EFCC arrests Hadi Sirika, ex-aviation minister over Nigerian Air scandal
EFCC arrested Hadi Sirika Tuesday over alleged embezzlement of over ₦8 billion linked to the Nigerian Air scandal.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested former Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika as part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering totaling ₦8,069,176,864.00.
Sirika presented himself at the EFCC’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Command on Tuesday, April 23, around 1:00 p.m.
Also Read: National Carrier: Keyamo faults Sirika’s deal with Ethiopian Airlines
Sirika at the moment is being interrogated by EFCC investigators concerning fraudulent contracts he allegedly sanctioned for a company named Engirios Nigeria Limited, owned by his brother, Abubakar Sirika.
Recall in 2023, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo faulted the national carrier deal between Nigeria and Ethiopian Airlines brokered by Hadi Sirika.
Five years after he launched the logo and the name of a new national carrier, the former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, in May 2023, unveiled the Nigeria Air aircraft at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja.
During the ceremony, Sirika who midwifed the project in partnership with the Ethiopia Airline Consortium, described the airline as one of the missing infrastructures in the Nigerian aviation industry.
But five years after the launch, Nigerian Air has remained in limbo as it was reported that the branded aircraft had since returned to Ethiopia after the launch.
