The Concerned Northern Forum has called for the arrest and prosecution of the immediate-past Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, over his alleged complicity in the Nigeria Air fraud.
The call was coming after the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation’s description of Nigeria Air as a fraud. The committee also charged the Federal Government to suspend the airline.
The PUNCH reported that the Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Dayo Olumide, had disclosed that the purported Nigeria Air’s aircraft that landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on May 26, 2023, was a chartered one from Ethiopia Airlines.
Olumide made this known while answering questions from senators on Monday.
The northern group, in a statement on Thursday by its chairman, Ali Muhammad, called for the arrest and prosecution of the ex-aviation minister by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
“The former minister has acted with so much impunity on several occasions as if the law cannot get to him. He had continuously operated as a tyrant minister, refusing to listen to no one, aviation experts, and airline operators of Nigeria who advised against this project.
“This national embarrassment and waste of resources incurred on the country would have been averted if he had listened to advice, yet Sirika went ahead knowing it was a charade, to deceive Nigerians.
“This is an alleged fraud, very much within the reach of the EFCC and the anti-graft agency should, as a matter of national urgency, immediately arrest and investigate Sirika for allegedly committing financial and other related crimes, as he has been deceiving Nigerians for eight years.’’
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