Headline
How FG Spent N19bn on Presidential Planes in 15 Months – Report

At least N19.43 billion has reportedly been spent on the maintenance and operations of the Presidential Air Fleet from July 2023 to September 2024.
According to GovSpend, a civic tech platform that tracks and analyses the Federal government’s spending, showed that for 2024, the payouts amounted to N13.55billion, representing 66 per cent of the allocations for the fleet in the 2024 fiscal year.
Most disbursements were labeled ‘Forex Transit Funds,’ typically funds allocated for foreign exchange requirements to facilitate international transactions and engagements.
In the context of the Presidential Air Fleet, such funds are used to cover expenses related to operations outside the country, including fuel purchases, maintenance or services in foreign currencies.
“When aircraft on the fleet are abroad, payments are often made in U.S. dollars or another foreign currency to ensure uninterrupted operations,” a government official explained.
In July 2023, N1.52bn was disbursed in two tranches of N846m and N675m for ‘Presidential air fleet forex transit funds.’
The following month, N3.1bn was disbursed in three tranches of N388m, N2bn, and N713m for the same item.
In November of that year, N1.26bn was released to the Presidential Air Fleet Naira transit account.
The first overhead for 2024 came in March, where N1.27bn were disbursed twice, amounting to N2.54bn. The transit account received N6.35bn in April, N4.97bn in May and N210m in July.
August saw the highest frequency of transactions, with N5.60bn released in six separate disbursements.
Although these transactions were not clearly labeled, the monies were paid into the Presidential Air Fleet naira transit account, including the N35m transfer made in September.
In late April, the transit account received N5.08bn; this came around the same time the President was on a two-nation tour to the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia.
Although Tinubu arrived in the Netherlands in a state-owned Gulfstream AeroSpace 550 Jet, the aircraft could not proceed to Saudi Arabia due to unspecified technical problems. He reportedly continued his journey on a chartered private plane.
At the time, the President’s Boeing 737 business jet was undergoing maintenance. It was later replaced with an Airbus A330 purchased for $100m in August through service-wide votes.
The nearly 15-year-old plane, an ACJ330-200, VP-CAC (MSN 1053), is “spacious and furnished with state-of-the-art avionics, customised interior and communications system,” Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga said, adding that it “will save Nigeria huge maintenance and fuel costs, running into millions of dollars yearly.”
The new Airbus A330 is just one of several aircraft currently on the Presidential Air Fleet, arguably one of Africa’s largest, with around 11 aircraft of various makes and models. Until August, it comprised the 19-year-old B737-700 and a 13-year-old Gulfstream Aerospace G550.
The BBJ was acquired during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo at $43m but became a money guzzler as it aged.
Onanuga, defending the purchase of Airbus A330, argued that the new Airbus 330 aircraft and the costs of maintaining the air fleet were not for the president but in the interest of Nigerians.
“It’s not President Tinubu’s plane; it belongs to the people of Nigeria, it is our property…the President did not buy a new jet; what he has is a refurbished jet – it has been used by somebody else before he got it, but it is a much newer model than the one President Buhari used.
“The one President Buhari used was bought by President Obasanjo some 20 years ago. There was a time when the President went to Saudi Arabia, and the plane developed some problems. The President had to leave the Netherlands with a chartered jet.
“Nigerians should try to prioritise the safety of the President. I’m not sure anybody wishes our president to go and crash in the air. We want his safety so that he can hand it over to whoever wants to take over from him,” Onanuga said.
The presidential aide said he discussed with the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, on the faulty plane [Boeing 737 jet] and he said the maintenance costs were excessive because of the age of the aircraft, hence the need for another plane.
The presidential fixed-wing fleet includes a Gulfstream G500, two Falcon 7Xs, a Hawker 4000, and a Challenger 605.
Three of the seven fixed-wings are reportedly unserviceable. Meanwhile, the rotor-wing fleet includes two Agusta 139s and two Agusta 101s, all operated by the Nigerian Air Force but supervised by the Office of the National Security Adviser.
Former President Buhari promised to reduce the number of aircraft in the PAF to the absolute necessary.
In April 2023, three jets were put up for sale, but there were no specifics on which.
However, efforts to sell one of the Dassault Falcon 7x and the Hawker 4000 in October 2016 stalled when a potential buyer reduced their initial offer from $24m to $11m.
Since 2017, budgetary allocations for the fleet have shown a growing trend, with one exception in 2020.
The allocation for the fleet increased from N4.37bn in 2017 to N20.52bn in 2024, showing a 370 per cent rise in running costs.
