IMMEDIATE past managing director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Rabiu Yadudu, has dismissed reports about his sack from office.

The media had on Sunday, May 21, reported that the minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, had sacked Yadudu as head FAAN and immediately replaced him with Kabir Mohammed, formerly the regional general manager, North-Central, of FAAN.

But Yadudu, in a report on Monday, May 22, wondered how his exit from the aviation parastatal could have been a sack when his tenure only expired after serving four years, as his appointment letter read May 19, 2019.

In a chat with The ICIR, the immediate past general secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), Olayinka Abioye, said Yadudu actually served out his tenure, which the minister did not renew.

“The facts available to me are that the government hires and fires at its pleases. However, Captain Yadudu, outgoing Managing Director/CEO of FAAN, was not sacked even though our use of the English Language in this part of the world is different.

“His four-year tenure on the seat lapsed, and rather than the tenure renewed, it is within the powers and authority of the hirer, the Minister of Aviation in this instance, to refuse to renew, and it is, therefore, within his powers to appoint another fellow.”

Abioye, however, hailed the appointment of the new FAAN executive.

He said, “The good thing is that the gentleman, Mohammed, that has just been appointed is a round peg in a round hole who will do justice to the office of the CEO for the greater good of the Nigerian people and the benefits of the global community.”

A check by The ICIR showed that President Muhammad Buhari had, on May 20, 2019, approved the appointment of Yadudu as managing director of FAAN.

An aviation observer, Simon Tumba, had, however, faulted that appointment.

He told The ICIR, The minister ought to have waited for the next government to appoint the new managing director since he is unlikely to work with the new appointee.

“I think what the minister did was wrong. Unfortunately for the minister, many are reading pecuniary interests behind the appointment.”

Less than 24 hours after Yadudu’s re-placement, the Minister of Aviation had reportedly also sacked Mathew Pwajok, the acting director-general of the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), and replaced him with  Tayib Odunowo, the director of aerodrome and airspace standards in the National Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, May 3, the House of Representatives queried Yadudu over the volume of dilapidated infrastructure in the nation’s airports.

The House Committee on Aviation had demanded the reason behind the demolition of houses reportedly built on Lagos airport land.