Anxiety intensified on Wednesday after President Bola Tinubu departed Nigeria for South Africa as the head of the Nigerian delegation to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s second-term inauguration on his own private aircraft.

Peoples Gazette learnt that Mr Tinubu left the presidential wing of Muritala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Tuesday morning via his private jet, a Dassault Falcon 8X. The development has raised concerns among Nigerians about the current state of Nigerian president air fleet. The main aircraft of the president has suffered repeated breakdowns in recent years, forcing frequent maintenance work by aviation technicians. 

Now opposition leaders, including Peter Obi, are weighing in on the wisdom of a new aircraft for the president at a time of national economic pains. Yet, other members of the opposition, including prominent supporters of Mr Obi on social media, are warning that politics should not be allowed to creep in when it comes to decisions bordering on the president’s safety. 

The concerns intensified after the president’s plane broke down in the Netherlands during a trip in April, forcing him to improvise with a chartered private aircraft to an onward summit in Saudi Arabia. 

Vice President Kashim Shettima also had to cancel his trip to the United States earlier this month due to issues with the presidential jet. He had been using commercial planes to move within Nigeria.

Following the president’s departure to Pretoria on his own private plane, which he had parked since being sworn in as president on May 29, 2023, many commentators are again calling on a new official plane for the Nigerian president. Lawmakers have already opened discussion about the matter in the parliament, with some express the acute nature of the situation. 

Nigeria has maintained deep ties with South Africa for decades. Since Nelson Mandela, every Nigerian leader has travelled to Pretoria for the inauguration of a new South African president.

Mr Ramaphosa, 71, was reelected for a second term via a coalition of his ruling African National Congress and other political parties after the ANC suffered historic losses not seen since it became the dominant party following the 1994 elections.

Mr Tinubu’s decision to embark on the trip, accompanied by using his own personal jet, marked the latest indication of his wariness with the official presidential jet. Nigerian presidents have long flown on the country’s main luxury jet, and the current one was first commissioned in 2005.