Court Told How Ex-Aviation Minister Sirika Allegedly Awarded Multibillion-Naira Contracts to Family Members to Bypass Procurement Laws

A key witness presented by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has testified before the Federal High Court in Abuja, detailing how former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, allegedly manipulated contract procedures to benefit companies linked to his immediate family.

Adekunle Odofin, a lead investigator with the EFCC, told the court that Sirika intentionally split a major construction contract at the Umaru Musa Yar’adua Airport in Katsina State into two separate projects.

This, Odofin stated, was done to sidestep regulatory approvals from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

According to Odofin, the contract for the airport terminal building was awarded to Enginos Nigeria Limited, a company owned by Sirika’s brother, Hamad Sirika.

The second part, concerning apron expansion, went to Al Buraq Global Investment Limited a firm allegedly controlled by Sirika’s daughter, Fatima Sirika, and her husband, Jalal Hamma.

Sirika, who served under President Muhammadu Buhari from 2015 to 2023, is currently facing six counts of contract fraud totalling ₦2.8 billion. He is being tried alongside his daughter, son-in-law, and their company, Al Buraq.

The EFCC claims that Al Buraq secured the ₦1.5 billion contract despite lacking the qualifications required. Investigators also allege that ₦1.3 billion from the awarded funds was traced back to the former minister as suspected proceeds of crime.

Payments were made in full to the contractors before any work commenced, breaching public procurement laws that demand payment based on progress and milestones.

Odofin revealed specific financial trails including:

• ₦182 million paid into Hamma’s Zenith Bank account, with ₦110 million placed in fixed deposit.
• ₦7.4 million sent to Fatima’s Jaiz Bank account.
• ₦8.2 million deposited into Hamma’s salary account at Access Bank.
• ₦500 million diverted to Trimark Engineering Services, a firm unrelated to the airport project.

He noted that ₦549 million remains unspent in Al Buraq’s account while the project remains incomplete.

The EFCC also tendered statements from Fatima and Hamma as evidence. However, the defence contested their admissibility, claiming they were obtained under duress. Judge Sylvanus Oriji subsequently ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of the confessions and adjourned the case to October 27–29.

In earlier testimony, Musa Odiniyan, a retired procurement director at the Ministry of Aviation, revealed that contract payments were hastened to ensure completion before President Buhari’s exit from office. Odiniyan admitted that under standard procedures, Al Buraq would not have met the bidding criteria.

The EFCC presented additional evidence, including a document titled “Remaining 2021 Projects” allegedly recovered from the car of a government aide, Azubuike Okorie. The note was said to contain a handwritten plan detailing how the contracts were to be split between the two family-linked firms. Forensic analysis confirmed the handwriting belonged to Sirika.

Furthermore, Saratu Chinade, the mother-in-law of Jalal Hamma, was listed as a signatory on Al Buraq’s bank account, raising further red flags.

At the time the contracts were awarded, both Fatima and Hamma were public servants at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), respectively a situation EFCC says amounts to a serious conflict of interest.

In a separate but related trial, Sirika and his brother are also facing allegations involving ₦19.4 billion in contract fraud and abuse of office.