In 2018, the fleet’s budget rose significantly by 66.13 per cent to N7.26bn, driven by a substantial increase in capital project allocations while maintaining similar levels for recurrent costs. This upward trajectory continued into 2019, slightly increasing the total allocation to N7.30bn.
The exception came in 2020, when the budget dropped by nearly seven per cent to N6.79bn, primarily due to decreased overhead costs, a reflection of the global economic impacts of lockdowns and disruptions in operations.
By 2021, however, the budget surged dramatically to N12.55bn—a record increase of 84.83 per cent from the previous year.
In 2022, maintenance expenses for each aircraft ranged from $1.5m to $4.5m annually.
The 2022, 2023 and 2024 appropriation acts earmarked N12.48bn, N13.07bn and N20.52bn respectively.
On his way to the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit in Samoa, a foreign object damaged the cockpit windscreen of Vice President Kashim Shettima’s GulfStream aircraft during a stopover at JFK Airport in New York.
According to Lee Aerospace, manufacturers of the Gulfstream, jet windshields consist of thick multilayered structures of varying layers of glass and transparent acrylic built to withstand collision with a 2kg object.
However, damage to the windshield must have affected its inner layers. While specific prices for replacement can vary based on supplier, labour rates and regional costs, estimates suggest that a single windshield replacement for a G550 can range from $50,000 to $70,000 for part and labour costs.
In an interview with our correspondent, the General Secretary of the Aviation Round Table, Olumide Ohunayo, blamed the meteoric rise in the allocations for the PAF on the age of some of the aircraft in the fleet and declining value of the naira as well as the “commercial use” of aircraft by the Nigerian Air Force.
Ohunayo said, “The cost will definitely increase over the years because for one, this issue of the naira against the dollar. As the naira keeps falling to the dollar, we will see a rise in cost because most of the costs of training crew and engineers and replacing aircraft parts are all in dollars.
“Also, some of these aircraft are not new. The older the aircraft, the higher the cost of maintenance and operation.
“Lastly, during these past years, terrorism and insecurity have increased in Nigeria, which has also affected the cost of insuring the aircraft.”
For his part, the Executive Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Debo Adeniran, argued that the administration’s spending habits were opposite to Nigerians’ expectations of frugality.
“What we are getting from this administration is opposite to our expectation. We thought we would have an administration that would be frugal in spending and very meticulous at implementing its budget.
“But what we are getting is an administration that has fallen in love with profligacy; that doesn’t see anything wrong in living big amid a poverty-stricken nation.
“It is a reenactment of the Shagari administration, whereby they bought the biggest Mercedes Benz and made themselves as comfortable as possible without considering how much the masses are suffering.
“So when you look at a Vice President saying he’s not travelling [to Samoa] again because there was a splinter on the windscreen of his private aircraft. Why should that be the case?
“First and foremost, we need to be represented at such an international meeting, where we should be well represented by the first two citizens of this country.
“He abandoned that, which means we would have lost certain representation that we deserve at that forum. Two, money will have been spent on advance parties that went ahead of the Vice President. But he abandoned the journey altogether.”
Headline
El-Rufai Lacks Capacity to Win Even Senate Seat – Presidency

Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, has stated that the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the lacks the influence to “unsettle” President Bola Tinubu.
Bwala made the remarks during an interview with TVC News on Thursday, stating that former Kaduna State governor does not have the capacity to win even a senate seat.
He emphasized that President Tinubu is not troubled by El-Rufai’s ongoing criticisms of his administration.
Bwala also noted that el-Rufai only gains political prominence when aligning with a strong, revolutionary leader, adding: “Let me tell you something about my elder brother, el-Rufai, and whether we should be concerned.
“There’s a dynamic around him. El-Rufai needs a solid revolutionary figure to thrive. On his own, El-Rufa’i might not even secure a Senate seat.”
Headline
Reps Propose Creation of 31 More States

The House of Representatives Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution has proposed the creation of 31 additional states in the country.
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who presided over plenary on Thursday read a letter from the committee containing the proposed states.
If approved, this will increase the number of states in Nigeria to 67.
