Tinubu already ‘bought $100m private jet, spent $50m for reconfiguration’, to be delivered soon – Sowore

By Oluwadamilare Emmanuel On Jul 17, 2024

Activist and presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AA) in the 2023 general election, Omoyele Sowore, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu has purchased a $100 million presidential jet and also spent $5o million to reconfigure it before delivery anytime soon.

Sowore made the claim which could not be independently verified by NewsClick Nigeria at press time via his X handle (formerly Twitter) on Monday evening.

In the post, Sowore stated, “While they are telling you to ‘exercise patience,’ @officialABAT already bought a $100m Presidential Jet and configured or reconfigured it with some $50 million and it is ready for delivery!”

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While they are telling you to “exercise patience” @officialABAT already bought a $100m Presidential Jet and configured or reconfigured it with some $50million and it is ready for delivery! The jet is an A330-200 initially christened VP-CAC is now registered as 5N-FGA.

This was… pic.twitter.com/2VvaMVVN4s

— Omoyele Sowore (@YeleSowore) July 15, 2024

He went on to describe the aircraft: “The jet is an A330-200 initially christened VP-CAC and is now registered as 5N-FGA.”

Sowore criticised the purchase, emphasising the disparity between the government’s spending and the country’s economic challenges. “This was not in the annual budget; they can’t pay minimum wage for workers but could afford $150m for a private jet. Students have to obtain loans to go to college, but they could afford to approve billions for hajj even as the money ended up being stolen.”

Concluding his statement, Sowore called for action: “Fight we MUST! #RevolutionNow.”

Recall that the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence had recently recommended the purchase of new presidential jets for the use of President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima as a matter of national security and interest, citing the need to prevent accidents due to technical or operational inadequacies. The lawmakers had suggested that acquiring two additional aircraft was in Nigeria’s best interest.

However, the move was vehemently opposed by Nigerians across board stating the nation’s lean purse cannot accommodate such spending.

NewsClick Nigeria had in its editorial of Monday, July 1 with the headline ‘The rage against new presidential jets’ lend its support for the masses’ take on the subject matter.

“It is not too much if Mr President and the vice- president resort to using chattered commercial flights for now until the nation is buoyant enough to accommodate the luxury of new presidential jets.

“Besides, it sounds ludicrous and quite preposterous to say that all the planes on the PAF had packed up at the same time! Currently, the PAF, being managed by the Office of the National Security Adviser, include the 19-year-old Boeing Business Jet(BBJ), said to have been bought during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration; a Gulfstream G550, a Gulfstream GV, two Falcon 7x and one Challenger CL605.

“How can a 19-year-old BBJ, said to have a lifespan of 30 years, and all the others pack up beyond repairs? What has happened to all the running and maintenance votes usually earmarked for the PAF in the budgets annually? According to reports, N13 billion was earmarked in the 2023 budget and another N12.7 billion in the 2023 supplementary budget for running and maintaining the PAF. The vote is N20.5 billion in the 2024 budget and N73.3 billion between 2011 and 2020. How can the entire aircraft on the PAF become dysfunctional at the same time with all these budgetary provisions? Some mystery!,” the editorial read in part.