New testimony has put fresh scrutiny on one of the most talked-about episodes in recent Nigerian aviation, the unveiling of a national carrier that critics long suspected was more show than substance. At the ongoing trial of former aviation minister Hadi Sirika and three others, a prosecution witness told the court that the aircraft presented as a proposed Nigeria Air was, in fact, a plane belonging to Ethiopian Airlines.
The claim came from the 12th prosecution witness, an investigator with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission named Christopher Odofin. Testifying before the court, he laid out the commission's account of how the aircraft came to be shown to the public, framing it as part of the case the EFCC is building against the former minister and his co-defendants over the handling of the project.
According to the testimony, the timing was significant. The aircraft was presented as a proposed Nigeria Air shortly before the end of the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, a period when the long-promised national carrier was expected to finally take shape. Instead, the witness described an arrangement that fell well short of launching a genuine airline.
The specifics offered to the court were precise. The plane was displayed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on May 27, 2023, and, according to the investigator, it had been chartered from Ethiopian Airlines solely for a three-day static display bearing Nigeria Air livery. In that account, the aircraft was dressed up in the new carrier's colours for a brief showcase rather than for any actual operations.
The case extends beyond Sirika himself. He is being tried alongside his daughter, Fatima Sirika, his son-in-law and a company named in the proceedings, drawing several members of the same circle into the courtroom. Together they face an amended six-count charge, signalling that prosecutors have refined the allegations as the case has progressed.
At the heart of the charges are accusations of serious financial wrongdoing. The defendants are accused of abuse of office and of the misappropriation of public funds exceeding two billion naira, a sum that places the matter among the more substantial public-finance cases before the courts. The figures underline why the prosecution has devoted so many witnesses to establishing how the project was run.
The latest account was also relayed publicly by the commission. The EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, set out the substance of the testimony in a statement, reiterating what the investigator had told the court about the chartered aircraft and the static display. With the trial continuing, the proceedings are set to keep testing whether the much-publicised Nigeria Air unveiling amounted to the launch of a national carrier or to something far more limited.