The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the last year’s election, Peter Obi, has asked the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration to come clean on the details of the newly acquired Presidential jet and those of the old ones being sold off.
Obi, who made the call on Tuesday night on his X handle, President Tinubu, on Monday, embarked on a working visit to France aboard a newly acquired Airbus A330 business jet, amidst controversies surrounding its purchase.
The model, typically used as a twin-aisle passenger aircraft, was purchased last month at a cost of $100m and has now been registered to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).
The modified jet is one of the three Presidential aircraft recently seized by a French court in favour of a Chinese firm, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, over a dispute with the Ogun State Government.
However, on Friday, August 16, Zhongshan said that it had decided to release one of the three aircraft as a gesture of goodwill, especially due to a scheduled meeting between President Tinubu and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
Obi said that despite all the denials and back and forth over the newly acquired Presidential aircraft, the jet was now here, thanks to the French court that helped Nigerians get the information.
“Now that the Jet is here, can Nigerian taxpayers whose money was used to purchase it need to be privy to how much it cost and how old the aircraft is and how long its been in operation.
“In addition, Nigerians also deserve to know about how the old jets being disposed, how many of them, how old they are, and why they are being sold. Transparency and Accountability should be the hallmark of any genuine leadership,” Obi said.
He said that the federal government would lose nothing but respect, if it failed to provide adequate information about its leadership to the people whose money was being deployed and whose mandate the President was holding.
“A Presidential jet is a major symbol of national sovereignty and State power. How much it costs to transport the President, is a major issue of public accountability. I hope that Nigerians will not be denied the right of full disclosure on the new Presidential jet,” Obi added.