Sen. Hadi Sirika, the former Minister of Aviation and Aerospace, has exposed the criminal undercurrents that surrounded the Nigeria Air deal, claiming that the former Chairman of the House Committee of Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, allegedly asked for 5% stake of the airline from him.

“He asked me to please indulge him and give him 5% of the airline and carry him along and his people. What I told him in private is that it belonged to the owners and I believe they will still be willing to give him if he had the money.”

Recall that Nnaji and his committee had called the Nigeria Air deal a fraud.

Sirika said this on Sunday during an interview with ARISE NEWS, adding that there was nothing secretive about Nigeria Air as its activities were carried out in public before the unveiling.

“There is an allegation that the whole thing was shrouded in secrecy and that, I find mind boggling and disturbing. This airline we advertised during the procurement stage and there was a business conference and members of the airlines operations of Nigeria participated in this conference.

“The whole world knew that we were bidding and everyone bidded and even asked for extension of time. It was open. So, where is the secrecy?

“We held 6 stakeholders conference and presented it to the public”. He said

On the unveiling of the carrier against a court order, Sirika said there was an existing motion to vacate the court order restraining them from unveiling.

“I remember there was a court order and I also remember there was a motion to vacate the order immediately by our counsel. But I am not the court and I cannot determine here whether it is contempt of court or not, so I’ll leave that one to the court,” he recalled.

He said that the N3 billion released by the Federal Government towards establishing Nigeria Air was not completely spent.

According to him, from 2016 to 2023, the budget for the Nigeria Air is 5bn, and only 3 billion was released, and up till today, the money has not been completely spent.

He said the government of Nigeria did not pay a dime for the Nigeria Air to come for the unveiling on May 26.

“It is ridiculous to think that we’ll hire and paint an aircraft for N138 billion, which could get us five new Boeing 777Max.

“We are responsible people and the general public should approach Ministry of Information and apply for the right of information to see for themselves.”

According to him, former President Olusegun Obasanjo handed Nigeria Airways to his friend’s company, Arik Air, which is indebted to the tune of over N300bn, of which Nigeria taxpayers money is N250bn via AMCON.

“So, do we hand it over to Arik?” he asked, rhetorically.