by Our Correspondence,
The trial of former Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika took a dramatic turn this week as a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja listened to a voice recording the prosecution says captures the former minister giving verbal instructions on a contract award.
Justice Sylvanus Chinedu Oriji presided over the proceedings, during which the 12th prosecution witness, Christopher Odofin, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), confirmed that the voice in the recording belonged to Sirika.
Odofin told the court the recording captured a conversation between Sirika and Enitan Abel, the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Aviation, and that it was sent as a voice note from Sirika, who was in Spain at the time, to Abel.
In the recording, the voice attributed to Sirika can be heard telling Abel: “Do the right thing. Generate the necessary contract and give it to his company. In that way, we can be paying for his services.”
The contract in question is a consultancy services deal tied to the failed Nigeria Air national carrier project, which the outgoing administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled just days before handover in May 2023, a project later found to be a ruse.
Odofin told the court that the company mentioned in the recording was Tianaero Nigeria Limited (TNL), which he said belonged to Gabriel Tilman, described in court as almost 70 years old and as a close friend of Sirika.
The witness said the recording captured Sirika describing Tilman as a trained captain and top manager who had helped start up several airlines around the world, including Qatar Airways, and who he called experienced and resourceful. Sirika, according to the recording, also asked the listener not to be judgmental about Tilman.
The recording further disclosed that Sirika planned to attach someone to guide Tilman on how consultancy work is done in Nigeria, saying he would use a family member, friend, younger brother or cousin for the task. Odofin testified that Sirika did in fact attach his cousin, identified as Yasir, to Tilman to guide him in executing the contract, a step the witness said was meant to prevent overpricing.
Odofin also said the recording captured Sirika describing Tilman as “comfortable” within the ministry because of his relationship with the former minister, and stated that Tilman was not well liked by officials there because he tended to impose himself on people.
During the proceedings, defence lawyers representing some of the co-defendants objected to aspects of the witness’s testimony, describing certain lines of questioning as speculative and raising concern about the case being tried in the media. Justice Oriji urged the defence to raise such objections during cross-examination and told them not to be preoccupied with media coverage but to carry out their duties with a clear conscience.
The court also admitted into evidence a compact disc containing the recording as well as a flash drive, marked as exhibits, with defence lawyers reserving formal objections to their admissibility until final addresses. Separately, the court admitted an order freezing bank accounts belonging to two of the defendants, Hamma Jalal Sule and Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, both held with Zenith Bank.
Defence presses on procurement documents
Under cross-examination by Sirika’s lawyer, Kanu Agabi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former Attorney General of the Federation, Odofin was taken through Exhibit 9, a letter from Permanent Secretary Enitan Abel to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) requesting a waiver to adopt the selective tendering method for critical capital projects in the ministry, and Exhibit 11, the BPP’s response to that request.
The witness confirmed that both documents were signed by Abel and that neither made any direct reference to Sirika. Asked whether anything in the documents suggested Sirika had induced the Permanent Secretary to make the request, Odofin said there was nothing in the documents suggesting that.
Agabi also asked whether the BPP’s response implicated Sirika in any way. Odofin said he did not understand what was meant by “implication,” prompting Agabi to tell him to answer according to his own understanding.
The witness maintained he did not understand the question, but confirmed that the response referred to the ministry generally rather than to Sirika personally, and agreed that nothing in the BPP’s response suggested Abel had done anything wrong.
When Agabi pressed on why Abel was not charged alongside Sirika if the procurement process was considered flawed, Odofin said deciding who to prosecute was outside his responsibilities as an investigator, adding, “That is not true, it is not my duty to charge.” He gave the same response when asked why Abel was not standing trial.
Agabi also directed the witness to a summary of the decision of the 23rd Ministerial Tenders Board, held in August 2022. Odofin maintained that the document had been approved by Sirika, and when asked whether Sirika’s approval fell within his jurisdiction as minister, the witness answered yes.
Odofin further testified that Tianaero Nigeria Limited had been incorporated barely a year before it was awarded two contracts, a point he described as significant to the case against Sirika and his co-defendants. He also told the court that payment for the consultancy contract was made to TNL in full.
Background to the case
The EFCC is prosecuting Sirika on an amended six count charge bordering on contract fraud, alongside his daughter, Fatima Sirika, her husband, Hamma Jalal Sule, and the couple’s company, Al Buraq Global Investment Limited.
The agency alleges the contracts in question were worth N2.8 billion and accuses Sirika of using his office to confer an unfair advantage on TNL for the Nigeria Air project.
All the defendants have denied the allegations. They have consistently maintained that the national carrier initiative predated Sirika’s appointment as Aviation Minister, arguing it originated from a presidential committee set up before ministers were appointed, and that the project was later run under Nigeria’s Public Private Partnership framework, with procurement supervised by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and other statutory agencies rather than by the minister himself.
The defence did not dispute that the voice in the recording was Sirika’s, though lawyers for some of the co-defendants reserved their objections to the admissibility of the recording and related exhibits for their final written addresses.
Justice Oriji adjourned the matter for continuation of cross-examination of the 12th prosecution witness.