The fraud trial of former Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika resumes tomorrow, June 17, 2026, before Justice Suleiman Belgore of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, with the prosecution set to play a voice recording it contends contains the defendant’s direct instructions to a senior civil servant regarding contract awards.
Sirika is standing trial alongside his daughter, Fatima Sirika; his son-in-law, Hamma Jalal Sule; and their company, Al Buraq Global Investment Limited.
They face a 13-count charge bordering on abuse of office and criminal breach of trust, involving alleged misappropriation of public funds amounting to over N2.8 billion.
The case has recorded several adjournments, interlocutory applications, and rulings, including a decision by the court to admit certain statements as evidence over defence objections.
At the last sitting, the EFCC’s 12th prosecution witness, Christopher Odofin, tendered a compact disc, Exhibit 37, containing a voice note allegedly sent by Sirika from Spain to Enitan Muyiwa Abel, a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Aviation.
In the recording, Sirika is said to have directed Abel to ensure that contracts were awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited, a firm owned by his associate, Gabriel Tilmann.
The court admitted the exhibit without objection from the defence and adjourned to tomorrow for it to be played.
The witness had earlier testified that the Nigeria Air launch of May 2023 was a staged event. According to a charter agreement with Ethiopian Airlines, signed on May 24, 2023, five days before Sirika left office, the aircraft, registration number ET-APL, arrived in Abuja on May 27 and departed on May 29, the day President Bola Tinubu was sworn in.
The agreement stipulated that Ethiopian crew would operate the flight, while local models could be hired to wear Nigeria Air uniforms for ceremonial photographs.
The contract for the Nigeria Air start-up, the witness told the court, had been awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited in April 2022 at N299 million, and was later increased to over N599 million on Sirika’s instruction.
Sirika has maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings. His legal team has consistently challenged the admissibility of certain evidence and questioned the credibility of prosecution witnesses. Under Nigerian law, he is presumed innocent until the court determines otherwise.
The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation had earlier described the Nigeria Air project as “highly opaque, shrouded in secrecy, shoddy and capable of ridiculing and tarnishing the image of Nigeria before the international community.”
Tomorrow’s proceedings are scheduled to begin at 9:00 am.
The trial continues.
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