What
right do the children of the president have to use the presidential plane
fleet? Some Nigerians think they do not deserve the privilege as controversy
rages over the use of a presidential plane by Hanan,a daughter of President
Muhammadu Buhari. Hanan was
pictured disembarking from a presidential plane in
Bauchi on Thursday to attend a Durbar in the city at the invitation of the Emir
of Bauchi, Rilwanu Adamu. She was a special guest of honour at the event. The Presidency
disagrees with critics that she has no right to the plane.
Many Nigerians have taken to the social media, questioning
Hanan’s right to the plane to attend a private event. The opposition Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday accused President Muhammadu Buhari
of directly abusing his office and exhibiting “the worst form of corruption” by
detailing the officially restricted presidential jet to fly his daughter to
Bauchi state. The durbar,according to reports, was specially organised to give
Hanan the opportunity to take photographs of the event and other
interesting sites in the state.
She recently graduated with a first-class degree in photography
from a British university. Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu confimed that “a
member of the First Family was flown to Bauchi yesterday on a mission duly
authorized.” He added: “It wasn’t an impromptu or improper trip because it
followed normal procedure. The Presidency informed the National Security
Adviser of the mission who, in turn, informed the Commander of the Presidential
Air Fleet. The normal practice in existence for a long time is that the
Presidential Air fleet is available to the President and the first family and
four others. These four are the Vice President, the Senate President the
Speaker and any other person(s) authorised by the President.”
The PDP dismissed Hanan’s use of the presidential plane as
“provocative, condemnable, completely improper and an unpardonable slap on the
sensibility of millions of Nigerians, particularly, the youths, who look up to
the president for integrity, uprightness and respect for rules.” National Publicity
Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, said in a statement in Abuja that
the development underlined the recklessness that pervades the Buhari Presidency
and “the indefensible annexation of our national assets and resources for
illegal private use.”
Continuing, Ologbondiyan said: “It is even most appalling that
instead of apologizing to Nigerians, the Buhari Presidency, in its arrogance,
is resorting to falsehood and trying to justify the inexcusable. “Our party
holds that Mr. President should apologize for approving that her daughter uses
the Presidential jet just for the purpose of allegedly taking photographs in a
Durbar event in Bauchi state. Perhaps, the Buhari Presidency forgot that it is
public knowledge that the Presidential fleet can only be authorized for use by
the President, the First Lady, Vice President, Senate President, Speaker of the
House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, former Presidents,
Presidential delegation and no one else.
“Moreover, the rules do not grant the President any powers to
transfer any paraphernalia of office or privileges of his position to any of
his children. The Presidency’s defence is, therefore, a direct spat on millions
of Nigerians who cannot freely ply our highways because Mr. President and his
party the APC, have failed to fix and rid our roads of kidnappers and bandits,
who have practically taken over major routes under their despicable watch.
Nigerians could recall how President Buhari heavily accused and criticized
previous administrations of voting and wasting huge resources to maintain the
Presidential fleet and promised to sell off most of the planes to save cost.
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