Arik shareholders demand answers over aircraft dismantling

Shareholders of Arik Air Ltd. have asked the airline’s Receiver Manager, Oluseye Opasanya, to explain the ongoing dismantling of a Boeing 737-700 at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.

In a letter dated August 17, 2026, and signed by a major shareholder, Johnson Arumemi-Ikhide, the shareholders said they had observed what appeared to be the dismantling of an Arik aircraft and demanded clarification on its identity, ownership and security status.

The development is the second reported case of an Arik aircraft being dismantled at the Lagos airport amid disputes over the airline’s debts and assets under receivership by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria.

The shareholders also asked Opasanya to disclose the authority and purpose for the dismantling and clarify whether the aircraft or any of its components was linked to alleged indebtedness owed by Arik Air to Access Bank.

The stakeholders recalled that Opasanya’s October 22, 2024, correspondence had referred to an alleged Access Bank debt and the bank’s security over Arik aircraft and engines.

According to the shareholders, they subsequently requested the underlying documents but had not received them satisfactorily.

The letter stated, “Your letter of 22 October 2024 asserted an alleged Access Bank indebtedness and security over Arik aircraft/engines. We expressly requested in our letter of 31 December 2024 the underlying documentation, which was not supplied with your letter and has not, to our knowledge, subsequently been satisfactorily produced.”

The stakeholders added that they had informed the receiver manager that the matter was also the subject of a criminal investigation by a government law enforcement agency.

“We have now observed what appears to be an ongoing dismantling of an aircraft at the domestic section of Murtala Muhammed Airport,” the shareholders said.

They further demanded the aircraft’s registration details, proof of ownership and information on its security status, as well as the legal authority for dismantling it.

The shareholders said the exercise raised concerns about the preservation of Arik’s assets and the management of the airline under receivership.

They also stressed that their letter should not be regarded as consent to any transaction involving the airline’s assets and was without prejudice to their pending proceedings before the Federal High Court.

The controversy follows an earlier case involving another Arik aircraft. In November 2024, the Federal High Court in Lagos authorised parties connected to Export Development Canada to take custody, control and dismantle a CRJ1000 aircraft, 5N-JEE, formerly operated by Arik Air.

Efforts to get the AMCON publicist, Jude Nwauzor, to speak were unsuccessful, as both calls and text messages sent to his phone were not attended to as of press time.

Also, a WhatsApp message was sent to the AMCON spokesperson, but there has been no response.