A prosecution witness in the alleged N19.4bn fraud trial involving former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, has told an Abuja High Court that contracts for the terminal building and apron expansion at Katsina Airport were separate projects with different budgetary codes.
The witness, Engineer Isaiah Ganiyu Yesufu, Director of Certification, Compliance and Monitoring at the Bureau of Public Procurement, made the clarification during cross-examination, contradicting his earlier position that the contracts formed a single project.
Yesufu, the third prosecution witness, testified before Justice Saiman Belgore of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory while being questioned by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Michael Numa, counsel for Enginos Nigeria Limited and Al-Buraq Limited.
Asked to explain the relationship between the two contracts, the witness initially said, “Project of terminal building and apron expansion (at the Katsina airport) are one project. The contract for the apron expansion and terminal building are joint project.”
However, when confronted with procurement and budgetary documents, Yesufu acknowledged that the projects had different budgetary codes and were separately appropriated for.
“From the appropriation, the two projects are different (projects),” he told the court.
The witness explained that the budgetary code for the airport upgrade did not correspond with that of the terminal building contract.
Referring to Exhibit C, page C7919, dated May 16, 2022, he said the item relating to the airport upgrade did not include apron expansion as stated in the separate contract award.
“Exhibit A1 is the award of contract for construction of terminal building at the Katsina airport. The item does not include apron expansion as contained in Exhibit C,” he said.
Yesufu also confirmed that the terminal building and apron expansion contracts were not awarded to a single company.
He further told the court that the separation of such projects was not peculiar to Katsina Airport, adding that a similar arrangement applied to projects at Port Harcourt Airport.
The witness’s testimony came as Sirika, his younger brother, Ahmad Abubakar Sirika, and two companies, Al-Buraq Limited and Enginos Nigeria Limited, face a 10-count charge bordering on alleged abuse of office, criminal breach of trust and using their positions for gratification.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission accused the former minister of using his position to award contracts worth about N19.4bn to his younger brother.
Sirika was also accused of conferring an unfair advantage on Enginos Nigeria Limited through the alleged influence of a N1.345bn contract for the construction of the Katsina Airport terminal building.
The commission further alleged that he influenced the award of a N3.811bn contract for the establishment of a fire truck maintenance and refurbishment centre at the airport, among other allegations.
The defendants have, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
During the proceedings, Yesufu acknowledged that a request for a no-objection certificate submitted to the BPP was made by the Aviation Ministry’s then Permanent Secretary, Abel Enitan, who chaired the Ministerial Tenders Board, rather than any of the defendants.
He also told the court that the BPP had not withheld approval for the terminal building and apron expansion projects and had received no complaints of breaches relating to them.
Under cross-examination by counsel to the second defendant, Ahmad Sirika, the witness confirmed that the BPP issued a no-objection certificate for the projects after conducting due diligence on the documents submitted to it.
However, Yesufu admitted that he had never visited the Katsina Airport project, despite his responsibilities for supervising projects.
“I never visited the Katsina airport. We were never mandated to visit it,” he said.
The alleged offences were said to have been committed in Abuja between August 2022 and May 2023. The prosecution cited provisions of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, the EFCC (Establishment) Act and the Penal Code Act.
Justice Belgore adjourned the case until December 8 and 9 for possible re-examination of the witness by the prosecution and continuation of the trial.
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