The trial of former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, took another significant turn on Wednesday as an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), told the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja that the former minister neither initiated nor signed the procurement documents relating to the controversial Nigeria Air contract at the centre of the prosecution’s case.

The investigator, Christopher Odofin, who testified as the prosecution’s 12th witness (PW12), made the disclosure during a rigorous cross-examination by Chief Godwin Agabi (SAN), counsel to Sirika, while giving evidence before Justice Sylvanus Chinedu Oriji.

Odofin told the court that the procurement documents submitted to the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in respect of the contract awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited (TNL), a company owned by Gabriel Tilmann, were signed by the then Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Aviation, Abel Enitan.

He further admitted that nothing contained in the documents suggested that Sirika had directed, induced or influenced the Permanent Secretary to seek the BPP’s approval.

The witness was taken through Exhibits 9 and 11—official correspondence exchanged between the Permanent Secretary and the BPP.

Exhibit 9 is a letter written by Enitan requesting the bureau’s approval to award the contracts through selective tendering, while Exhibit 11 is the BPP’s response to that request.

When asked by Agabi whether either of the documents indicated that Sirika induced the Permanent Secretary to make the application, Odofin replied:

“There is nothing suggesting such.”

The EFCC investigator also acknowledged that, as the accounting officer of the ministry, Enitan was the official responsible for acting on the BPP’s response and had merely performed the statutory responsibilities expected of his office.

Despite those concessions, Odofin maintained that the contract ought not to have been awarded to Tianaero Nigeria Limited because, according to him, the company had been registered barely a year before securing the contract.

When pressed on why Enitan was not standing trial alongside Sirika if investigators believed the procurement process was fundamentally flawed, the witness distanced himself from prosecutorial decisions.

He told the court that determining who should be charged was outside his responsibilities as an investigator.

“Charging suspects is not my duty,” he said.

Earlier in the proceedings, prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), tendered a flash drive containing what the EFCC described as a voice recording of Sirika allegedly discussing the award of a contract connected to the Nigeria Air project with the then Permanent Secretary.

In the recording played before the court, the voice identified as Sirika was heard telling Enitan that, as Permanent Secretary, he was in a position to handle the procurement process, while directing him to ensure that the contractor was neither overpaid nor shortchanged.

The voice recording also described the contractor as an experienced aviation professional who had participated in establishing seven airlines worldwide and had served as both a trainee captain and chief pilot.

The court admitted the flash drive in evidence as Exhibit 37B, although the defence reserved its objection to the admissibility of the recording until the stage of final written addresses.

The EFCC is prosecuting Sirika and three others on an amended six-count charge bordering on alleged abuse of office and contract fraud involving Al-Buraq Global Investment Limited, a company the anti-graft agency alleges is linked to the former minister’s daughter.

According to the prosecution, the contracts under investigation were valued at about ₦2.8 billion, and Sirika allegedly used his official position to confer an unfair advantage on Tianaero Nigeria Limited in relation to the Nigeria Air project.

The defendants have pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

They have consistently maintained that the Nigeria Air initiative did not originate with Sirika but was conceived by a presidential committee established by former President Muhammadu Buhari before ministers were appointed.

The defence further argues that the project was implemented under Nigeria’s Public-Private Partnership framework, with procurement processes supervised by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and other statutory agencies, rather than by the minister acting alone.

Sirika is represented by Chief Godwin Agabi (SAN), while Mahmud Magaji (SAN) appears for the second defendant, Fatima Hadi Sirika. Sanusi Musa (SAN) represents the third defendant, Jalal Sule Hamma, while Michael Numa (SAN) appears for the fourth defendant, Al-Buraq Global Investment Limited.

Justice Oriji adjourned proceedings until July 9, 2026, for the continuation of the cross-examination of the prosecution’s 12th witness.