 2013 to November 27, 2014. I am too old to be found on the wrong side of the law. I have forgiven them. I pray that God will touch their hearts to understand the futility of their action. Apparently, they were not happy over some of the issues raised, but we would continue to speak the truth.”
A certificate of airworthiness No 1393 that was issued by the NCAA and sighted by LEADERSHIP last night actually showed that the document was first issued on November 26, 2010 and is valid till November 27, 2014.
The document also shows that the certificate of registration of the aircraft was signed by an official of the NCAA on November 25, 2013, with an aircraft serial No 689.
Sources within the industry said a directive from NAMA’s general manager (operations) stated that the agency acted within the laws by withholding approval for the jet.
Another source also told our correspondent that “under no circumstances should the control tower grant start-up to Na’Allah’s jet with registration number 5N –BNG for flight operations until further notice or advised by the director or GM operations, NAMA.”
The source further claimed that a call came in from NAMA headquarters to make sure the airplane was still on ground to make sure that the directive not to grant it start-up was effective.
Findings revealed that the said the directive was written and pasted on the notice board in the control tower.
However, a senior official from the NAMA, who refused to be named, disclosed that the directive to ground Na’ Allah’s plane came from the NCAA.
When contacted, officials of NAMA, a senior official of the agency who refused to be named, disclosed that the directive was from the NCAA.
He said, “It is on a directive from NCAA, on account that the aircraft with registration number 5N-BNG is not on the inventory (list) of NCAA since January 30, 2014.”
But efforts to get the NCAA to comment on the issue were futile at the time of going to press as the director-general of the NCAA, Captain FolaAkinuotu, failed to pick the several calls made to his phone.
NCAA spokesman Mr. Fan Nnabuoke, who had promised to get back to our correspondent after he might have spoken with the director of airworthiness standards at the NCAA, did not do so by the time of filing in this report.
Source: Leadership
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