The Presidency on Sunday said President Bola Tinubu acquired a refurbished official jet, Igbere TV reports.
Tinubu’s spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, issued the explanation when he was featured on Channels Television’s programme, Inside Sources, anchored by Laolu Akande.
Onanuga 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.
He disclosed that the new presidential jet belongs to Nigeria because Tinubu won’t take it along after leaving office.
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. It’s not President Tinubu’s plane; it belongs to the people of Nigeria; it is our property.”
