The Nigeria president has been receiving hauls from Nigerian over his recent action to buy a new private, the presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said yesterday in defense of the president that President Bola Tinubu did not acquire a new official jet but a refurbished one.
“It’s not President Tinubu’s plane, it belongs to the people of Nigeria, it is our property,” Onanuga made it known on the Sunday edition of Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-economic programme which airs on Channels Television.
He mentioned that some jets in the presidential fleet, such as the 19-year-old Boeing B737-700 was bought under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, and that they are all in bad condition, adding that their maintenance costs were too expensives.
He said instead of the government wasting money on aircraft maintenance, the President made a move to approve the National Assembly for the purchase of a refurbished jet that is still in good condition.
Onanuga continued saying that the refurbished Airbus A330 would save Nigeria high maintenance costs in servicing the old aircraft.
Onanuga urged Nigerians to think about the President’s safety, noting that the newly acquired plane is Nigeria’s property, not Tinubu’s.
The presidential spokesman mentioned Tinubu won’t take the just-acquired jet with him when he leaves office. Onanuga said the jet would also benefit the president, who will come after Tinubu.
Onanuga emphasized, “The president did not buy a new jet; what he has is a refurbished jet – it has been used by somebody else before he got it but it is a much newer model than the one Former President Buhari used.
“The one President Buhari used was bought by President Obasanjo some 20 years ago.”
“There was a time the President went to Saudi Arabia, that plane developed some problems and the President had to leave with a chartered jet to The Netherlands.”
‘Prioritise Tinubu’s Safety’
The presidential spokesman mentioned that he spoke with the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, on the previous plane that got faulty, and he said the maintenance would be too much compared to the price of a refurbished plane.
“People should try to prioritise the safety of the president. I’m not sure anybody wishes our president to go and crash in the air. We want his safety so that he can hand over to whoever wants to take over from him,” Onanuga clarify
Following the purchase of the refurbished Airbus A330, Nigerians have continued to criticized the Nigerian Government, and the Presidency also continue to defend Tinubu’s action, claiming it was a necessary move to make.
People of the country continue to say that the President doesn’t feel what the Nigerians are going through in terms of food inflation, and energy prices hike that has gone up compared to last year.
It was reported that the faulty presidential jet has caused the president delay many times, one of them happened in May, when the Vice President Kashim Shettima who was supposed to attend the 2024 Us-Africa Business Summit hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa was stopped due to the condition of the plane.
