A court case to block the establishment of Nigeria Air is set to resume on March 22 after it was transferred from Lagos to the Federal High Court in Abuja, according to unnamed sources quoted by the country's The Guardian newspaper.
Nigeria Air transaction adviser Tilmann Gabriel was not immediately available for confirmation.
The new national carrier is a joint venture between the Nigerian federal government and a consortium led by Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International), a fact that has ired domestic airlines upset about their perceived competitive disadvantage. Banding together under the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), they won an urgent injunction from the Lagos Federal High Court on November 15, 2022, which restrained the federal government from selling Nigeria Air shares to Ethiopian Airlines.
Since then, the case has been postponed twice in what analysts interpreted as delaying tactics pending the outcome of Nigeria's recent general elections, as a new government could abandon the project.
According to The Guardian's sources, the case was transferred to Abuja at the request of Nigeria Air, Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika, and Attorney General Abubakar Malami, all based in the federal capital. The transfer was opposed by the AON, which is based in Lagos.
Nigeria's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Bola Tinubu was declared the presidential election winner after receiving 37% of a 27% voter turn-out. His inauguration is scheduled for May 29.
