Kenneth Ehigiator
29 March 2004
Lagos — THE leadership crisis at the Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) took a new dimension, weekend, after the Acting General Manager, Alhaji Saliu Bello, who refused to hand over to the re-instated General Manager, last week, allegedly procured a fresh mandate from the Aviation Minister to stay on.
Vanguard learnt that the reinstated General Manager, Mr. Olu Owolabi, who had earlier forced his way into office last week, following the refusal of his successor to hand over, was ejected from office at the weekend by armed policemen on the orders of the Aviation Minister, Mallam Isa Yuguda.
The Bureau of Public Entreprises (BPE), under which Nigeria Airways and its subsidiaries had been placed, had two weeks ago directed the Managing Director of the airline to immediately recall from suspension the substantive General Manager of SAHCOL, Mr. Olu Owolabi, having been given a clean bill of health.
Owolabi was until his suspension September 2003, based on allegation of fraud, sabotage, embezzlement and mismanagement levelled against him by then acting managing director of Nigeria Airways Limited, Mr. Andrew Okunnuga, the General Manager of SAHCOL, a subsidiary of Nigeria Airways.
His recall was, however, made possible by the audit panel constituted by the Aviation Minister, Mallam Isa Yuguda, to probe the finances of SAHCOL.
The panel did not only recommend the reinstatement of Owolabi, but also commended him for the astute manner he steered the affairs of the company since its creation in 1999. But since Owolabi's recall two weeks ago, Alhaji Saliu Bello, who was re-deployed from his position as Manager, Fuel, of Nigeria Airways to replace the then suspended Owolabi in acting capacity had refused to hand over by making himself unavailable.
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