As the 9th Senate and House Committee on Aviation met with the Managjng Director and officials of the Ministry of Aviation on Tuesday where they issued a directive to the Federal Government to halt flight operations of the Nigerian Air project ,a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress APC,Mr Haruna Gololo has called for the arrest of the former Minister,Hadi Abubakar Sirika.
Gololo , the coordinator of the North East support group for Tinubu/ Shettima while addressing a press conference in Abuja gave the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC two weeks to arrest Sirika for launching a non- existing airline.
He said if the anti graft agency could arrest yahoo boys for alleged scam, they could also go after the former minister and all those who took part in the monumental fraud.
“We are giving the EFCC two weeks to arrest and investigate the former Minister of Aviation and other key participants in the former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.”
The Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Air, Dapo Olumide, had at an investigative hearing of the Senate Committee on Aviation chaired by Senator Biodun Olujimi over the state of the Nigeria Air project under Hadi Abubakar Sirika’s tenure. disclosed that the supposed Nigeria Air aircraft that flew in with the logo of the airline was chartered from Ethiopian Airlines for the purpose of unveiling the logo.
Olumide told the senators that the airline was far from being ready for operations as it was yet to secure an operating licence for full flight operations. The revelation affirmed the suspicion of the lawmakers on why the immediate past Minister of Aviation, Sirika hurriedly launched a national carrier on the last day of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
However,Gololo who took a swipe at the former minister for the scam also interrogated the state of the public refineries after billions of naira was spent on fixing them.
“Only yesterday the Senate Committee Aviation confirmed the fear and suspicion of many Nigerians, when it unearthed the issues in the aviation sector by the immediate past minister, on indicating that procurement of Nigeria Air was a scam which gulped billions of taxpayers funds.
“What happened to the M11.3 trillion spent on the Turn Around Maintenance ( TAM), of the Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt refineries.
“But today the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, who awarded the contracts, has gone to run for governorship election to seek immunity.
“There are several other MDAs that were looted under Buhari’s administration.”
The APC Chieftain also expressed disappointment over the appointment of the new Executive Director of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) by the Buhari administration, saying that the appointee was in NNPC while refineries remained moribund.
