In his testimony, Kaltungo testified that this arrangement entails the Receiver Manager’s nominee having a shareholding arrangement of NG Eagle of “one unit within a billion-share structure,” as part of the findings that emerged during the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s investigation.

The development surfaced as Bawa Usman Kaltungo, EFCC Investigative Officer, continued his examination-in-chief led by prosecution counsel, Dr. Wahab Shittu, SAN. Kaltungo told the court that the financial trail uncovered by investigators showed how funds allegedly belonging to Arik Air Limited were unaccounted for while NG Eagle was being established.

Kaltungo also, in the course of his testimony, sought to mislead the Court to believe that the 1st Defendant sold NG Eagle shares solely and unilaterally as a Receiver holding majority shares in NG Eagle, when in fact he is just a nominee with a single unit of share, as AMCON, the corporation that appointed him, holds majority shares in NG Eagle.

Even though his testimonies were made with the support of a few documents admitted in evidence, Kaltungo still was not able to establish a nexus of any act of omission on the part of the accused persons to establish fraud or crime in the management of Arik’s loan.

Kuru is standing trial alongside Kamilu Alaba Omokide, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, Union Bank Plc, and Super Bravo Limited before Justice Mojisola Dada.

According to the witness, the statement of Arik’s former Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Jonathan Sani, detailed how the defendants allegedly moved N4.5 billion from Arik to fund NG Eagle, an airline he said was controlled by the defendants.

He further testified that Omokide and Ilegbodu allegedly worked with Kuru to funnel a total of N4.9 billion from Arik’s coffers to manage and fund operations of the new airline.

Kaltungo added that beyond the cash transfers, Arik staff were also moved to NG Eagle even though the new airline was set up while Kuru was still AMCON MD, and Omokide served as AMCON’s Receiver Manager. He said salary payments and operational expenses for the newly formed NG Eagle were borne by Arik Air Limited.

During proceedings, the court admitted a CTC of an ex parte order, which the prosecution termed as the only document authorizing the appointment of the RM over Arik and marked the same as P17, along with other exhibits – P18, P25, P26, P44, and P45 – including. photographs and videos in a flash drive containing footage of alleged vandalised aircraft were played in court, but the Prosecution again failed to establish a nexus as to whether those aircraft indeed belonged to Arik.

Meanwhile, counsel for the second and third defendants applied for the release of their clients’ passports for renewal and medical purposes. Justice Dada granted the requests on the condition that the documents be returned to the court registry no later than January 2, 2026.

The matter was thereafter adjourned to February 25 and 26, 2026, for continuation of the trial and Examination-in-Chief of PW4.

Obigwe is one of the witnesses of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the matter.

Recall that when he was first interrogated before the matter was adjourned, the same Obigwe claimed that Arik was a healthy company that had no financial challenges up to the time he left the service of Union Bank in 2009.

But pressed further today, he accepted that Arik was an irresponsible, badly run, immoral company, which also owed him a whopping 2.3 million dollars, which he had to write off because of his business relationship with the promoter of Arik Air Limited.

Obigwe appeared as a prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of the former Managing Director of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Ahmed Kuru, and four others, who are standing trial over alleged financial misappropriation amounting to alleged N76 billion and $31.5m., etc.

The EFCC arraigned the defendants on a six-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing, and abuse of office.

The defendants include Kuru, the former Receiver Manager of Arik Air Limited, Mr. Kamilu Omokide; Arik Air’s Chief Executive Officer, Captain Roy Ilegbodu; Union Bank of Nigeria PLC; and Super Bravo Limited.

They all pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Justice Mojisola Dada subsequently granted them bail in the sum of N20million each, with one surety in like sum.

Under cross examination, Mr. Obigwe informed the court that, in 2011, two years after he exited Union Bank, Arik Air was indebted to his private company, Staal, in the sum of $2.3 million. He stated that the amount was never repaid but that he had written it off due to the operational difficulties faced by the airline at the time.

