A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja, yesterday heard how former Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika approved contracts to a company, Al Buraq Global Investment Limited in which his daughter, Fatima, and son-in-law, Jalal Sule Hamma, have interests.
A former Director of Procurement in the ministry, Musa Odiniyan, said this while testifying as the fifth prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Sirika, Fatima, Jalal, and Al Buraq Global on a six-count charge bordering on corrupt practices.
In the charge, the prosecution alleged, among others, that Sirika used his “position to confer unfair advantage upon Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, whose alter ego, Fatima Hadi Sirika and Jalal Sule Hamma, are your daughter and son-in-law, respectively, by using your position to influence the award to them, the contract for the Apron Extension at Katsina Airport for the sum of N1,498,300,750”.
Fatima is said to be a staff member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL), while Jalal Sule Hamma is described as an employee of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
During his cross-examination yesterday by Sirika’s lawyer, Michael Numa (SAN), Odiniyan insisted that for a contract to be executed, the minister must have approved it.
When asked about the role of the minister in the award of contracts, the witness said the former minister gave the final approval before the implementation of the contracts approved by the Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB).
Odiniyan, who was the Secretary of the MTB of the Aviation Ministry when the contracts in issue were awarded, said: “The role of the minister includes that before the award of a contract, the minister must approve before you issue the letter of award.
“For the letter of award to be issued, it was the minister that did the final approval.
“There were some projects that the minister did not approve and letters of award were not issued, and they were not implemented. The minister gave the final approval of the award of contracts. The ones he did not approve, we did not proceed to issue letters of award (for them) and the projects were not executed.
“Without approval, you cannot execute a contract. There cannot be implementation without approval. The minister actually approved for implementation of the MTB”.
Odiniyan, who said he retired from the Aviation Ministry about two years ago, told the court that he could not remember offhand all that transpired over the contracts, when Numa pressed him to give the details.
He gave details about the process that led to the award of the contract in the civil service and under the Public Procurement Act.
When asked why he issued letters of award to the contractors for the projects in issue, the witness said as the Secretary of the MTB, his issuance of the letters of award was pursuant to the approval of the minister.
In the course of the proceedings, Numa tendered some statements made to the EFCC by the witness and a record of proceedings in another criminal case involving Sirika and his brother, Ahmad Sirika, before Justice Suleiman Belgore (also of the High Court of the FCT) in his (Numa’s) effort to contradict the witness on his evidence on Sirika’s role the award of the contracts in question.
At a point, Justice Sylvanus Oriji adjourned further proceedings till 27 January.
Sirika, Fatima, and Hamma are accused of committing the following offences:
• Alleged consultancy contract fraud for Nigerian Air (N1,326,731,670.97)
• Alleged corruption related to the contract for Apron Extension at Katsina Airport (N1,498,300,750.00 ); and
• Alleged gratification (N1,310,142,051.16)
The EFCC alleged that the suspects committed the fraudulent acts between April 2022 and March 2023.
The commission averred that all the offences are contrary to sections 12 and 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, to Section 17 (b) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004 and Section 315 of the Penal Code Act, Cap 532 Acts of the Federal Capital Territory and punishable under the same sections.
One of the counts in the charge reads: “That you, Hadi Abubakar Sirika, while being the Minister of Aviation between April 2022 and March 2023, in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did use your position to confer unfair advantage upon Tianaero Nigeria Limited, whose alter ego, Prof. Gabriel Tilmann, is your associate by using your position to influence the award to them, the consultancy contract for the Nigerian Air Start-up and extension of same for the sum of N1,326,731,670.97 and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 and punishable under the same section.
