Aviation groups reject solidarity protest in support of NAMA boss trial
Aviation associations in the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) have dissociated themselves from the recent solidarity rally carried out at the premises of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, in support of the arraigned managing director and some top management staff standing trials for alleged fraud and money laundering.
Some of the NAMA workers were at the Federal High Court Ikoyi Tuesday to show solidarity for the embattled managing director when he and other management staff were arraigned.
The leaders of the associations in NAMA namely, the National Association of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (NATCA) and AUPCTRE, who condemned the action by some workers of the agency, said the workers acted on their own.
According to the leaders of the associations, the management staff standing trials and their supporters should allow the law to take its cause, adding that if the suspects were culpable, the law should be applied and if innocent, should be let off the hook with apologies and compensation from government for embarrassing them.
The leaders said they had nothing against the staff currently standing trial, but that justice must be done, stressing that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) did not apprehend them to be disgraced.
They said that no reasonable government workers would allow themselves to be used against the genuine intention of government to fight corruption and to subvert justice by participating in solidarity protest in a court premises. They added that the workers should rather go about discharging their normal duties to reposition the agency for a satisfactory performance.
The NAMA Managing Director, Ibrahim Abdulsalam and other management staff currently standing trials were arrested in February 12, and charged with alleged theft, fraud and money laundering.
