#ArikWhereIsMyIpad Why I rejected Arik Air’s oath of secrecy and the new N50 million damage request

I was so desperate to get the issue of #ArikWhereIsMyIpad over with that I agreed with a gentleman who is a friend of another respected friend of mine to have a private discussion with Arik Air and keep the issue off the internet. He called me over the phone and said he’d want for me and Arik to come to a peaceful settlement. With access to an Arik Air executive member, he soon had me speaking with the man. We both agreed to a Lagos meeting during the last week of July.

While I was waiting to go to Lagos for my affidavit on the same issue, Arik Air was busy calling some of its customers to put the fact that they had lost things and such returned to them in writing. As fate would have it, one of my mentors was contacted to write about how Arik Air found his Ipad and returned it to him. The gentleman quickly told them he knew what their call was about. He told that he knew me very well and it would be good to just settle peacefully with me as I’d not let it go just like that. Of course, Arik Air’s attempts to have him write that statement failed. I am certain they have statements from some other people. I don’t need to make calls to get details of how customers have suffered countless thefts inside Arik Air flights. One could fill the Library of Congress if the books of such experiences were written. I will be sharing some of those soon.

That arranged meeting never held. I had gone to Lagos to swear an affidavit (attached) on this issue and also collect a police report. The Arik Air official had told me that they’d be willing to pay me some form of compensation as long as I had a police report. With transportation from my initial futile bid to get the report in Abuja to my finally getting it in Lagos after swearing an affidavit before same, the police report had come to cost me N60,600.00 i.e. sixty thousand six hundred naira. Arik Air had insisted I got the report to get my compensation and I spent valuable time and money to get same.

Shockingly, after the police report had been secured, Arik Air came with a different tune. They needed me to sign an indemnity, that I’d not come to claim another compensation after they compensate me and that I’d not make the whole compensation process public.

I did not pretend with my answers. I said it’d be impossible for me to claim another compensation if we settle things because once we do, I’d tell everyone we had come to a peaceful agreement. I was willing to sign the part about not coming to claim another compensation, but I was never in the entire world going to sign an oath of silence. I told them the issue of the Ipad had become a public one and whatever agreement we arrived at had to be made public. They insisted on my silence, I made it clear that option was not open to any debate, I have to make people know whatever happens. At this point, I said to them to do whatever they had to do and I’d do what I have to do.

The issue is with the Consumer Protection Council (CPC). They even made references to my tweets and blogs in their response to CPC but I will clear all the issues in my reply to that. Let us be clear. I had stopped the #ArikWhereIsMyIpad campaign despite calls to continue as long as nothing had been agreed. I wanted for us to settle it peacefully and then come to give a report about everything. I even sent a final letter to the Arik Air official which was posted earlier to let them know that their inability to act strategically on this issue would mean I’d start my #ArikWhereIsMyIpad campaign. I am back. I expect the Consumer Protection Council to do the right thing and get Arik Air to compensate me fully for the ipad. I intend to make new claims on my compensation and would be going to the council to add to my claims and report. The top Arik Air official told me “these things happen all over the world” sharing his own experience with me. Yes, they happen all over the world and I feel for those who get cheated and trampled on who maintain their silence like a sheep taken to a slaughter. As for me, I will not watch another man or company treat me shabbily especially when I can do something about it. This has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that this is who I am; I don’t take faecal droppings. Is it about the loss of the books I am yet to publish inside the ipad, or my ideas and thoughts? Is it about the lost contacts or my cherished pictures and materials from #OccupyNigeria? Be rest assured, I am not stopping until I have my Ipad unscathed or I have a new Ipad, the cost of each day’s worth without it since the 16th of June, 2012 and the cost of my time and sum of money spent while doing everything to make Arik Air do the needful. Get me my ipad or get me my ipad’s worth as explained above. Let me state that the Consumer Protection Council has so far been professional about this. Trust me to let you know as this issue progresses. Whatever happens, you will always know. To hell with secrecy! I just wanted my Ipad 2 returned and now that it is obvious they won’t return that, I will be returning to the Consumer Protection Council to file for a N50 million damage. That is the lowest possible worth of my ipad’s content. More on #ArikWhereIsMyIpad later. The Ariktivization has just begun.

Culled from Omojuwa's blog.