The letter read: “This is to inform members that the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered), has received legislative proposals for the creation of states and local governments in the following order:
NORTH CENTRAL
1. BENUE ALA STATE from the present Benue State.
2. OKUN STATE from the present Kogi State
3. OKURA STATE from the present Kogi State
4. CONFLUENCE STATE from the present Kogi State
5. APA-AGBA STATE from Benue South Senatorial District
6. APA STATE from the present Benue State.
7. A 37th state, namely FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA
NORTH EAST
8. AMANA STATE from the present Adamawa State.
9. KATAGUM STATE from the present Bauchi State.
10. SAVANNAH STATE from the present Borno State.
11. MURI STATE from the present Taraba State.
NORTH WEST
12. NEW KADUNA STATE and GURARA STATE from the present Kaduna State.
13. TIGA STATE from the present Kano State.
14. KAINJI STATE from the present Kebbi State.
15. GHARI STATE from the present Kano State
SOUTH EAST
16. ETITI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
17. ADADA STATE from the present Enugu State of Nigeria.
18. URASHI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
19. ORLU STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.
20. ABA STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.
SOUTH SOUTH
21. OGOJA STATE from the present Cross River State.
22. WARRI STATE from the present Delta State.
23. BORI STATE from the present Rivers State
24. OBOLO STATE from the present Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.
SOUTH WEST
25. TORU-EBE STATE from the present Delta, Edo, and Ondo States.
26. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
27. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State.
28. IJEBU STATE from the present Ogun State.
29. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State and Ogun State
30. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
31. OKE-OGUN and IFE-IJESHA STATES from the Present-day Ogun, Oyo, and Osun states.
The request for states’ creation can only materialise if at least “the third majority of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives (National Assembly) and the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the Local Government Council in respect of the area is received by the National Assembly.”
Headline
How Far Will Tinubu Go Against Opposition?

By Eric Elezuo
The spate of crises in opposition party camps have become worrisome, even more worrisome than the unimpressive economic situation of the country. Consequently, a lot of accusing fingers have been pointed at the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and its leader, President Bola Tinubu.
The Boss gathered that since the inception of the Tinubu-led administration, no political party in the country has known peace; they have all been immersed and enmeshed in one national, state or area council challenge or another, prompting mass defection to the ruling APC to solidify its political capacity.
From the supposed main opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the surprised third force, Peter Obi’s Labour Party (LP), and down to Rabiu Kwankwaso’s New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), an unfettered shenanigan has been the order of the day. Even the Social Democratic Party (SDP), reputed as the oldest surviving political party in Nigeria, is not spared of the raving malady of crises.
All fingers are pointed at President Tinubu as the architect of the problems, with accusations of his intentions to establish a one party state, and secure his return to power in 2027 without stress. This has prompted unanswered questions as to how far Tinubu is willing to go against the opposition parties.
In the PDP, and to a large extent, the LP, moles are said to hold prominent positions, and takes decisions that seem to align with the policies of the ruling party. In the PDP, a long drawn battle has continued to be waged as feuding factions fight for the soul of the party.
On one hand is the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, though a card-carrying member of the PDP, but hobnobs in the most intimate fashion with the APC. The Minister is said to favour the stay in office of the PDP acting National Chairman, Aliyu Demagun and the National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu against the wishes of the party. The situation has created tension and faction in the party.
“If Wike is sponsoring the likes of Damagun and Anyanwu, and Tinubu is sponsoring Wike, then we don’t a soothsayer to tell us who is dealing with the PDP. It’s all about 2027, and somebody or some people do not want any opposition or challenge to their ambition,” an insider confided in The Boss.
Only recently, a former Vice President and presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 general elections, Atiku Abubakar, accused Tinubu of weaponizing state institutions to target political opponents rather than addressing corruption in his administration. He also alleged that the president was inducing opposition leaders with N50 million to constitute political nuisance to their parties, thereby destabilizing its smooth operations.
Atiku made the claim in a statement shared on social media over the weekend, citing the recent arrest of Professor Usman Yusuf, a prominent social critic, and Omoyele Sowore, as evidence of a politically motivated clampdown on people of diverse views.
“Two days ago, the nation was jolted by the arrest of Professor Usman Yusuf, a fierce and unyielding social critic,” Atiku wrote, suggesting that the charges against Yusuf, though originating from the previous administration, were being used selectively to suppress opposition voices.
The former vice president criticized the Tinubu administration for what he described as a double standard in its approach to fighting corruption. According to Atiku, while the government shields individuals within its fold who are under investigation for corruption, it exploits pending cases to intimidate and silence critics.
“It is absurd that while the administration shelters those under investigation, it continues to exploit state institutions to stifle dissent, all under the false pretence of combating corruption,” he stated.
Atiku further alleged that President Tinubu’s actions are aimed at consolidating political power rather than addressing the nation’s pressing issues, accusing him of manipulating the justice system to his advantage.
“Even to the most inattentive, it has become glaringly clear that Tinubu is not waging a war on corruption — he is waging a war on the opposition, manipulating the system for his own political advantage,” Atiku asserted.
The arrest of Professor Yusuf has sparked widespread reactions from his sympathizers, with many questioning the timing and motive behind the detention.
