President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will jets out “on a trip to France on Monday, August 19, departing from Abuja, the nation’s capital,” few days after returning from a three-day trip to Equatorial Guinea.
According to a statement by Presidential Spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, “President Bola Tinubu will embark on a trip to France on Monday, August 19, departing from Abuja, the nation’s capital.
“The President will return to the country after his brief work stay in France.”
The statement was clearly unspecific on the number of days the President would stay in France but a source stated that it is not going to be a few days “brief work stay.”
On Friday, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, which has secured a French court order to seize three Presidential jets, announced the release of one of them, the Airbus A330 after they were made aware that President Tinubu would need it for a scheduled meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
In a statement, Spokesperson of the company said: “Zhongshan has consistently sought to act reasonably and fairly in the course of a legal dispute with Nigeria which was not of its making.
“It has now been made aware that an Airbus A330, currently detained in France as a result of a French court order obtained by Zhongshan, is needed for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to travel to a scheduled meeting with President Macron of France early next week.
“As a gesture of goodwill, Zhongshan has lifted the seizure of that aircraft immediately. This will allow it to be used for the President’s trip.”
The Spokesperson mentioned that the company remains committed to talks with the Nigerian government with a view of reaching a “reasonable compromise rapidly.”
The A330 is the new aircraft being purchased by the Nigerian federal government for use as the new main Presidential jet. It was earlier foreclosed from an unnamed German bank, according to reports by Premium Times newspaper.
The government reportedly offered around USD100 million for the widebody valued at USD600 million due to its VIP configuration. According to Premium Times, the aircraft was repossessed from an unidentified Sheikh who had defaulted on a bank loan. Florida-based L & L International LLC and AMAC Aerospace Switzerland AG are reportedly brokering the deal. The Swiss firm has a longstanding aircraft maintenance contract with Nigeria’s Presidential Air Fleet (PAF).
According to social media posts, the aircraft in question is an ACJ330-200, VP-CAC (msn 1053), to be registered as 5N-FGA. ch-aviation fleets data shows the 14.86-year-old jet is currently operated by AMAC Corporate Jet (AMK, Zurich) and is currently in maintenance in Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg, CH. It was formerly operated by Saudi Arabia’s Mid East Jet (Jeddah International).