A member of the House of Representatives, Ali Isa, on Wednesday suggested that President Bola Tinubu should use commercial flights or travel by road due to persistent issues with the presidential aircraft.

Mr Isa made this recommendation while contributing to a motion presented by the Chairman of the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Satomi Ahmed, on the need to investigate the current state of the presidential fleet.

Recently, the President was flown to an economic summit in Saudi Arabia by a commercial aviation operator after his primary luxury jet went for repairs and a backup aircraft encountered technical issues in The Netherlands., 

Vice President Kashim Shettima also had to cancel his trip to the United States earlier this month due to issues with the presidential jet.

In a video circulating on social media, Isa was quoted as saying, “Mr Speaker, since an issue has been raised, I would advise that the President should suspend using the presidential aircraft; if there is a need, he can use either commercial or chartered aircraft.”

Mr Isa further suggested that the President travelling by road could positively impact the nation’s infrastructure. 

He stated, “Another option that will also help Nigerians is if the President can travel by road, Nigerians will have hope that our roads will be repaired.’’

However, his proposal was met with opposition from the Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who queried the practicality of such a suggestion.

Mr Kalu said, “So you’re saying my President should travel to Europe by road? The last time I checked, you were not travelling by road.’’

Mr Isa was intruded by the Speaker,Tajudeen Abbas, who called on the minority speaker to continue with his contribution.