“I am not interested in collecting it. I wrote it off when I discovered that Arik Air started having challenges,” Obigwe told the court. The witness also confirmed that following his exit from Union Bank, he formally became a consultant to Arik Air and other companies.

When asked whether the founder of Arik Air, Sir Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, was a personal acquaintance, he responded in the affirmative, noting that although he currently has no formal relationship with the airline, he maintains a relationship with Arumemi-Ikhide, who is also his church member.

During cross-examination by defence counsel, including Olasupo Shasore, SAN (for the second defendant); Olalekan Ojo, SAN (for the fourth defendant); and Tayo Oyedepo, SAN (for the fifth defendant), Mr. Obigwe stated that in 2009, he participated in an inspection of 26 aircraft belonging to Arik Air.

According to him, the aircraft were found to be airworthy and in good condition, based on assessments provided by Lufthansa. “I had no reason to doubt Lufthansa’s evaluation,” he said, adding that the purpose of the inspection was to ensure that the airline’s fleet had not been depleted.

When asked about the airline’s compliance with its loan obligations, Obigwe testified that during his tenure at Union Bank, there were no complaints from other financial institutions suggesting that Arik Air was defaulting on its loan obligations.

He also confirmed that, to the best of his knowledge, Arik Air was servicing its loan with Union Bank during his tenure.

Responding to a letter dated April 23, 2009, allegedly written by AMCON to Union Bank concerning a N46.11 billion debt owed by Arik Air, the witness denied knowledge of the letter, even though he was still in the service of Union Bank at the time, and was the Group Executive Director whose directorate supervised the Arik transaction.

On the character and management of Arik Air, the witness said: “I can only speak for the period I was there. When I was at Union Bank, Arik Air was one of the best companies.”

When questioned on the options available to lenders when a loan becomes non-performing, Obigwe responded that the lender may choose to transfer the loan to another bank, reassign it, or enforce the security tied to the loan.

He also acknowledged that a lender is legally empowered to dispose of the security in the event of default by the borrower in other wards justifying the decision of AMCON to have intervened in Arik to recover the Arik Air debt, which Union Bank sold to AMCON on the directive of Union Bank when AMCON was established by the Federal Government to mop-up all non-performing loans in the banks.

The matter was adjourned till June 4, 2025, for the continuation of the trial. On the last adjourned date, Obigwe, who is the second prosecution witness, and was led in evidence by Dr Wahab Shittu (SAN), told the court that he was a Group Executive Director in Corporate and International Banking at Union Bank.

The court was also able to establish that the witness, while in the service of Union Bank as Group Executive Director, Corporate and International Banking, Union Bank had a business relationship with the promoter of Arik, which was regularised and formalised into a full-fledged consultancy arrangement shortly after he exited Union Bank, which implied that even as ED, Union Bank, he may not have operated in the overall interest of the bank due to his relationship with the Arik owner.

AMCON also said that its intervention in the troubled Arik Air in February 2017, saved the carrier from liquidation, but vowed that it would ensure the recovery of the total debts owed to the corporation by various business organisations including those owned by Sir Johnson Arumem-Ikhide irrespective of the orchestrated blackmail.

Mr. Jude Nwauzor, the head of Corporate Communications Department of AMCON, stated these on Friday in Lagos while presenting the facts to the aviation correspondents.

AMCON, a debt recovery agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria had watched as several commentators, and writers spread skewed and misguided reports on different media platforms, which does not explain the sorry status of Arik Air before AMCON’s the Federal Government of Nigeria mandated AMCON to intervene in the airline.

Giving the breakdown of the total debts, Nwauzor informed that Arik as of December 2024, owed AMCON N227,637,469,394.34 billion; Rockson Engineering, N163,502,837, 397.75 billion, while Ojemai Farms owed the corporation another N14, 031, 457, 980.71 billion, totaling N455, 171, 764, 772.80. Nwauzor also said that Arumem-Ikhide in some of its agreements with AMCON, agreed to the debts owed to the government agency, and signed restructured agreements on payback, but failed to honour his agreements.

