NAIJI NEWS
A former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Nnolim Nnaji has vehemently denied claims made by the former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika regarding his involvement in a dishonest proposition.
Appearing on an ARISE TV program on Sunday, Sirika accused Nnaji of seeking a 5 per cent share in Nigeria Air.
Sirika recounted, “Hon Nnaji asked me that I should give him 5% of Nigeria Air to carry him along with his people, and I said to him at that time, ‘Honourable, a bidding process that has taken place, and some people won. So, I think you should go to those people and ask for the 5 per cent.”
Nnaji has swiftly rejected these allegations, indicating that he never made such a request.
The lawmaker in a statement released on Sunday, said Sirika lied against him because he insisted on doing the right thing.
According to Nnaji, “Ordinarily l would not have bothered to reply to his allegations of my demand for 5 percent equity in Nigeria Air as he claimed during his interview on Arise Television but l believe l owe my constituents and indeed Nigerians a duty to put the records straight.
“It is on record that last year when the Minister announced Ethiopian Airlines as core investor in Nigeria Air, my committee which was also inundated with petitions from various stakeholders regarding that announcement invited the Minister and his team to furnish the committee with the details of the project.
“The committee requested for the evidence of the bid process that gave Ethiopian Airlines the award and, the full business case as prepared by the Nigerian Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, (ICRC) which was supposed to spell out the details of all the investors and their equity contributions.
“Sirika at that meeting said Full Business Case was still being worked out by the ICRC and promised to make it available to the committee as soon it was ready which he failed to do before Airline Operators of Nigeria, (AON) took the Ministry to court and got injunction restraining it from going ahead with the project.”
