News
Nigeria Air scam: Logo removed after 72 hours, plane returned to Ethiopia – Witness
Details of how Hadi Sirika, former Minister of Aviation, tried to scam Nigerians with a fake launch of Nigeria Air continued to emerge on Wednesday, with a witness telling Justice S. C. Oriji of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, that the setup was plotted with Ethiopian Airline in the know.
Christopher Odofin, the 12th prosecution witness told the court how Sirika allegedly passed off an aircraft belonging to Ethiopian Airlines in fulfillment of the promise to the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
Dele Oyewale, spokesman of the The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in a statement capturing the record of the proceedings on Wednesday, said that the “decoy aircraft, adorned with the livery of the promised Nigeria Air,” found its way on the tarmac of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on May 27, 2023, being three days to the expiration of the tenure of the Buhari government.
He added in a statement that witnessed claimed that the plane was actually flown back to Addis Ababa on the morning of May 29, 2023, being the handover date to the successor government.
Hadi Sirika is facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on amended six-count charges bordering on alleged abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds to the tune of over ₦2 billion, alongside his daughter, Fatima Hadi Sirika, son-in-law, Hamma Jalal Sule, and Al Buraq Global Investment Limited.
The contract for the setting up of Nigeria Air was awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited, belonging to Gabriel Tilmann, a close associate and friend of the former minister. The witness, an investigator with the EFCC, reading from a portion of the contract agreement with Ethiopian Airlines, said: ‘The aircraft will depart from Addis Ababa (ADD) late evening of May 26, 2023, for it to be positioned early morning of May 27, 2023, at the Abuja (ABV) airport.
The aircraft will stay in ABV airport for static display of Nigeria Air livery until May 28, 2023. The aircraft will leave ABV airport early morning on May, 29, 2023. The chartered flight will be operated by the Ethiopian Airline crew in Ethiopian Airline uniform.
The Federal Government of Nigeria and Nigeria Air may put together local models who will be in Nigeria Air uniforms to pose for ceremonial pictures. The models may come to Addis Ababa so they may fly with the chartered flight to ABV.
The statement narrated how the witness told the court that the display of the aircraft in Abuja International Airport was “deliberately planned to coincide with the end of the first defendant’s tenure as Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development on May 29, 2023, and to pass the aircraft off as the actualisation of his promise of the return of Nigeria Air”.
Before adjourning to June 17, the court also heard how after the less than 72 hours display of the aircraft, that the Nigeria Air logo was removed from the aircraft and flown back to Ethiopian Airlines in Addis Ababa.
“The witness further disclosed that the investigating team was also able to ascertain that Ethiopian Airlines entered into a charter arrangement for the static display of the Nigeria Air livery for a duration of just three days, beginning from May 27 to May 29, 2023 based on information and documents received from the airline following a letter from it, dated June 12, 2023, in response to the EFCC’s request for information regarding Nigeria Air, and that though the purpose of the contract was for the establishment of Nigeria Air, the charter agreement with Ethiopian Airlines was entered on May 24, 2023, five days to the expiration of the defendant’s tenure for just a static display of the Nigeria Air logo on an aircraft.
“All the documents tendered in evidence by the prosecution were shown to have been duly signed, authorised, and accompanied by certificates of identification and were not objected to by any of the counsels to the four defendants,” the EFCC said in the statement.
It further stated that among the exhibits was a compact disc containing a voice note from the first defendant, Hadi Sirika, marked Exhibit 37, which the prosecution counsel applied to be played in the court at the next adjourned date.
“Further in his testimony, the witness told the court that though the contract for the start-up of Nigeria Air, which was awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited for over ₦299 million on April 4, 2022, saw a contract extension award to the company on October 17, 2022, to a sum, exceeding ₦599 million on the instructions and directives of the first defendant, based on his relationship with the company’s alter ego.
He said: “The investigating team arrived at this position when the phone of one Enitan Muyiwa Abel, who was a Permanent Secretary in the first defendant’s ministry, was analysed, showing a voice note sent to the Permanent Secretary while the first defendant was in Spain instructing him to ensure that the contract was awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited.’
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
-
News5 days agoBREAKING: Mystery death! *Female student dies a day after arriving Umahi’s home!
-
News5 days agoDon’t jump to conclusion! *Umahi speaks on mysterious death of female students!
-
News3 weeks agoBREAKING: Court sentences Nigerien, two others to death over terrorism
-
News2 weeks agoBREAKING: EX-SSG mowed down by gunmen! *He resisted being kidnapped – driver
-
News4 weeks agoTwo hours after Igboho’s ‘red-eyes’ to ‘Fulani’ leaders, gunmen free kidnap victims!
-
News3 weeks agoAbductors of Oyo teachers panicking, freedom coming for victims soon!
-
News3 weeks agoChicagogate: Nigerians return to court! *Move to stop Tinubu from 2027 polls
-
News12 hours agoBREAKING: Terrorists strikes another school! *Kidnap principal, students, NECO official!