The lawmaker representing Abia South Senatorial District, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, has said that nobody approached the National Assembly with a request for a new presidential jet before the purchase was eventually made.
The Presidency had in August unveiled a new Airbus A330 purchased for President Bola Tinubu.
Following the new jet purchase, the Presidency faced so many criticisms from Nigerians who felt the President prioritized his luxury while neglecting the economic hardship faced by the masses.
Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, had in one of his explanations, said that what was purchased was not a new jet as was reported but a “refurbished jet.”
National Assembly members were not spared in the criticisms regarding the jet purchase, as many labeled them as rubber-stamping easy approval of the Presidency’s request to purchase a new jet.
Senator Abaribe, who appeared on a live television programme on Monday, said such a request was never brought to the National Assembly.
“I am in the National Assembly, but I can tell you for a fact that nobody, quote me, nobody brought anything to the National Assembly to say please approve this for purchase of a new plane,” Abaribe said on the programme.
“It was done without my knowledge, nobody brought anything. I never saw any document and I have always been in the National Assembly. Ask anyone, none,” he added.
Abaribe said that the failure of the Presidency to approach the National Assembly with a request means that part of the job of the legislator to be a check on the executive is not being efficiently carried out.
The senator said he is worried that the public perceives the National Assembly members as rubber-stamped, noting that it is like that because the lawmakers feel that they have fought a lot without much, yet it has not yielded much to the public and tried to have some cooperation with the executive.
Onanuga had said that contrary to popular opinion, his principal, 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 said.
He said some jets in the presidential fleet like a 19-year-old Boeing B737-700 purchased under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo are all in bad condition, and their maintenance costs were outrageous.
Hence, instead of spending a bogus amount of money on aircraft maintenance, the President sought the approval of the National Assembly for a refurbished jet still in good condition.
Onanuga said the refurbished Airbus A330 would save Nigeria high maintenance costs in servicing the old aircraft.
Onanuga urged Nigerians to prioritise the President’s safety, noting that the newly acquired plane is Nigeria’s property, not Tinubu’s.
The presidential spokesman said Tinubu won’t take the just-acquired jet with him when he leaves office. Onanuga said the jet would also benefit Tinubu’s successor.
Onanuga said, “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 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.”
The presidential spokesman said he spoke with the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, on the faulty plane and he said the maintenance costs because of the age of the plane were exorbitant hence the need for another 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 said.
While the Presidency continued to defend Tinubu’s action to purchase the refurbished Airbus A330, the move has been criticised by many Nigerians and some of his contenders in the 2023 election, who felt the President was unfeeling to the plight of poor Nigerians grappling under the weight of unprecedented food inflation, and energy prices which have quadrupled in the last one year.
The health state of the Presidential Air Fleet has been a source of concern of late.
In May, a faulty presidential jet stopped Vice President Kashim Shettima from attending the 2024 US-Africa Business Summit hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa.
Last December, a presidential aircraft, Falcon 900B, was put up for sale, with the Nigerian Air Force asking interested persons to submit their bids for the purchase of the aircraft.
