NigerianFLIGHTDECK Travel and Business Reportage 
- Company did not put aircraft under NCAA watch-Captain Mukhar
FOLLOWING allegations of aircraft tampering levelled against the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Director General, Captain Usman Muktar, has said that it would take cautious steps to respond to the owners of TopBrass Aviation.
Topbrass Managing Director, Roland Iyayi had said that despite a Federal High Court summons on the regulatory agency over contempt of court in the disputed ownership of two Bombardier jets at Lagos airport, filed by Top Brass Aviation, the court order is allegedly still being flouted.
Howver, that NCAA says it intends to meet the airline operator in court to challenge the allegations against it on the two Dash-8 Q-300s with registration 5N-MSN 61TBB with 3 and 5N-TBC with MSN 614 , which is currently housed at the Aero Contractors hangar.
Capt. Usman, who spoke to reporters yesterday in his office at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, expressed surprise at the tampering allegation against it by Iyayi, said that since the case was in the court of law, he would rather keep mum and wait till the case go through the processes.
He, however, stated that Nigeria as a signatory to the Cape Town Convention, should adhere strictly to the rules and regulations it signed.
He said: “First of all, I am not in the know of any tampering of any aircraft because the company did not put its aircraft under the watch of NCAA and I believe that as a responsible organisation, we should not be discussing a case that is before the court.
“ I am surprised that TopBrass is being mentioned everywhere. We will respect the court. We will wait until the outcome of the judgment before we will make any pronouncement. However, Nigeria is a signatory to the Cape Town Convention, which helps especially African countries to get access to lease of aircraft.
“In the process, there are procedures, whoever that is leasing, signs an adherence, which allows the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to deregister aircraft when there are defaults.
“I will be very surprise that today NCAA has been dragged to court severally by this person who signed voluntarily and it is the same person that is making the allegation. So, we will meet in court.”
Recall on January 15, 2019, Justice M. S Hassan; at the hearing of the contempt proceedings, ordered Director-General of NCAA, Captain Muktar Usman and all parties to be represented at the adjourned date, on February 28, 2019, or he will issue a bench warrant as the case was a quasi-criminal trial and those served must not fail to appear physically.
