“Mea Culpa” Azman Air tenders apology to NCAA DG; Nigerians for reaction to suspension

SEQUEL to a statement that made rounds in the media credited to Azman Air in which the integrity and reputation of the Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, came under fierce attack as a result of the decision taken by the regulator to suspend our operations based on safety considerations, the airline has apologized.

According to a statement signed by Azman Air‘s Accountable Manager Muhammad Hadi Abdulmunaf  it was established that the letter impugning on the person of the NCAA DG came from staff of the airline, to management’s disappointment.

The statement by the airline read,” On March 21, 2021, we issued a press statement expressing our surprise and shock at a publication credited to us in which the integrity and reputation of the Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, came under attack as a result of the decision taken by the regulator to suspend our operations based on safety considerations.

“In the said press release, we denied management’s knowledge and approval for such careless and unfortunate allegations made against the person of the DG but promised to conduct internal investigations as to  the  source/s  of  the  allegations.  We have now conducted such in-house investigations which led to accusations and counter accusations amongst our staff as to who did it. We have established that, at least, it came from one of them hence our disappointment with ourselves.

“It is true that we were contacted, just as other airlines in the country, to advertise our services in the ICAO magazine for which payment was to be made. We inadvertently failed to make this payment which however had nothing to do with the personal accounts of the DG but the publishers of the magazine.

“At the suspension of our services by the NCAA, an overzealous staff, who erroneously thought that the suspension was dictated by our failure to pay for the advert, without the  knowledge  and  consent  of  management  of  Azman,  authored  the  unfortunate allegations against the DG.

“We wish to unreservedly tender our apologies to both the person of Capt. Musa Nuhu  and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. We state categorically that there wasn’t and, there  is  still,  no  iota  of  truth  in  the  allegations  which  are  capable  of  damaging  the reputations of the DG and the NCAA. We equally extend our apologies to the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Sen.  Hadi  Sirika,  for  any  embarrassment  our  actions  may  have  caused him and the government.

“We regret every inconvenience caused the DG, NCAA, the Minister of Aviation and the aviation industry in Nigeria as a result of our publication of that falsehood.  While we seek forgiveness for our actions, we promise to tighten our communication controls to avoid future embarrassing situations as this one caused by us