INTRODUCTION
HISTORY
FUNCTIONS, STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION of THE PAF
PREPARING A PRESIDENTIAL TRIP
INSIDE THE AIRCRAFT
AIRCRAFT IN THE NIGERIAN PRESIDENTIAL AIR FLEET
INCIDENTS
THE PRESIDENTIAL AIR FLEET UNDER SANI ABACHA
THE PRESIDENTIAL AIR FLEET IN LATER YEARS
ISSUES THAT MUST BE RAISED ABOUT THE PAF
REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION
Although it is quite common to hear that Nigeria does not lead the world in anything, I want to say that is not correct (in President Jonathan's voice...lol!). A West African behemoth bursting at the seams with over 170 million souls, Nigeria is the world's largest grower (not exporter) of cassava even if we have not been able to make any sensible use of it. Cassava bread? Y'all need to dial Aso Rock for that. Manioc aside, Nigeria leads the entire continent in one rather exclusive and luxurious niche: it has the largest presidential air fleet of any head of state anywhere in Africa and it is one of the largest on earth. Oh, and our legislators are also the highest paid in the world, even if they are mainly a complete set of benchwarmers with no reasonable contribution to national development.

If they are not putting their smelly feet on the tables of the Hallowed Chambers, they are in a billionaire's house stuffing thousands of dollars in their caps. Back to business. Why were three pilots of the Nigerian Presidential Air Fleet killed? What happened when Abacha's plane nearly crashed in Ibadan? How PAF pilots were used for dirty jobs? You will know all in a bit. Btw, is a kwezy lover of planes and flying (don't blame me, I went to a Nigerian Air Force school) and today, we will take a look at one of the world's most prestigious air convoys, the Presidential Air Fleet of the Nigerian Air Force (PAF). I'm the captain today and you sure gon' enjoy the flight! Your belts, please.

HISTORY
In the late 1970s, the Presidential Fleet was commandeered by pilots from the Nigeria Airways and these included Captain Dele Ore and later the soft-spoken Captain Paul Mamman Thalal of the Nigerian Air Force (from the north). Captain Thahal, who was the Commander of the Presidential Air Fleet (he was also of the Boeing 747 fleet with Captains B. Allwell-Brown (Director of Flight Operations, he was from the South-South and was highly-detribalized), JB Ibrahim and HI Ogede) was the Personal Pilot and Captain of the Executive Jet of General Yakubu Gowon, who was the head of state (READ HOW CAPTAIN THAHAL SERVED MURTALA MUHAMMED IN DARING OPERATIONS HERE: http://www..com/murtala-muhammed-nigerias-most-popular-leader/8/ ). Thahal (a highly detribalized Nigerian too) commandeered the PAF with Captain Nnaji later retired as the Managing Director of the Nigeria Airways in 1979 (Thahal and Allwell-Brown brought some of the best quality leadership to the defunct Nigeria Airways and you can read of Thahal's service under Gowon here: http://www..com/yakubu-gowon-nigerias-wartime-leader/14/). As at that time, the Nigeria Airways was so good that its aviation safety records were some of the very best in Africa and its pilots were used by the Nigerian Air Force during the Nigerian Civil War through routes that were considered to be very dangerous or too risky. (It will also interest you to know that the most prominent non-commercial airline operators then, in addition to the PAF, included the Nigeria Police (now an empty black shell), Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Julius Berger (e don tey..lol) and the National Electric Power Authority, now also a dark empty shell of its former self, 'radiating' its darkness and dark energy all over the country).

-Under the government of the former President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, the Federal Government decided to purchase a new presidential aircraft as his predecessors were flying on commercial airlines and the Shagari government felt it was not dignifying enough (as if Nigeria’s poverty level is dignifying). So, the decision was made to beef up the PAF. But the most interesting part of the gist is that it was Shagari that ordered the plane (a Gulfstream which was to be the flagship of the Presidential Air Fleet) but he never used it, he never even got to receive it. The plane arrived in April 1984 and those in power then were the no-nonsense duo of Buhari (READ ALL ABOUT MAJOR GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI HERE: http://www..com/muhammadu-buhari-nigerias-strictest-leader/ ) and Idiagbon. When the aircraft (named FGN VICTOR) arrived that morning at the Airlift Command of the Nigerian Air Force at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, there was a torrent of criticism from the media as to why the government would maintain such a large presidential fleet while the FG-owned Nigeria Airways was in the throes of death and could not even get passengers.

