CBN board approved AMCON takeover of Arik Air, EFCC tells court

2026-02-25 - 18:47

By Henry Ojelu The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday told a Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja that the Board of Governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria approved the takeover of Arik Air Limited by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria following the airline’s alleged severe financial decline. The disclosure was made before Justice Mojisola Dada by the fourth prosecution witness, Bawa Kaltungo, an Assistant Director with the EFCC. Kaltungo said the commission obtained a Certified True Copy of the minutes of the CBN Board of Governors’ meeting where the decision to appoint a receiver-manager for Arik Air was taken shortly after the intervention. According to the witness, the meeting of February 15, 2024, was presided over by the then CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and attended by senior officials of the apex bank. Those present at the meeting included Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Sulaiman A. Barau; Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Sarah O. Alade; Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Okwu J. Nnanna; and Deputy Governor, Operations, Adebayo A. Adelabu. Others listed were Director of Corporate Secretarial, Yunusa Sanusi; Director of Banking Supervision, Ahmed Abdullahi; Senior Manager, Banking Supervision, Adebayo Aderonke; as well as former Managing Director of AMCON, Ahmed Kuru. The witness told the court that the minutes showed that Kuru briefed the board on the deteriorating financial and operational condition of Arik Air, warning that the airline, which accounted for about 60 per cent of domestic passenger traffic, could collapse within two weeks if urgent intervention was not taken. He said Kuru also informed the board that the airline had paid out cash collaterals to its technical partner, Lufthansa, and allowed it to exit Nigeria, suggesting that the owners had effectively abandoned the business. Kaltungo added that discussions held with three major creditor banks equally led to a consensus that the CBN should step in to rescue the airline. The EFCC has arraigned former AMCON Managing Director, Ahmed Kuru; Kamilu Omokide, a former receiver-manager of Arik Air; Captain Roy Ilegbodu, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer; Union Bank of Nigeria; Super Bravo Limited; and Mohammed Abbas Jega. They are facing a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and making false statements over the alleged fraudulent conversion of N76 billion and $31.5 million said to belong to Arik Air. Beyond the approval of the takeover, the witness further alleged that while serving as receiver-manager, Kuru diverted funds belonging to Arik Air to settle insurance liabilities owed by Umza Airline. “In the course of investigation, we discovered that Arik Air’s money was used to pay the insurance of Umza Airline,” Kaltungo told the court. He stated that Umza Airline confirmed the payment and that although repayment had commenced, it had not been completed as at the time of investigation. The witness also disclosed that the EFCC invited the account officer connected to the transaction, who subsequently provided a signed statement of the loan account alongside a covering letter. According to him, the commission sought to determine whether the receiver-manager was properly carrying out the responsibilities assigned to him. “We discovered he was not,” the witness said. Kaltungo further told the court that during the investigation, one of the defendants wrote a petition to the Attorney-General of the Federation, alleging harassment and requesting that the probe be halted. He said the petition was accompanied by 39 attachments, including a legal opinion issued by the Solicitor-General of the Federation, claiming that the allegations did not disclose any criminal offence. Proceedings were briefly interrupted when the prosecution sought to tender a Certified True Copy of an insurance certificate allegedly linked to the Umza Airline payment. However, defence counsel — Prof. Taiwo Osipitan, SAN; Mrs. Oyinkansola Badejo, SAN; Mr. Olalekan Ojo, SAN; and Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, SAN — objected to the admissibility of the document. They argued that the alleged diversion of funds for insurance premium payments was not contained in any of the six counts before the court and therefore had no relevance to the case. “There is no way this document can go in,” the defence submitted. In response, prosecution counsel, Dr. Wahab Shittu, SAN, urged the court to admit the document, contending that the defendants were standing trial for offences including abuse of office and stealing. But in a bench ruling, Justice Dada held that since the insurance certificate was not specifically listed among the counts in the charge, it could not be admitted in evidence. The court subsequently adjourned the matter until February 26, 2026, for continuation of trial.