AMCON insisted that despite the campaign of calumny against it, it would ensure the debts were recovered and return the companies to profitability. AMCON insisted that it didn’t take over the running of Arik Air by fiat as claimed in some quarters, but the banks, including Union Bank and Bank PHB (now Keystone Bank), Zenith, Access, Standard Chattered, Afexim, which the airline owed billions of naira, sold the non-performing loans of Arik to AMCON.

He insisted that the takeover followed all the due processes and in accordance with the Act setting up AMCON, and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. According to Nwauzor, AMCON had been part of Arik Air since 2011 but was compelled to take over the company in 2017 through the appointment of a receiver manager after several interventions failed.

He emphasised that the AMCON Amendment Act, 2021 empowers the corporation to, inter alia, take possession, manage, or sell all properties traced to debtors, whether such asset or property is used as security/collateral for obtaining the loan in particular.

He explained that the receiver manager also had the option of either managing or selling off the assets of a debtor company like Arik Air, but AMCON was mandated to ensure that the airline did not die by the Federal Government.

He said:

“If you recall, at the time, there were not so many of these airlines that we have today like Air Peace, United Nigeria, Green Africa, Max Air,  Value Jet, etc, so, the Federal Government at the time, mandated AMCON to save the over 1,500 jobs that would have been lost if the airline was liquidated and the best approach was to appoint a receiver manager to manage the airline. That was the mandate of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“As you know, AMCON is owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Ministry of Finance and is guided by the AMCON Act drafted by the National Assembly, and signed into law by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That was how AMCON came to be. What that means is that you cannot play outside the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the AMCON Act, and that the Corporation since inception is guided by this. If push comes to shove, AMCON still has the option to liquidate the company and any other debtor organizations. But, we are still today managing Arik, which was insolvent in 2015 and 2016 before AMCON stepped in.”

He pointed out that AMCON since 2017 when it intervened in the airline, had been putting in money to sustain its operations, yet was unable to recover its investment in the airline. AMCON expressed that it was because the promoters of Arik Air could not pay back the debts it owed several financial institutions either in the country or beyond, stressing that this compelled the banks to sell the non-performing loans to AMCON.

He further debunked the claim that Arik Air had 30 operating aircraft at the time of AMCON intervention in 2017, maintaining that most of the aircraft claimed to be in the fleet of the airline were either abandoned, scrapped, or inactive at the time of intervention.

An investigation by our correspondent revealed that only eight of the 30 aircraft were operational at the time of AMCON intervention.

He insisted that no matter the blackmail, AMCON would ensure the recovery of the debts irrespective of who was involved. Adding that by the time AMCON intervened in Arik Air in 2017, there was zero naira to run the airline, as both KPMG and PwC reports pronounced the airline insolvent pre-receivership.

“We did the forensic evaluation of Arik Air in 2015 and 2016; the report wrote off Arik as an insolvent company. The experts proposed that AMCON should liquidate the airline and move away. Even, the liquidation would not have recovered a fraction of the debts,” he said.

According to Arik Affinity Wings, current members will receive a 20% discount on all flights booked between October 1 and October 31, 2022, while new members will receive a 15% discount on flights booked over the same time frame.

The airline claims that registered and prospective members of the program can take advantage of the anniversary deal to travel more and pay less.

To enjoy these amazing offers, customers must book their flights via the airline’s website.

The Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, said, “Arik Air is proud to achieve this milestone with our highly esteemed customers.

“These offers are unique due to the timing, as we are using this promotion to celebrate our valued customers this season.

It’s the month of Nigeria’s independence and also the 2022 customer service week cherish the patronage of our customers, and this is our way of showing appreciation.”

The Arik Affinity Wings was launched in October 2014. There are currently over 150,000 members earning and spending miles on the platform.