-At a time between the Shagari and Obasanjo governments, the Presidential Air Fleet was made up of two Super Falcons, a customized Boeing 747 (then called the Victor 1) specially adapted for long-distance hauls, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (a widebodied airliner suitable for medium to long-range flights) and four Super Puma helicopters.

-Later, the Nigerian Presidential Air Fleet was commandeered by civilian pilots from the Nigeria Airways (of blessed memory) in collaboration with military personnel. This line of thinking was adopted then because of fear of overthrowing the Head of State in the air or using the airborne wing of the military to carry out a coup like the 1985 aborted coup under General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida when coup plotters were alleged to have planned to make use of NAF bases to launch a surgical strike or hijack the presidential aircraft and oust IBB. (Here is a bit on the aborted coup: in December 1985, the IBB government raised an alarm that it had discovered a plot to overthrow Babangida, and people implicated included the late General Mamman Jiya Vatsa, a soldier-poet, national chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors and IBB's childhood friend. There was something very unique with this particular plot: for the first time, air force officers, rather than those of the army, were to carry out the attack. The plotters were accused of planning to destroy the Dodan Barracks, then the seat of power and other strategic locations in Lagos from the air using NAF bombers. In fact, some of those convicted of plotting the coup like Martin Luther and Asen Ahura (both Squadron Leaders in the Nigerian Air Force) and Wing Commander Ben Ekele were actually pilots of the Presidential Air Fleet responsible for transporting IBB himself and other high-ranking military officers of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, AFRC. They were all executed.

-Luther had been in charge of the PAF, in fact, he had flown three Nigerian heads of state in the past few years and had just returned from a military training abroad. As for Ekele, he was the commander of the Strike Group at the NAF Base in Makurdi and was the leader of the Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters' squadron and for two consecutive years, he was voted one of the very best pilots in the NAF. IBB did not stop there, he revenged with a devastating blow to the NAF by crippling it with lack of funds, and the entire NAF itself would have been scrapped or turn to an airborne wing of the Nigerian Army but for the fact that the Chief of Air Staff, CAS, the late Air Marshal Ibrahim Mahmud Alfa, was IBB's personal friend. The NAF was so thoroughly battered that by August 1993, the Jaguars and other fighters had been sold off and all that was left was merely about five jets, almost dead and barely serviceable. This writer believes that the NAF is yet to recover from such a horrendous blow).

However, times have changed and the tides have turned. Today, the PAF is commandeered mainly by personnel from the Nigerian Air Force (and I must confess, you will really blush with pride seeing the crew, their training is impeccable and the sophistication with which they ferry the Nigerian Head of State from continent to continent is simply outstanding).

-The real evolution of the current PAF with the involvement of the Nigerian Air Force can be said to have started in December 1978 when the Federal Government made the decision to transfer the operations of all presidential aircraft in the fleet over to the NAF, from the Nigeria Airways. Reasons were not stated but can easily be adduced. For this purpose, an Executive Squadron was created under the NAF Military Airlift Wing. The NAF Executive Squadron later metamorphosed to become the Executive Airlift Group (EAG). At first, the defunct Ministry of Special Duties oversaw the budgets of the EAG but later, it became the duty of the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA). All along, a combined crew of NAF officers and Nigeria Airways crew was used.

-However, things changed suddenly in December 1985 following the abortive coup. IBB did not only thank his stars but also had the Presidential Boeing 727 aircraft withdrawn from the Executive Airlift Group and handed it over to an exclusive set of Nigeria Airways pilots to control. Thus, in 1986, the IBB government formed the Presidential Fleet (note, it was called Presidential Fleet, PF) with its first head being Captain Moses Gowon. The PAF under IBB operated a total of eight aircraft and when the Boeing was given to the Nigeria Airways, the remaining seven were left under the control of the EAG.

READ ALL AND SEE MORE PICTURES HERE: http://www..com/the-untold-story-of-the-nigerian-presidential-air-fleet/
BY THE WAY, I GOT THE PERMISSION TO USE AN IMAGE OF MIKE ADENUGA'S PRIVATE JET, YOU CAN TAKE A GLIMPSE HERE, IF INTERESTED: http://www..com/mike-adenuga-nigerias-second-richest-man/

This is hilarious

.

Fresh Air

Nice piece though,this should make the front page.

a simple case of SAFETY PARANOIA ....if you know what am talking about