By Ken Afor
The Tuesday, May 14, 2024, arraignment of former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, and his brother, Ahmad Sirika, regarding a case involving alleged contract fraud ₦19.4 billion, was postponed as the defendants were not present in court.
It was gathered that the suspects, who were supposed to appear before the presiding judge, Justice Suleiman Belgore, at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Garki, in Abuja, were absent and out of the city.
Mr Oluwaleke Atolagbe, the counsel for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), notified Justice Belgore, that the ex-minister and his brother had not been served with the charges in the case.
Consequently, he requested an adjournment, which was duly granted by the judge, who scheduled the arraignment for Thursday, May 23.
The anti-graft agency is prosecuting Sirika and his brother on eight counts of financial fraud totaling ₦19.4 billion.
These charges are related to various aviation ministry contracts allegedly awarded by Sirika to Enginos Nigeria Limited, a company owned by his younger brother, Abubakar.
The New Diplomat recalls that Sirika, along with his daughter, Fatima and son-in-law, was arraigned last Thursday, May 9, before Justice Sylvanus Oriji, on charges related to an alleged ₦2.7 billion fraud.
They pleaded not guilty, and are currently on bail.
Prior to his ministerial appointment under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration between 2019 and 2023, Sirika served as a member of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007.
He later became a Senator, representing Katsina North senatorial district on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), which later merged with three other legacy parties: Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and a faction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), to form All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2013.
The APC was joined in 2014 by New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), a splinter group of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
With that combination, the APC was able to wrest power in the 2015 General Election, becoming the first political party in Nigeria to defeat a ruling party, and install its candidate, then retired Gen. Buhari, as President on May 29, 1999.
