A former Nigerian Minister of Aviation and Aerospace during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Hadi Abubakar Sirika, has reportedly acquired for himself a private jet with registration number “5N-ARA amidst revelations that he scammed President Buhari and Nigerians to the tune of N85 billion from the fraudulent national carrier, Nigeria Air, which never existed ab initio.
The allegation was contained in a post made by Mr. David Hundeyin, an investigative journalist and founder of West Africa Weekly magazine, on “X” (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.
It could be recalled that News Band, on June 3, 2023, reported concrete evidence showing that Nigeria Air, a purported national carrier, never existed.
The report stated that instead, Sirika scammed Buhari in particular, and Nigerians in general to the tune of N85 billion.
In the report, Hundeyin accused the Buhari’s Aviation Minister of giving Nigeria the impression that he put together something called “Nigeria Air” but existed only on Sirika’s imagination.
To cover his tracks, Sirika chattered an Ethiopian Airline aircraft, emblazoned “NIGERIA AIR” on it and flew it down to Nigeria to hoodwink unsuspecting Nigerians.
See the picture below:
David Hundeyin, however, revealed that Sirika was still at Stage 1 of 5 in obtaining the airline’s Air Operator Certificates (AOC) by the time he left office.
“Nigeria Air never existed. An airline without an AOC is like a bank without a CBN licence. Completely hypothetical.
“N85 billion Naira just went up in smoke, and only Hadi Sirika can say where,” Hundeyin had written.
In the latest post on his “X” handle, @DavidHundeyin, the publisher of West Africa Weekly magazine alleged that Sirika bought himself a Bombardier Challenger jet to shuttle between Katsina and Abuja after transferring Aviation Ministry landed assets on Ikeja Airport Road worth billions of Naira to himself.
He posted:
“Also transferred billions of naira worth of landed assets on Ikeja Airport Road belonging to the Ministry of Aviation to himself and bought himself a Bombardier Challenger jet to shuttle between Katsina and Abuja. @hadisirika”
Furthermore, see a screenshot of the flight history of the Bombardier Challenger jet below:
