An investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) told the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Wednesday that Hadi Sirika, former minister of aviation, violated due process in awarding a contract to a company belonging to his friend.
Christopher Odofin, EFCC’s 12th prosecution witness, said this in his testimony which he continued from where he stopped on 10 June. Mr Odofin’s testimony has focussed on the contract awarded to the company, Tanaero Nigeria Limited (TNL), belonging to Gabriel Tilmann.
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The controversial contract was for consultancy services for the failed Nigeria Air project.
Mr Odofin said the contract originally awarded to TNL for over N299 million on 4 April 2022 was later extended on 17 October 2022. On Mr Sirika’s instructions, the extension pushed the total contract above N599 million, the witness said, adding that the action constituted a violation of due process.
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The EFCC is prosecuting Mr Sirika alongside his daughter, Fatima Sirika, and her husband, Jalal Hamma, alongside the couple’s firm, Al Buraq Global Investment, on six counts, including contract fraud involving N2.8 billion.
In one of the charges, the EFCC accused Mr Sirika of using his position to confer an unfair advantage on TNL for the Nigeria Air startup. All the defendants denied the allegations.
How Sirika insisted on TNL
Testifying on Wednesday, Mr Odofin said EFCC’s team analysed a voice note attributed to Mr Sirika insisting the contract must be awarded to TNL.
The Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development under the leadership of Mr Sirika wrote two contract letters to TNL, he said.
The first contract award letter was dated 4 April 2022, and the second award letter was dated 6 April 2022.
Mr Odofin said Mr Sirika awarded the first contract without first notifying the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP). In respect of the second, the BPP was completely ignored.
“Investigation into this case revealed that the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development wrote a letter to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), requesting a Certificate of No Objection to engage consultants in respect of the aforementioned contracts. My lord, this letter of request to BPP is dated 7 March 2022.
“Response to this request from the BPP is dated 6 April 2022, and the same response was received officially in the Ministry on the 7th April 2022, while the award of the contract to Tianaero is dated 4th April 2022.
“Before the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development received a response from BPP, the contract award letter had already gone out to Tianaero Limited,” the witness said.
He said the BPP was not aware of the contract’s extension.
Full payment to a year-old company
Mr Odofin also said the payment for the contracts was made in full to TNL. Despite the company being in existence for a year, Mr Sirika chose it.
“It is important to also state that Tianaero Nigeria Limited was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission on the 29th March 2021, barely one year before these contracts were awarded to the company,” Mr Odofin said.
Thereafter, a compact disc which the EFCC said contained Mr Sirika’s verbal instruction to the permanent secretary, Enitan Muyiwa Abel, instructing that TNL be awarded the contract was presented in court.
According to the witness, Mr Sirika sent the voice note to Mr Abel while in Spain. However, due to technical issues, it could not be played.
This prompted the trial judge, Slyvanus Oriji, to adjourn the matter until 8 July.
A week ago, Mr Odofin told the court that Mr Sirika allegedly disguised an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft as Nigeria’s national carrier during the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
He revealed that the aircraft was loaned to Nigeria for just three days from 27 to 29 May 2023. He testified that the plane was flown back to Ethiopia immediately after being passed off as a Nigeria Air national carrier.
READ ALSO: How ex-minister Hadi Sirika disguised Ethiopian Airlines aircraft as Nigeria Air’s – Witness
The aircraft contract and the manner of its implementation raised serious concerns. In May 2023, then-Minister Mr Sirika promised that Nigeria Air would commence operations before he left office; a promise he delivered on a mere three days before his departure.
The purported unveiling was fraught with concerns. First, in June 2023, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) rejected an application from Nigeria Air seeking certification to proceed to “phase two” in the process of obtaining an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC).
According to the NCAA’s rejection letter, there was no adequate preparation for the airline’s operation.
Also, the former minister had disclosed earlier in 2022 that Ethiopian Airlines emerged as a core investor in Nigeria Air with a 49 per cent shareholding.
This did not sit well with local airline operators who claimed they could manage Nigerian Air better than a foreign airline.
During the unveiling, only one aircraft belonging to Ethiopian Airlines was unveiled at the ceremony.
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