₦airaland Forum

President Muhammadu Buhari has come under fire for allegedly authorizing the use of the Presidential Jet for the wedding of one of his aides, Bashir Ahmad.

Reno Omokri, in s statement to DAILY POST on Saturday called on the President to refund the National Treasury the cost of using the Presidential Jet for his PA’s wedding.

President Buhari’s assistant on New Media, Bashir Ahmad wedded in Katsina on Friday and the Presidential Jet was said to have been used to ferry him and others in the Presidential Villa to the venue.

The Presidency is said to have denied using the jet to ferry Bashir, saying that it only flew the President’s representatives, but Omokri insists the excuse is flawed and shows that after five years in office, Buhari still does not understand statecraft.

Omokri, a former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan noted that a Presidential jet is not the property of the President but of the nation, and used only in ferrying him (the President) to and fro his official functions.

The former Presidential aide recalled that a similar incident happened in South Africa when on September 12, 2020, it was discovered that President Cyril Ramaphosa had allowed his Minister of Defence, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, to travel with South Africa’s Presidential Jet for an official meeting of the African National Congress.

According to him, “Once this came to light, the Julius Malema led Economic Freedom Fighters pressure group, insisted that the President and his party must reimburse the national treasury for the cost of the trip, as well as suspend the Defence Minister.

“In less than 48 hours, the ANC capitulated and reimbursed the national treasury, and the fate of the Defence Minister is hanging in the balance.Also, the Office of the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, is investigating the ANC and the government over the incident.That is how it should be.

“It is a significant breach of his fiduciary duties for General Buhari to give out the Presidential jet to his representatives to his Personal Assistant, Bashir Ahmed’s wedding in Katsina on Friday, September 27, 2020. This is a private event that has no bearing on Nigeria.

“And the excuse given by the Presidency that the jet did not ferry Bashir, but only flew the President’s representatives is flawed and shows that after five years in office, General Buhari still does not understand statecraft.

“If this had occurred in the United Kingdom, it could have caused the government to fall.I understand that standards have slipped in Nigeria since 2015, but we must at least pretend to be a civilised nation.

The Buhari administration keeps complaining that times are hard, but they are living large at our expense and Nigerians should not take this lying low from a government that just increased fuel price and power tariff.

“The wedding of your subordinates is a private affair. It is not an official function.I, therefore, call on General Buhari to reimburse the national treasury for the cost of fuelling the Presidential jet to Katsina for Bashir Ahmad’s wedding, as well as the cost of paying the crew.

“I also call on the President to suspend all public officials involved in this abuse of office. Failure to do so is proof positive that the President is not in charge of his government and his anti-corruption war is, in reality, an anti-opposition war.”

Racoon:
https://dailypost.ng/2020/09/27/president-buhari-under-fire-for-allegedly-authorizing-presidential-jet-for-aides-wedding/

South African defence minister's pay docked over use of air force plane

South Africa's president has docked three months of the defence minister's pay after she allowed governing party officials to fly on an air force plane to Zimbabwe with her on 9 September.

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was accused of misusing state resources for party political business.
The defence force had argued she was on official business and had simply given the other passengers a lift.
But President Cyril Ramaphosa called it an "error of judgement".

Ms Mapisa-Nqakula had been travelling to Zimbabwe's capital Harare for a scheduled meeting to discuss regional issues.
The delegation from South Africa's governing party - the African National Congress (ANC) - was meanwhile going there for crisis talks with Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party aimed at helping tackle the country's political and economic woes.


But opposition politicians were extremely critical of the fact that she let the ANC delegation hitch a lift with her.

Mr Ramaphosa, who in coming to power had pledged to clean up the ANC's reputation after a decade of corruption scandals, said that by giving the ANC delegates a lift on the plane, she had not acted "in the best interest of good governance".

As a result, he said he had decided to dock Ms Mapisa-Nqakula's pay, with the money going to a fund to help fight coronavirus.
In response, the opposition Democratic Alliance party said Mr Ramaphosa had not gone far enough, characterising the punishment as a slap on the wrist.

The issue could be discussed further in parliament amid some calls for her to be sacked.