Ex-Minister warded contract to son-in-law’s ‘unqualified’ company, witness tells court
A witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has told a federal capital territory (FCT) high court in Abuja that Hadi Sirika, a former aviation minister, awarded contracts to a company linked to Jalal Sule Hamma, his son-in-law.
The anti-graft commission is prosecuting Sirika alongside his daughter, Fatima, and son-in-law, Hamma, on a six-count amended charge bordering on contract fraud to the tune of N2,825,032,220.97.
The prosecution alleged, among other things, that Sirika used his “position to confer an undue 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″.
Testifying under cross-examination at the court session on Monday, Musa Odiniyan, a retired director in the procurement department of the ministry of aviation, said the company could not have qualified for the bidding process or the contract award if open and competitive bidding had been done.
“We use some criteria for determining the award of contracts for companies. I still maintain that if it was an open competitive bidding, the company, Al Buraq, may not have qualified,” he stated.
The witness also told the court that Sirika’s son-in-law’s firm was paid a 100 percent fee for the project with the belief that it would be commissioned before the immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari, finished his term in 2023.
“The time of issuing the contract letter to the company (Al Buraq) was at the twilight of the Buhari administration. That was why the contract has a period of six months,” he said.
“The reason for the prompt payment (for the contract) was for it to be completed and inaugurated before the exit of the Buhari administration and not for the purpose of variation.”
The judge adjourned the matter till March 10, 2025, for continuation of the cross-examination.