Yusuf, known for his outspoken criticism of the Tinubu administration, has become a prominent voice in Nigeria’s political discourse.
In another development, the former Vice President, who is also the Waziri Adamawa, decried what he describes as systematic dismantling of the opposition by Tinubu administration.
In a post on his X handle, Atiku said that the recent arrest and “baseless prosecution” of Omoyele Sowore and Usman Yusuf is the latest in the harassment of opposition figures.
“When I made the clarion call that Tinubu and the APC were devoting their energies to the systematic harassment, intimidation, and dismantling of the opposition, all in service of their grand design for a one-party autocracy, I became the target of vicious attacks.
“The arrest and baseless prosecution of @YeleSowore is the latest chapter in this unrelenting campaign. Now, they have seen fit to add Professor Usman Yusuf — an outspoken critic of this administration — into their grim roster. At the pace they are going, it seems they may soon find themselves contending with the incarceration of every one of us.”
Sowore, who is the convener of the #Revolutionnow movement, had honoured the invitation of the police on Monday, January 27, 2025, when he was questioned at the Force Criminal Investigation Department.
He was subsequently granted administrative bail but rejected the conditions of bail and remained in custody.
The police later filed a 16-count charge of cybercrime against him.
On Thursday, the court granted Sowore bail to the tune of ₦10 million and one surety in like sum.
The surety must be a responsible individual with landed property valued in like sum.
The surety is expected to deposit the original documents of landed property and a passport photograph to the registrar of the court.
While ruling on the bail application, the trial judge, Justice Musa Liman, ordered Sowore to deposit his international passport with the registrar of the court.
The judge, however, gave him 24 hours to perfect the bail conditions or be remanded by the police until the bail is perfected.
He was to be arraigned on Friday, but the arraignment was, however, moved to Monday (today) to allow for amendment of the charges, according to a statement by the EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale.
Though defence counsel, Isah Dokto Haruna, who held brief for the lead defence counsel, O. I. Habeeb, SAN, made an application for bail, it was turned down by the court on account of the defendant’s deferred arraignment.
Justice Nwecheonwu adjourned the matter till February 3, 2025, for arraignment and ruled that the defendant be remanded in the custody of the Commission.
On the political party front, all is well with all the opposition political parties.
Stakeholders, observers and a large section of the general public are toeing the Atiku line that Tinubu has a hand in the disunity that has continued to ravage the parties, especially the PDP, which is touted as the party with the capacity to give him a run for his money come 2027.
Far back in 2023, just six months into the Tinubu administration, it became obvious that there is an unholy trend geared towards instigating crisis in parties, and harvest its members. The trend was not taking place via ballot papers or boxes or electoral propriety, but inordinate manipulations, using the instrumentality of the courts, judiciary, coercion and outright intimidation.
Fast forward to the present, the political positions are making dramatic switches to the APC via court rulings inordinate defections and more, giving a cross sections of Nigerian the effontery to believe there is a hidden agenda to welcome a new Nigeria where political positions both elected and appointed are ‘allocated’ to Tinubu’s APC. Only a few days ago, the senator representing Delta South, Ned Nwoko, joined a long list of decampees, who had found solace in the APC amid administrative deficiency, which reduced Nigerians to advocates of hardship, hunger and depravity.
A few instances were visible in 2023 to raise eyebrows as regards the direction and shape Nigeria political landscape was taking. They included the sack of all elected Plateau State PDP elected lawmakers, and replaced with defeated APC candidates, failed attempt to sack Zamfara and Kano states givernors, the victory of Imo and Kogi APC governorship candidates, and followed in 2024 by the victory of Edo APC governorship candidate, Monday Okpebholo. In all instances, public opinion had feared obvious manipulations of the electoral and judicial processes.
Presently, almost all the elected federal lawmakers under the banner of the Labour Party have defected to the APC. The party shame-facely boasts of two national leaders; Julius Abure and Nenadi Esther Usman, creating dissension that that have continually polarized the party.
Everyone, with the interest of the political future of Nigeria, has continued to ask when Tinubu will let go of his grip on the fragile throats of opposition parties.
Meanwhile, the Tinubu camp has denied ever interfering in the politics of the opposition, carpeting yhe former vice president, Obi and host of other accusers.
Tinubu’s administration will be two years in four months, and with his grip on political decisions across board, it is believed that by the time the next electioneering kicks off, a whole lot of political figurehead would have decamped to join the APC.
Time is no longer telling; the reality on ground foretells doom for the political future ofbthe country.
But all in all, time will still tell; 2027 is just around the corner, and Nigerians are watching and waiting to see how the opposition parties will make recovery to free themselves from the Tinubu-grip.
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