Hadi Sirika, Nigeria's former aviation minister, awarded a N299 million contract to a company owned by his friend two days before the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) gave the green light. Then he extended it to over N599 million — again without following the rules.

Christopher Odofin, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), told the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Wednesday that Sirika violated due process in the contract award to Tanaero Nigeria Limited (TNL), a company belonging to Gabriel Tilmann.

The contract was for consultancy services for the failed Nigeria Air project — a national carrier dream that never took off.

Odofin, the EFCC's 12th prosecution witness, said the Ministry of Aviation and Aerospace Development wrote to the BPP on 7 March 2022, requesting a Certificate of No Objection to engage consultants. The BPP responded on 6 April 2022, and the ministry officially received it on 7 April 2022.

But the contract award letter to TNL was dated 4 April 2022 — two days before the BPP even replied.

"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.

A second contract letter was dated 6 April 2022. This time, the BPP was completely ignored.

The witness also revealed that TNL was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission on 29 March 2021 — barely a year before the contracts were awarded.

On Sirika's instructions, the first contract was extended on 17 October 2022, pushing the total value above N599 million. Odofin said this extension also violated due process.

The EFCC is prosecuting Sirika alongside his daughter, Fatima Sirika, her husband Jalal Hamma, and their company Al Buraq Global Investment. They face six counts of contract fraud involving N2.8 billion.

All defendants have denied the allegations.

"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."

Odofin said EFCC investigators analysed a voice note attributed to Sirika insisting the contract must go to TNL. The voice note was sent to the permanent secretary, Enitan Muyiwa Abel, while Sirika was in Spain.

The compact disc containing the voice note was presented in court but couldn't be played due to technical issues. Trial judge Slyvanus Oriji adjourned the matter until 8 July.

A week earlier, Odofin had told the court that Sirika allegedly disguised an Ethiopian Airlines aircraft as Nigeria's national carrier during the unveiling of Nigeria Air in May 2023. The aircraft was loaned to Nigeria for just three days — from 27 to 29 May 2023 — and flown back to Ethiopia immediately after the ceremony.

Sirika had promised the airline would commence operations before he left office. He delivered on that promise just three days before his departure, but the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority later rejected Nigeria Air's application for certification, citing inadequate preparation.

The former minister had disclosed in 2022 that Ethiopian Airlines emerged as a core investor with a 49 per cent shareholding in Nigeria Air. Local airline operators opposed the deal, arguing they could manage the national carrier better than a foreign airline.