‘Tinubu’s life in danger’ – Senate Committee backs purchase of new presidential aircraft

By solacebase.com On Jun 16, 2024

The Senate Committee on National Security and Intelligence has backed its House of Representatives counterpart on the call for new aircraft for President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kassim Shettima.

While the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence had in a report forwarded to the presidency asked the federal government to immediately procure two airplanes for Messrs Tinubu and Shettima to secure their transportation, the chairman of Senate Committee, Umar Shehu Buba told Premium Times newspaper that the current presidential air fleet could endanger the lives of President Tinubu and his deputy.

“The committee’s recommendations are clear enough. To arrive at those recommendations, the committee conducted an investigative hearing and interacted with officials of the Presidential Air Fleet.

“The committee obtained the necessary information, which led it to call for the overhauling of the Presidential Air Fleet. It is true that our country is facing economic difficulty, but that will not be a justification to jeopardize or endanger the lives of our president, our vice president, other top officials of government and that of any citizen for that matter.

“We are all aware of the air mishaps in Iran and Malawi recently, which claimed the lives of the president and vice president of those countries, respectively. We commiserate with the people and governments of those counties. But we must also, as a people, do whatever is necessary to lower the possibility of such disasters in our country.

“No sacrifice is too much to pay for the safety of our leaders and citizens. We elected them. So, we have a collective responsibility to protect them at all times,” Buba was quoted to have said.

But Nigerians have questioned the wisdom in buying new aeroplanes at a time Nigeria is facing severe economic hardship.