Christopher Adekunle Odofin, the twelfth prosecution witness (PW12) in the trial of former aviation minister Hadi Abubakar Sirika, on Tuesday told the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, that the ex-minister abused his office by splitting a federal contract and awarding portions to companies owned by his immediate family members.
Testifying before Justice Sylvanus Oriji, Odofin, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said Sirika, who served as aviation minister from November 11, 2016, to May 29, 2023, manipulated a single contract for the Terminal Building and Apron Expansion into two.
He said the ex-minister awarded N1.3 billion to Enginos Nigeria Ltd, owned by his brother Hamad Sirika, and N1.4 billion to Al Buraq Global Investment Ltd, owned by his daughter and son-in-law.
He said by splitting the project and keeping each contract below the threshold requiring approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and Federal Executive Council (FEC), Sirika allegedly bypassed due process.
He stated that both contracts were awarded on the same day, August 18, 2022.
Sirika is standing trial alongside his daughter Fatima Hadi Sirika, son-in-law Hamma Jalal Sule, and their company, Al Buraq Global Investment Ltd, on a six-count amended charge of abuse of office and laundering N2.7 billion.
Odofin said investigations showed Fatima held 500,000 of the company’s one million shares and served as company secretary until February 2024, after EFCC launched its probe. She is still a staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
Her husband, Hamma Jalal Sule, the third defendant, also owned the remaining 500,000 shares. He worked with the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Authority until 2023 before moving to the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, where he is currently employed.
“The two are public servants who incorporated and owned Al Buraq while using it to secure contracts from the ministry led by their father and father-in-law,” the EFCC investigator said.
He revealed that 100 percent of the N1.3 billion contract sum for the Apron Expansion was paid upfront into Al Buraq’s Zenith Bank account.
He added that of that amount, N182 million was traced to the personal account of Hamma Sule, and N110 million to his fixed deposit account.
According to him, another N7.4 million was paid into Fatima’s Jaiz Bank account, and N8.2 million into her husband’s Access Bank salary account.
Additionally, N500 million was paid to Trimak Engineering Services Ltd but was used for unrelated contracts, while over N549 million remains in Al Buraq’s account, now under EFCC freeze.
Despite the full payment, Odofin confirmed that “nothing has been done” on the Apron Expansion project.
The EFCC also presented extra-judicial statements from the second and third defendants, which were obtained in the presence of their lawyer, Suleiman Usman Kuku.
However, defence counsel M.A. Magaji (SAN) and Sanusi Musa (SAN) objected to their admissibility, claiming the statements were not made voluntarily under Sections 15(4) and 17(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
The court, in response, ordered a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of the statements and adjourned the matter to October 27, 28, and 29, 2025.
