The rivalry between the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSAN) and National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) may have turned AIB into a battle ground as disgruntled elements within the Commission is hoping to cash in on that so as discredit the Commissioner of AIB to their advantage.

As NAAPE continued to battle the AIB over the recent secondment of comrade Benjamin Okewu to AIB, more facts have emerged on why NAAPE, was enmeshed in the controversy with AIB.

Nigerianfranknews investigation has it that some members of the association, which only has six members may have been sponsored by some disgruntled elements in the bureau who are bent on removing the Commissioner of AIB, Dr. Felix Abali.

It was gathered that some of the disgruntled elements who are believed to be angling for power in the NAAPE branch of AIB had written anonymous petitions against Abali in the past to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Department of State Service, DSS, the Nigeria Police, the Ministry of Aviation and even to the presidency, accusing him of corrupt practices.

But, investigations carried out by all the relevant organisations, including the presidency exonerated Abali of all the allegations levelled against him.

According to a source in AIB, after all the false allegations failed, they have now resorted into using the unions to forcefully remove Abali by trying to give substance to allegation of incompetence despite his many years at the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, and other renowned institutions after bagging a doctorate degree in mechanical engineering.

Some AIB staff who spoke on the issue on condition of anonymity maintained that the various petitions and current subterfuge against Dr. Abali are the handiwork of  the same cabal that had fought past administrations since the inception of the bureau.

The staff said these cabals bitterly fought Dr Sam Oduselu, the pioneer Commissioner and Captain Muhtar Usman before he was posted to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), stressing that the same cabal are at work to oust Dr Abali hoping to gain power and control in the agency.

With this development, NAAPE walked in to become a willing tool in the hands of the cabal, he added.

According to him, the trade union is using staff with baggage as arrowheads in AIB as one of the NAAPE leaders in AIB already had three disciplinary issues in his file awaiting management’s resolutions even before the inauguration of the union in the bureau.

The staff stressed that the Union leader involved is now trying to use the unions to frustrate justice.

“The local union leaders were recently involved in insulting the Commissioner under the guise of trade unionism. Before the management could decide what to do about it, NAAPE had taken the matter to the media portraying the Commissioner as a violent personality.  Although the National secretariat is believed to be reaching out to the AIB management to pre-empt possible sanction, the option left to the management is to decide whether it wants to dance to the union’s tune or set a bad precedent of allowing insubordination in the organisation,” he said.

The source recalled that the National President of NAAPE, Engr. Isaac Balami in one of his meetings with the minister of State for Aviation, Senator. Hadi Sirika had criticised all the aviation agencies’ helmsmen and openly called for the removal of the AIB’s commissioner even when NAAPE was yet to be inaugurated in the bureau.

He observed that it was curious that the leadership of NAAPE would not fight for the general welfare of its members but rather pursues personal war against the management.

The source wondered why NAAPE that could not address the injustice done to its members in AIB following the recruitment done under a former minister, but instead of that, they are now fighting for members of another union.

The source alleged that the recent eyebrows raised against the secondment of the President of the Air Transport Senior Staff Services of Nigeria, ATSSSAN, Comrade Benjamin Okewu to AIB was a distraction to bring down Abali.

Commenting on the issue, another staff of AIB stated that, “NAAPE has only six members in AIB, both in Lagos and Abuja offices, but we are surprised to see a union that has no footing yet in the bureau now being used by some disgruntled elements in the agency to fight the management to heat up the bureau.
Investigations reveal that some of the unionists don’t want Okewu in AIB and they have vowed to fight him to a standstill and also our management for accepting him. Since the association was inaugurated, it has been fighting personal battles, rather than the welfares of its members, which should be the primary aim of any association or union.
“One of their members who is a Level Grade 12 officer was rude to a senior officer in the agency, which is not tolerated in the civil service rule. The same person threatened to beat up two of his colleagues at two different times, which has led to queries been issued him, too. The same officer was also rude to the chief executive Officer of this organisation about two weeks ago. Does his being a union leader give him the leverage to be rude to his superiors?.”

He continued that: “Also, the NAAPE President, Balami who claimed that some CEOs were incompetent and canvassed for their removal, he’s an engineer by profession, but unfortunately, he can’t carry out any major checks on aircraft and he’s the same person rooting for the removal of a CEOs.
Balami is working in Aero Contractors, but until the bubble burst, he never pointed out any rot in that organisation. Look at the sorry state of the airline today, yet, they have a President of an association that works in the same airline”.