Arewa Youth Consultative Forum calls on Tinubu to arrest and prosecute former aviation minister

AREWA Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) officials have called for the immediate arrest and  prosecution of the former aviation minister Senator Hadi Sirika over his role in the recent Nigeria Air scandal that involved the false purchase of a aircraft.

In April, aviation minister Senator Sirika, assured Nigerians that Nigeria Air would commence operation before May 29 when President Muhammadu Buhari would leave office. Just days before the end of the Buhari administration, an aircraft painted in the colours of Nigeria Air was presented is Abuja as evidence that the airline was up and running.

However, it has now been revealed that the while process was a ruse with the aircraft actually being hired from Ethiopian Airlines and has since been returned. Nigeria Air was launched amid a lot of fanfare in 2018 at the Farnborough Air Show in the UK, with the government promising to establish a national carrier that could compete with other successful African airlines but the project has been dogged by controversies since it was launched, preventing its take-off.

Just before Nigeria's ninth House of Representatives dissolved itself last week members called on President Bola Tinubu to suspend the process of launching the airline and probe those involved with the aim of prosecuting them. Now the AYCF have added their voice to this call, adding that it appears that money was received to purchase a plane nut it was not bought and the cash looks like it has disappeared into private pockets.

Alhaji Yerima Shettima, the AYCF national president, said that Nigeria is not a banana republic where anything goes. He noted that the recent revelation by the airline's interim managing director Captain Dapo Olumide, when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Aviation, revealing that the aircraft used for the unveiling of Nigeria Air was rented from Ethiopian Airlines was a slap on Nigerians’ faces.

He said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should wade into the matter urgently by arresting Senator Sirika for proper questioning and prosecution. According to Alhaji Shettima the actions of Senator Sirika amounts to deception and breach of trust that should not go unpunished.

Alhaji Shettima said: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has already started demonstrating that it is no longer going to be business as usual in Nigeria. He should now go a step further by giving an immediate order to the anti graft agency to bring former minister of aviation, Hadi Sirika to book, to serve as a deterrent to others going forward.”

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He added that the Nigeria Air debacle was a national embarrassment and waste of resources that could have been averted. According to Alhaji Shettima, if the EFCC fails to yield to this national call and do the needful with immediate effect, the forum would be left with no option but to take legal action against the former minister.