A prosecution witness on Tuesday told the FCT High Court in Abuja how former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, allegedly split an airport contract to evade regulatory scrutiny and channel it to companies linked to his family.
NAIJAONPOINT , Adekunle Odofin, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), testified that the contract splitting was aimed at bypassing the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) during the approval process.
Explaining the controversial deals, Odofin told the court that the former minister ensured the selected companies were paid 100 percent of the contract sum upfront.
Odofin, who began his testimony as the 12th prosecution witness on Monday, identified the contracts as the terminal building and apron expansion at the Umaru Musa Yar’adua Airport in Katsina, Katsina State.
Hadi Sirika, who served as Aviation Minister from 2015 to 2023, is from Katsina, the same state as former President Muhammadu Buhari, who appointed him.
According to Odofin, Sirika split the project into two separate contracts—one awarded to Enginos Nigeria Limited, owned by his brother Hamad Sirika, and the other to Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, a company in which Sirika’s daughter and her husband hold interests.
“Investigation revealed that the first defendant (Mr Sirika) used his position to divide the contract into two. The first contract – the terminal building – was awarded to Enginos, a company belonging to his brother Hamad Sirika, while the second contract – apron expansion – was awarded to the fourth defendant (Al Buraq Global Investment Limited),” Odofin said.
The EFCC is prosecuting Sirika, alongside his daughter Fatima Sirika, her husband Jalal Hamma, and their firm, Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, on six counts of contract fraud involving ₦2.8 billion.
The commission alleged that the couple unlawfully secured aviation ministry contracts worth over ₦1 billion while Sirika was still the minister.
Sirika is also facing charges of abuse of office for allegedly awarding contracts to a company linked to his daughter and son-in-law.
The charges include claims that Sirika used his office to confer unfair advantage on Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, particularly a ₦1.5 billion contract for the apron extension at Katsina Airport.
The EFCC further alleged that Fatima and her husband had indirect private interests in the contract, with ₦1.3 billion traced to Sirika as alleged proceeds of criminal conduct, categorized as gratification.
The commission said the offence violates Section 12 of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act.
All defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Odofin explained that the contract splitting was done to divide the contract into amounts small enough to stay within the minister’s approval threshold, thereby bypassing higher regulatory approvals required by law.
He also pointed out that it was highly irregular and potentially criminal for the companies to receive 100 percent of the contract sum upfront, instead of the standard phased payments tied to stages of project completion.
Offering more context, Musa Odiniyan, the fifth prosecution witness and a retired director in the Procurement Department of the Aviation Ministry, previously testified in January that the upfront payments were justified under the claim that the project needed to be completed before former President Buhari left office.
Odiniyan also testified that Al Buraq was not qualified and would not have won the contract under a proper competitive bidding process.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Odofin told the court that ₦182 million from the contract was paid into Jalal Hamma’s Zenith Bank account, with ₦110 million of that sum moved into a fixed deposit.
He also revealed that ₦7.4 million was transferred to Fatima Sirika’s Jaiz Bank account, while another ₦8.2 million—split into ₦5.5 million and ₦2.7 million—was transferred into Hamma’s salary account at Access Bank.
Additionally, Odofin said ₦500 million was paid to Trimark Engineering Services Limited, a firm not involved in the apron expansion project. Instead, the money was diverted to execute contracts Trimark had with other government agencies.
He further disclosed that ₦549 million, plus some fractions, remains in Al Buraq’s account, with the contract still unexecuted.
EFCC’s lead counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), attempted to tender statements made by Fatima and Hamma during their interrogation as evidence.
However, the defence objected, arguing the statements were confessional and obtained under duress.
Trial judge Sylvannus Oriji ruled that it was premature to decide on the admissibility of the statements and ordered a trial-within-trial to determine whether the statements were made voluntarily.
The case was adjourned to 27, 28, and 29 October for further proceedings.