How ex-minister Hadi Sirika secured ‘Nigeria Air’ contract for his friend

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama, Abuja, heard from a criminal offense investigator on Wednesday that former Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika allegedly imposed his friend on the ministry to be engaged for a failed Nigeria Air-related contract in 2023.

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigator Christopher Odofin mentioned this in his testimony because the twelfth prosecution witness in Mr Sirika’s corruption trial.

Mr Sirika is dealing with prosecution alongside two relations and a agency on six corruption costs that partly centre on an alleged N1.3 billion contract the aviation ministry awarded in 2023 to Gabriel Tilmann, a professor.

EFCC alleged that Mr Sirika corruptly awarded the consultancy companies contract for the start-up of the failed Nigeria Air nationwide service to a agency belonging to Mr Tilmann, whom the prosecution described as the previous minister’s friend.

The then-outgoing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the nationwide service days earlier than handover in May 2023, solely for the general public present to be later discovered to be a ruse.

Mr Sirika allegedly disguised an Ethiopian Airlines plane as Nigeria’s nationwide service, Mr Odofin beforehand mentioned in his testimony which he began over a 12 months in the past on 30 June 2025.

On Wednesday, the witness fielded questions throughout cross-examination by defence lawyer Kanu Agabi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), which centred on the propriety of the contract awarded to Mr Tilmann.

The questioning touched on a voice notice which the prosecution believed belonged to Mr Sirika.

When it was performed in court docket in July, the voice notice, ascribed to Mr Sirika, was heard instructing one other individual the EFCC believed to be the then-Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, Enitan Abel, to award a contract to Mr Tilmann.

“Do the right thing. Generate the necessary contract and give it to his company. In that way, we can be paying for his services,” the voice notice was heard saying.

It added, “Whatever we can get, he’s quite resourceful and very energetic…So he has what it takes.”

Referencing the voice notice on Wednesday, Mr Agabi requested Mr Odofin if an “energetic person” was not match for the job.

The witness insisted that Mr Sirika imposed his friend on the ministry.

“The man was imposed by the first defendant (Mr Sirika) on the ministry,” Mr Odofin mentioned.

Responding to a different query from Mr Agabi, the witness mentioned Mr Tilmann was not questioned by the EFCC as a result of he was not within the nation throughout investigations.

“We made an effort to reach him to no avail,” the witness mentioned.

He maintained that due course of was not adopted in awarding the contract to Mr Tilmaan.

But he added that the previous minister solely adopted due course of “after the contract had been awarded.”

Mr Agabi expressed shock on the line of testimony and requested the trial decide, Slyvanus Oriji, for an adjournment of the proceedings.

Following no objection from EFCC’s lawyer, Rotimi Jacob, additionally a SAN, the decide adjourned the matter till Thursday.

Charges

The EFCC is prosecuting Mr Sirika, alongside his daughter, Fatima Sirika, her husband, Jalal Hamma, and the couple’s agency, Al Buraq Global Investment, on six counts, together with a N1.5 billion contract fraud and N1.3 billion gratification proceeds.

The prosecution accused Fatima, who works on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, and her husband, Mr Hamma, a workers member of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, of holding “indirectly private interests in the contract for the Apron Extension at the Katsina Airport” for virtually N1.5 billion.

One depend accused the previous minister of “criminal breach of trust by being dishonestly connected with the illegal award” of the contract for the Apron Extension at Katsina Airport for the advantage of his daughter and son-in-law’s firm, Al Buraq Global Investment Ltd.

EFCC charged them with possession of N1.3 billion allegedly traced to Mr Sirika as “proceeds of criminal conducts” within the type of gratification.

A depend devoted to the contract awarded to Mr Tilmann accused Mr Sirika of conferring unfair benefit on Mr Tilmann’s Tianaero Nigeria Limited through the use of his place because the aviation minister to award to the agency a consultancy contract for the Nigerian Air start-up to the tune of N1.3 billion. Mr Sirika allegedly did this between April 2022 and March 2023.

Yet one other depend accused the previous aviation minister of being dishonestly related to the “illegal” award of the N1.3 billion consultancy contract for the Nigerian Air Start-up to Mr Tilmann’s firm, Tianaero Nigeria Limited.

The defendants denied all six costs.

The prosecution case to this point

The prosecution has known as 12 prosecution witnesses to this point.

Since Mr Odofin, the twelfth prosecution witness, began taking the stand on 30 June 2025, he has testified extensively on the botched Nigerian Air nationwide service and the contract awarded to Mr Tilmann.

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He mentioned Mr Sirika allegedly disguised an Ethiopian Airlines plane as Nigeria’s nationwide service through the former President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

He testified that the plane was loaned to Nigeria for simply three days, from 27 to 29 May 2023. He testified that the aircraft was flown again to Ethiopia instantly after being handed off as a Nigeria Air nationwide service.

In May 2023, then-aviation minister Mr Sirika promised that Nigeria Air would start operations earlier than he left workplace; a promise he delivered on a mere three days earlier than his departure.

The purported unveiling was fraught with considerations. First, in June 2023, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) rejected an utility from Nigeria Air searching for certification to proceed to “phase two” within the technique of acquiring an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC).

According to the NCAA’s rejection letter, there was no sufficient preparation for the airline’s operation.

Also, the previous minister had disclosed earlier in 2022 that Ethiopian Airlines emerged as a core investor in Nigeria Air with a 49 per cent shareholding.

This didn’t sit effectively with native airline operators who claimed they may handle Nigerian Air higher than a international airline.

During the revealing, just one plane belonging to Ethiopian Airlines was unveiled on the ceremony.

In June this 12 months, the witness testified that Mr Sirika cut up a contract the Nigeria Air-related contracts to evade the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) within the contract approval course of.