EFCC witness answers questions on work histories of ex-minister Sirika’s daughter, son-in-law

Tuesday’s proceedings in the trial of former Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika focused on the employment records of his daughter and son-in-law, who are co-defendants in contract corruption and gratification charges the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought against them.

During the hearing before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja, defence lawyers for Fatima Sirika and her husband, Jalal Hamma, confronted a prosecution witness with questions about the couple’s employment to show that they maintained a clean record at their workplaces despite facing charges.

The couple work at separate federal government-owned oil sector organisations. While Ms Sirika works at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, her husband, Mr Hamma works at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

Fielding questions under cross-examination from the couple’s defence lawyers, Christopher Odofin, an EFCC detective testifying as the 16th prosecution witness, said he was not aware of any pending complaints against them at their workplaces.

Apart from seeking to show the couple maintained clean records at work, the defence teams also tried to establish that they were not affiliated to the Ministry of Aviation which is at the centre of the contract-related charges brought up in the trial.

EFCC accused Mr Sirika of using his position as the then-aviation minister, between 2015 and 2023, to confer an unfair advantage through a contract award worth N1.5 billion on Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, a company linked to his daughter and her husband. The N1.5 billion contract which the EFCC alleged was corruptly awarded to Al Buraq was the Katsina airport apron extension. Al Baruq is the fourth defendant in the trial.

Also, the anti-graft agency alleged that Fatima and her husband held indirect private interests in the contract, with N1.3 billion allegedly traced to Mr Sirika as proceeds of criminal conduct in the form of gratification.

All defendants pleaded not guilty to all charges, which also include another contract regarding the botched Air Nigeria.

The charges against Fatima and her husband pivots on section 12 of the ICPC Act, which states that any public officer who knowingly acquires or holds directly or indirectly a private interest in any contract, agreement, or investment from the office or department in which they are employed is guilty of an offence.

On Tuesday, Mr Odofin, the 16th prosecution witness, said under cross-examination by Ms Sirika’s lawyer, Efut Okoi, that he was not aware if NNPC Limited’s employees were not public officers.

However, the witness said that while he knew that NNPC has the status of a commercial limited liability company, its staff members are still being paid by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

When Mr Hamma’s lawyer, P. A. Adewuyi, took his turn of cross-examination, the witness said NUPRC, the employer of Mr Sirika’s son-in-law, “is not under the Ministry of Aviation.”

He also said certain exhibits related to the contracts were not signed by Mr Hamma and did not emanate from NUPRC.

Award of contract to Al Buraq Investment

Fielding more questions, Mr Odofing said he knew through investigations that Mr Sirika used his position to award a contract to Al Buraq, even though the then-chairman of the aviation ministry’s Ministerial Tenders Board (MTB), Abel Enitan, never disclosed such to him.

He said he was aware that Mr Enitan is now the head of Civil Service of the Federation.

The response was followed by a question from Mr Adewuyi, asking, “If the contract was illegal, would the government have rescinded it?”

EFCC’s prosecution lawyer Rotimi Jacobs, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), objected to the question, describing it as hypothetical.

Judge Slyvanus Oriji sustained Mr Jacobs’ objection, defence lawyer Mr Adewuyi, put it to the witness that the fact that the contract was not rescinded meant that it was not illegal. But the witness replied, “I cannot say.”

Asked if knew that on 17 March 2025, the Ministry of Aviation withdrew the old contract and re-awarded it to the same Al Buraq, the witness said he was not aware of such development.

Thereafter, Al Baruq’s lawyer, M.J. Numa, a SAN lawyer to Al Buraq, sought an adjournment to review previous questions asked by the other defence teams.

The judge granted the request and adjourned the case until 28 October.

Al Buraq and the couple’s relation to the case

The employment status of Fatima and Mr Hamma had been a subject of the testimonies of two previous prosecution witnesses.

On 26 June 2025, Gabriel Adagba, a former head of Human Resources at the NUPRC, appeared as the 10th prosecution witness, and Abidoye Babatunde, the Deputy Manager of Policy Compliance and Accountability at NNPC Limited, took the stand as the 11th prosecution witness, to discuss the couple’s employment records.

Mr Adagba told the court that Mr Hamma was employed as a regulatory officer 1 on 3 February 2023 with NUPRC. He noted that a background check was conducted on his previous employment history.

Under cross-examination by the first and fourth defendant’s lawyer, M.J Numa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Adagba disclosed that he was not privy to the procedure of Mr Hamma’s recruitment or aware if he filled in a Code of Conduct Bureau Form because he was not the head of HR before Mr Hamma’s employment.

The witness also told the court he did not know about the NUPRC awarding contract to Al Buraq Global Investment Limited, the fourth defendant.

The 11th prosecution witness, Mr Babatunde, the NNPC official, later took his turn in the witness box to testify about Fatima Sirika’s employment.

He tendered documents admitted by the court as exhibits, including Fatima’s provisional offer of employment and confirmation of employment. The judge marked the documents Exhibit 27.

Regarding the alleged corrupt contract awards, Mr Odofin testified in July 2025, that Mr Sirika allegedly split the contract for terminal building and apron expansion at the Umaru Musa Yar’adua Airport, Katsina, Katsina State, to bypass regulatory oversight and scrutiny in favour of family-linked companies.

According to the witness, Mr Sirika split the contract into two, awarding the terminal building to Enginos, a company belonging to his brother Hamad Sirika, and the apron expansion to Al Buraq Global Investment Limited.

The detective testified that the contract splitting helped Mr Sirika evade the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in the contract approval process. He testified that the couple received payment for the contract.