WITNESS TELLS COURT HOW HADI SIRIKA AWARDED 2.7BILLUON NAIRA AVIATION CONTRACTS TO FAMILY MEMBERS

 

By Sodeeq Atanda

 

Christopher Adekunle Odofin, an investigator presented as a witness in a money laundering case filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against former aviation minister Hadi Sirika, has told the FCT High Court in Maitama how he awarded contracts worth N2.7 billion to companies controlled by his family members in violation of federal laws.

 

Sirika, being the first defendant, is on trial alongside his daughter Hadi Sirika Fatima, son-in-law Hamma Jalal Sule and Al Buraq Global Investment Limited on amended six-count-charge predicated on abuse of office and money laundering amounting to N2.7 billion.

 

Giving a testimony under oath before Justice S. C. Oriji, the witness told the court how Sirika broke down a terminal project, designated as a single item in Serial No 13 shown in a June 2022 response to the aviation ministry by the Bureau of Public Procurement, into pieces for the purpose of satisfying his cronies.

“The first defendant, he disclosed, used his influence to split the contract into two and awarded a part to Enginos Nigeria Limited at N1.3 billion and the other part to Al Buraq Global investment Ltd at N1.4 billion. By awarding the split contract at N1.3 billion and N1.4 billion, respectively, he was said to have avoided reverting to the BPP and Federal Executive Council, FEC for their approvals because both contract figures fall within the threshold of the contract sums he can approve as minister,” the EFCC posted on X.

 

“Further investigations, the witness said, showed that Enginos Nigeria Ltd, which the defendant awarded the Terminal Building is owned by his younger brother, Hamad Sirika, while Al Buraq Global Investment Ltd, the fourth defendant he awarded the Apron Expansion, is owned by his daughter and son-in-law. Both contracts were awarded on the same day, August 18, 2022.

 

“Further in his testimony, the witness revealed that the second defendant, Fatima Hadi Sirika upon the incorporation of Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, the fourth defendant on June 7, 2021, became the company’s the secretary till February 2024, when she stepped aside following the commencement of criminal investigations by the EFCC. Also, the second defendant at the point of incorporation of the fourth defendant, the witness said, owned 500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand) out of the 1,000,000 (One Million) shares of the company, until February 2024 and remains a person of significant control of the fourth defendant as signatory to its account, domiciled in Guaranty Trust Bank.”

 

Fatima, the former minister’s daughter, remained in the employ of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) while Sule, her husband and a federal worker, remained, in large part, one of the owners of the fourth defendant company.

 

“In all of these, the second defendant, he said, remained a public servant till date, working in Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, owned solely by the federal government, having been engaged in 2020. The witness also disclosed that Hamma Jalal Sule, the third defendant at the point of incorporation of the fourth defendant on June 17, 202, owned 500,000 shares of the company, till February 2024 with the commencement of the criminal investigation by the EFCC and remains a person of significant control as signatory to its account, domiciled in Zenith Bank,” the agency added.

 

“The second and third defendants, he said got married on December 25, 2020 in Katsina State and that the third defendant started his public service career in 2021 in Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority, NNRA, but resigned in 2023 and switched over to Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC in the same year and works in NUPRC till date.

 

“While the two are public servants, they incorporated, owned the fourth defendant and also used the fourth defendant to get government’s contracts in the Federal Ministry of Aviation where the second defendant’s father and the third defendant’s father in-law was the Minister,” the witness’ words, quoted in the post, read.

 

Odofin added that upon the contract award to Al Buraq Global Investment Limited on November 14, 2022, the ministry, with Sirika’s sole approval, released N1.3 billion with some fractions after tax to the company’s Zenith Bank, representing 100% payment of the contract sum.

 

The investigator also disclosed that N182 million was later transferred at separate dates from that money Sule’s personal account. For example, N110 million was sent to a fixed deposit account belonging to him.

 

The daughter also benefitted from the funds.

 

He said that “upon payment of N1.3 billion, the sum of N7.4 million was transferred to the personal account of the second defendant in Jaiz Bank; N8.2 million was transferred to the salary account of the third defendant in Access Bank Plc, and N500 million was transferred to Trimak Engineering Services Ltd and was never utilised for the contract” but was expended on another contract awarded to Trimak Engineering Services Ltd from other agencies of the government.

 

According to Odofin, out of the N1.3 billion paid, over N549 million is still in the company’s account, which has an interim injunction placed on it.

“The witness further revealed that there were other transfers to individuals and companies unconnected to the execution of the Apron Expansion contract. Asked about the status of the contract, the witness said, ‘nothing has been done.’ The extra-judicial statements of the second and third defendants to the EFCC, the witness disclosed, were taken in the presence of their lawyer, Suleiman Usman Kuku, a lawyer in the office of the second defendant,” said the federal prosecutor.

 

“Objections from counsel to second and third defendant, M.A. Magaji, SAN and Sanusi Musa, SAN, respectively failed to stop the admission of the extra-judicial statements of the defendants in court, for which they had to claim that the statements were not given voluntarily in accordance with Sections 15(4) and 17(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act ACJA.”

 

The court adjourned the case until October 27, 28 and 29 for a trial-within-trial to examine whether the process of obtaining the evidence complied with Sections 15 (4) and 17 (2) of the ACJA.