Nigeria Air: Court permits Hadi Sirika to travel abroad with sick mother amid fraud case.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja on Thursday permitted a former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, to travel abroad with his sick mother for medical reasons.
Justice Sylvanus Oriji of the FCT High Court granted the ex-ministers motion in a ruling delivered on Thursday. Sirika was granted bail of N100 million on May 9, 2024, in a fraud-related case instituted against him and others by the Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Bail was also granted to his daughter, Fatima & son-in-law, Jalal Hamma, in the same sum. The defendants were arraigned before Justice Sylvanus Oriji of the FCT High Court for fraudulent practices associated with the Nigeria Air project & others.
During their arraignment, the court’s registrar read out the prosecution’s amended charges against Sirika, his daughter Fatima & his son-in-law Jalal Hamma.
Al Buraq Investment Ltd, a company, was listed as a co-defendant.
One of the charges reads: “That you, HADI ABUBAKAR SIRIKA, while being the Minister of Aviation between April 2022 and March 2023, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did use your position to confer unfair advantage upon TIANAERO NIGERIA LIMITED, whose alter ego, PROF. GABRIEL TILMANN, is your associate, by influencing the award of the consultancy contract for the Nigeria Air Start-up and the extension of the same for the sum of N1,326,731,470.97 (One Billion, Three Hundred and Twenty-Six Million, Seven Hundred and Thirty-One Thousand, Four Hundred and Seventy Naira, Ninety-Seven Kobo Only), thereby committing an offence contrary to Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and punishable under the same section.”
