The National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers, NAAPE, was recently enmeshed in a spat with the Nigerian Accident Investigation Bureau, AIB, because some disgruntled members of the Bureau were trying to remove the Commissioner of AIB, Dr. Felix Abali, sources told TheSimonAtebaNews.
Sources said some ‘elements’ of the association, of only six members inaugurated about two months ago, may have been sponsored by some members of the Bureau opposing Mr. Abali.
They are the same people who had written a deluge of petitions in the past to influence the Federal Government into taking unwise actions, the sources said.
It was said that these disgruntled elements who are believed to be angling for power had written anonymous petitions against Mr. 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 it was said that investigations carried out by all the relevant organisations, including the presidency exonerated Abali of all the allegations levelled against him.
A source in AIB explained that after all the false allegations failed, the aggrieved members resorted into using the unions to forcefully remove Mr. Abali.
They tried, sources said, 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.
According to some AIB staff, the deluge of petitions and current subterfuge are “the handiwork of the same cabal that had fought past administrations since the inception of the bureau”.
The source said “they bitterly fought Dr Sam Oduselu, the pioneer Commissioner and Captain Muhtar Usman before he was posted to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The same cabal are at work to oust Dr Abali hoping to gain power and control in the agency”.
It said with this development, “NAAPE walked in to become a willing tool in the hands of the cabal”.
The source claimed that the trade union is using staff with baggage as arrowheads in AIB. The source added that 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, stressing that he now attempted to use the unions to frustrate justice.
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