Former Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, has accused Chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, who branded the launch of Nigeria Air as fraud of demanding five percent shares of the carrier.
During a hearing by the House of Representatives, Chairman of the House Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji, had declared the launch of Nigeria Air a fraud.
However, speaking when he appeared on ARISE TV on Sunday, Sirika said the lawmaker approached him and asked for five percent shares of the airline for “him and his peopleâ€.
When the programme anchor asked the former Minister to clarify if the lawmaker indeed asked for bribe for himself and other legislators, Sirika said, “Let’s be fair, Hon Nnaji didn’t say other members. He said he wants it for himself and his people. His people could be his family, could be members and it could be leadership. I don’t know, but he insisted on 5%. I said that he should relax and approach the owners. That’s exactly what I told him.â€
The former Minister also criticised Nnaji and the aviation committee for conducting what translated to a “predetermined hearingâ€.‘I was a member of the House of Reps 20 years ago, and 10 years ago, I was a Senator. I know the workings of the National Assembly. He [Nnaji] called for public hearing. And right under the public hearing, he just turned the paper and read the riot act. The practice in the National Assembly is that after hearing people and the complain, you now go and sit down as a committee, discuss the issues, raise them, approach the whole house of reps and take position of the house plus leadership and come back and make your findings known, but not immediately you just read the riot Act out. It means it is predetermined.â€
Nnaji had picked holes in the project, criticising the Federal Government for what he described as poor handling.He said after careful evaluation of the matter, his committee was dissatisfied with the actions of Sirika.Nigeria Air, Hadi Sirika: Understanding the failure of the Buhari administration
