The trial of former Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Hadi Abubakar Sirika, continued on Wednesday before Justice S. C. Oriji of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, with a prosecution witness alleging that the former minister violated due process in the award of contracts connected to the Nigeria Air project.
Sirika is standing trial alongside his daughter, Fatima Hadi Sirika, his son-in-law, Hamma Jalal Sule, and Al Buraq Global Investment Limited on amended six-count charges bordering on abuse of office and the alleged misappropriation of over ₦2bn in public funds.
The defendants have denied the allegations.
The 12th prosecution witness, Christopher Odofin, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, told the court that Sirika allegedly awarded a ₦299m consultancy contract to Tianaero Nigeria Limited for the Nigeria Air project and later approved an additional ₦599m contract extension for the same company without following procurement procedures.
Odofin said investigations showed that the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development requested a Certificate of No Objection from the Bureau of Public Procurement after the contract award process had already been initiated.
“Investigation into this case revealed that the Federal Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development wrote a letter to the Bureau of Public Procurement, requesting a Certificate of No Objection to engage consultants in respect of the aforementioned contracts,” the witness said.
He told the court that the ministry’s request to the BPP was dated March 7, 2022, while the bureau’s response was dated April 6, 2022 and officially received by the ministry on April 7, 2022.
However, according to him, the contract award letter to Tianaero Nigeria Limited had already been issued on April 4, 2022, before the ministry received the BPP’s approval.
“Response to this request from the BPP is dated 6th 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, my lord, is dated 4th April 2022.
“That is to say, my lord, that before the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development received a response from BPP, the contract award letter had already gone out to Tianaero Limited,” Odofin said.
The witness further alleged that the BPP was not informed about the second contract awarded to the company.
Odofin identified Tianaero Nigeria Limited as a company owned by a German national, Gabriel Tilmann, whom he described as a close friend and associate of the former minister.
He also told the court that the contracts were fully paid despite the fact that Nigeria Air was never successfully established.
According to him, the ₦299m consultancy contract was paid in four tranches between May 1 and July 22, 2022 into the company’s Access Bank account.
He added that the ₦599m contract extension was paid in two instalments between October and December 2022 into the company’s Guaranty Trust Bank account.
The EFCC witness also questioned the experience and capacity of the company at the time it secured the contracts.
“My lord, 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,” he said.
The court was expected to listen to a compact disc said by prosecutors to contain Sirika’s alleged verbal instruction to the permanent secretary of the ministry directing that the contracts be awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited.
However, the recording could not be played due to technical issues and was deferred to the next hearing date.
Justice Oriji adjourned the matter until July 8 and 9, 2026, for continuation of trial.
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