We wonder what criteria the anti-graft agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, use to determine which suspected corrupt ex-political officeholders to go after when they leave public offices?

Immediate past Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika’s name has been trending for about three weeks over the naked impunity of an alleged swindle over the Nigeria Air project. No serving or ex-ministers enjoy constitutional immunity. Even the presidents and governors who are given that privilege lose it after their tenure of office.

The law enforcement agencies are mandated to haul in any of them who has a question to answer as to how they handled their offices, particularly public funds.

Every well-meaning voice in Nigeria is yelling for Hadi Sirika’s arrest and questioning over the Nigeria Air affair which he single-handedly perpetrated in cahoots with Ethiopian Airline officials and other actors. Sirika purported to have floated the airline as a “national carrier” when, in truth, the single aircraft that was “unveiled” on May 26, 2023 was a hurriedly repainted, chartered aircraft still carrying Ethiopian registration marks.

That anybody could summon the gumption to execute such a bare-faced, last-minute scam on Nigerians is an audacious challenge on every one of us to do our worst if we can.

The Nigeria Air scam was only one of the major scandals associated with Sirika’s name. Way back in 2017 it was rumoured that the Minister spent $600,000 on logo design contracted to a Bahraini company before the project, then known as Air Nigeria, was suspended. Sirika denied the amount but failed to say how much was spent. Later the Federal Government budgeted up to N800 million between 2017 and 2018 when the blind pursuit of the project was resumed.

Sirika was also under fire for spending N12 billion to purchase 10 fire trucks, meaning that each truck cost N1.2 billion! Hadi Sirika, who was once rumoured to be eyeing the governorship of his native Katsina State, was caught on a video on December 16, 2022 boasting that his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, had “all the money and other resources…I swear we have the money to get the job done”.

This former Minister obviously has questions to answer. A probe by the House of Representatives and submissions by the interim Managing Director of the supposed Nigeria Air, Captain Dapo Olumide, at the House probe, indicted the former Minister. Since then, Nigerians and groups from various backgrounds have been calling for Hadi Sirika to be brought to book. We join in this call, because action on it will help curtail corruption.

If the President Bola Tinubu government ignores these calls, it may be accused of shielding the suspect.

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