Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s team is pushing back vehemently after the former government was called out, even by its own agents, for defrauding the country by establishing Nigeria Air as a national carrier.
According to reports, Captain Dapo Olumide, the acting managing director of the airline still in formation, acknowledged to the Senate Committee on Aviation on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, that the aircraft branded as Nigeria Air was really chartered by Ethiopian Airlines.
The claims prompted the House Committee on Aviation, among other things, to name Nigeria Air a fraud and to call on President Bola Tinubu to annul the deal made by the Buhari administration through the immediate past aviation minister, Haidi.
With allegations that the Buhari administration dumped Nigeria Air as a hoax on the country going viral, one of the prior administration’s linchpins, Bashir Ahmad, who served as special assistant to the president on social media, came out to refute the allegations.
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On Tuesday morning, he tweeted that the project, which had cost billions of naira over the previous four years, was not a hoax, and that the Ministry of Aviation had made great progress in bringing the project to fruition.
His words echoed the claims of Sirika who had claimed that the airline would take off before the exit of the Buhari administration.
Reacting to the claims of fraud in the execution of Nigeria Air, he said: “Nigeria Air is NOT a fraud, the Aviation Ministry has made a significant progress towards its realization. Branding unveiled, partnerships and agreements signed, most of the operational certificates issued, and operational offices opened. Nigeria Air will fly to make Nigeria proud.”