Fresh court documents obtained by Saharareporters has found out how Nigeria's most corrupt Attorney General, Michael Aondoakaa participated in the controversial handover of the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos.
Mr. Aondoakaa, our impeccable source revealed, took huge bribe money from Mr. Wale Babalakin, the chairman of Bi -Courtney, the company now reputed for building sub-standard structures. Aondoakaa had worked with Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited to grant the company a 36-year concession to run the domestic wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport after Bi-Courtney presented a carefully manipulated lease agreement that extended its tenure from 12 to 36 years.
During the Obasanjo's administration, Babalakin got Femi Fani Kayode to recommend that his lease on the airport be extended from 12 years to 36 years, but that proposal was rejected, but our sources revealed that Femi Fani Kayode did not reverse the lease agreements, leaving Bi-Courtney to use Aondoakaa to legitimize it.
Aondoakaa, after receiving N400 million from Babalakin, got Bi-Courtney to sue his office for breach of contract after claiming that it had the right to manage both the MMA2 and the GAT for 36 years starting from April 2004.
Curiously, Bi-Courtney did not include the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other agencies involved in airport management as well as affected airlines involved in the lawsuit even though its initial lease agreement was signed between FAAN and Bi-Courtney/ Stabilini Visioni. That strategy was deliberate. FAAN would have contested the lawsuit, but Aondoakaa's refused to diligently defend his office when put on notice about the suit. Aondoakaa sent his aide, a controversial lawyer, Anthony A Malik to pursue the case. But it was so poorly done that Justice Anwukere Chikere reflected his poor performance in the case note on page 22 in her ruling. Noting that the AGF, the sole defendant in the matter, did not contest Bi-Courtney's pleadings and averments.Lack of diligent prosecution was deliberate
Bi-Courtney then obtained a court judgement allowing it to forcefully take over GAT in a secret ceremony that had the airport workers protesting. The worker’s protests temporarily yielded some positive results, as the office of the National Security Adviser intervened and suspended the Bi-Courtney agreement but as soon Yar'adua returned from his sick bed in Saudi Arabia he reversed the decision of the NSA and ordered that Bi-Courtney take over the local wing of the Murtala mohammed airport in Lagos State.
The judgement also imply that the Lagos state government could operate airports in the state except Bi-Courtney allows it.
Culled from Saharareporters
3 comments:
Hmmm.......
reflection of bad governance,no fear of God(conscience) and no respect for humanity and the rule of law.
This shoes the working condition of the government there. They have no respect for law which they are made by them.
Murtala Muhammed Airport
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