XEJet Sues SAHCO, AGHAN for ₦16.1bn Over Confidentiality Breach and False Statements
XEJet Limited, a privately owned Nigerian airline, has sued Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc (SAHCO) at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, alleging a breach of confidentiality obligations.
In the action, XEJet maintains that SAHCO lacked any contractual entitlement to halt or withdraw ground handling services on the basis of unpaid invoices, and that the handling company's Credit Policy does not constitute part of the parties' agreement.
Alex Izinyon II, Esq., filed the case for XEJet, naming SAHCO as the only defendant. The suit is numbered FCT/HC/CV/4506/2026, and the airline has placed seven questions before the court for determination alongside 11 reliefs.
XEJet is asking the court to construe Paragraph 13.1 of Annex B 1.1 to the Standard Ground Handling Agreement, which took effect on 1 January 2026, and decide whether details of its account with SAHCO — covering invoices, statements of account, amounts invoiced, paid and outstanding, payment history, communications and proposals — amount to information supplied between the parties in the course of service provision that SAHCO is permanently obliged to keep confidential.
Another question is whether SAHCO breached Paragraph 13.1 by passing account information to AGHAN, its officers or members, which AGHAN then published in a statement on 28 September 2026. The court is also asked to determine whether the exclusion of liability for lost profits, revenue, business and goodwill under Paragraph 4.2 covers losses arising from a breach of Paragraph 13.1 that was committed negligently or through wilful misconduct.
In the suit dated 30 September 2026, XEJet seeks a declaration that, on a proper reading of Paragraph 13.1, the account information is confidential and must be kept permanently confidential by SAHCO. It also wants a declaration that SAHCO may not, without its prior written consent, disclose such information to AGHAN, its officers or members, or to the press.
A further declaration sought is that SAHCO's disclosure to AGHAN, its officers or members breached Paragraph 13.1 and was done with wilful misconduct or, in the alternative, negligently, within the meaning of Paragraph 4.2. XEJet is also requesting a perpetual injunction barring SAHCO, its directors, officers, servants, agents or privies from disclosing any information about the airline's account, or any other information covered by Paragraph 13.1, to AGHAN, its officers or members, the press or any other third party, except as Paragraph 13.1 allows.
On damages, the airline is claiming ₦1 billion in general damages for the alleged breach of Paragraph 13.1, plus a further ₦100 million in general damages over the withdrawal of ground handling services on 28 September 2026.
In an affidavit supporting the Originating Summons, Emmanuel Ayuba Iza, the Group Chief Executive Officer of XEJet Limited, said the airline and SAHCO are parties to a Standard Ground Handling Agreement made up of Annex B 1.1 (Location(s), Agreed Services and Charges), effective 1 January 2026, together with the Main Agreement and Annex A of the January 2018 Standard Ground Handling Agreement published by the International Air Transport Association, which Annex B 1.1 incorporates through the simplified procedure as though fully repeated.
The claimant said that under the agreement, SAHCO agreed to handle XEJet's aircraft, passengers and baggage at the Abuja, Lagos, Benin, Asaba and Warri airports, covering passenger handling, baggage handling, marshalling, loading and unloading, towing and push-back of aircraft, and load control.
The deponent stated: "By a letter dated 4th September 2026 (reference SAH/4U/MD/04-09/255) addressed to me, the Defendant requested settlement, on or before 10 September 2026, of the invoices shown in a Statement of Account as at 15 August 2026, and invited the Claimant to raise any queries on the statement within the same period."
He added that after receiving the letter, XEJet entered into negotiations with SAHCO and a joint reconciliation of the account to confirm the sums genuinely owed, invoice by invoice. When 10 September 2026 passed, SAHCO did not suspend its services and kept providing them.
According to the affidavit, SAHCO then wrote a letter dated 23 September 2026 (reference SAH/4U/MD/23-09/257) to the deponent, asking for settlement within three working days of receipt, on or before 28 September 2026, and warning that services would be suspended if payment "or a satisfactory payment arrangement" was not received within that window.
The claimant says that on 28 September 2026, from about 8.00 a.m., and before the deadline in SAHCO's 23 September 2026 letter had lapsed, SAHCO withdrew ground handling services from XEJet at all airports in Nigeria.
Even so, and still within the period set in that letter, XEJet paid SAHCO ₦7,000,000.00 on the same 28 September 2026 through two bank transfers of ₦2,000,000.00 and ₦5,000,000.00, each carrying the narration "Ground handling outstanding", towards the outstanding account and as part of a payment arrangement with SAHCO.
In a separate suit, XEJet has sued the Incorporated Trustees of the Aviation Ground Handlers Association of Nigeria (AGHAN), accusing it of false information to the media and the public, and claiming ₦15 billion in general, aggravated and exemplary damages.
The claimant says it holds a commercial account for ground handling services with SAHCO, a ground handling company that belongs to AGHAN.
In its Statement of Claim, XEJet says SAHCO's letter of 23 September 2026 fixed 28 September 2026 as the final date for payment or a satisfactory payment arrangement.
The airline states: "The Claimant and SAHCO were in discussion when the publications complained of in the media were made. The Claimant owed no sum to any other member of AGHAN."
It adds: "No payment plan had been concluded between the Claimant and SAHCO or the 1st Defendant; the Claimant had proposed terms and commenced payment on account, as pleaded below; and the Claimant was never served with, or became party to, any notice or arrangement arising from the 1st Defendant's ultimatum of September 2026."
According to the claimant, between 28 and 29 September 2026 it paid SAHCO ₦215,898,420.25 in total through five bank transfers, clearing the account in full. The first two transfers, amounting to ₦7,000,000.00, reached SAHCO on 28 September 2026, within the period fixed by its 23 September 2026 letter, while the remaining three, totalling ₦208,898,420.25, were paid on 29 September 2026.
It further states that on 28 September 2026, AGHAN, acting through its President and Vice President, issued a joint statement signed by both of them and released it to the press. XEJet claims AGHAN put out the statement knowing and intending that it would be republished in national newspapers and online, and that the media did republish it.
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