Close Menu
GRASSROOTS PARROT
  • Home
  • News
    • Crime
    • Health
    • Education
    • Agric
    • Climate Report
    • Economy
    • Women Affairs
    • Special Reports
    • Africa
  • Investigations
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Environment
  • Sports
  • More
    • Entertainment
    • Opinions
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Trending
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp Telegram
GRASSROOTS PARROT
Subscribe
  • Home
  • News
    • Crime
    • Health
    • Education
    • Agric
    • Climate Report
    • Economy
    • Women Affairs
    • Special Reports
    • Africa
  • Investigations
  • Business

    Tinubu Signs Tax Reform Bills Into Law, Targets Investment and Revenue Growth

    June 26, 2025

    Tinubu Set To Sign Tax Reform Bills Into Law, Promises Fairer Economy For Nigerians

    June 26, 2025

    Blackout Looms As Electricity Workers Give Strike Notice

    June 5, 2025

    Emir Sanusi Woos Foreign Investors, Assures Opportunities, Profit Margin In Nigeria

    May 8, 2025

    Dangote Accuses Oil ‘Cabal’ Of Sabotaging His $20B Refinery

    May 5, 2025
  • Politics

    Gov. Yusuf Appoints New Chief Of Staff, DG Special Services

    July 10, 2025

    CHRICED Warns NASS Rift Could Cripple Democracy, Advocates Unicameral Legislature

    July 4, 2025

    Coalition Of Political Heavyweights Adopts ADC To Unseat Tinubu In 2027

    July 2, 2025

    RENEWED HOPE VANGUARD FOR TINUBU: A GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT TO CONSOLIDATE THE GAINS OF THE TINUBU PRESIDENCY

    July 1, 2025

    “Kwankwaso Is A Political Burden, Take Him.” – NNPP Tells APC

    June 30, 2025
  • Environment
  • Sports
  • More
    • Entertainment
    • Opinions
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Trending
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
GRASSROOTS PARROT
Home » Tinubu Flew Commercial Flight From Netherlands To Saudi As Two Presidential Jets Break Down
News

Tinubu Flew Commercial Flight From Netherlands To Saudi As Two Presidential Jets Break Down

Editor1By Editor1April 28, 2024Updated:April 29, 2024
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Telegram
TINUBU TRAVEL
Bola Ahmed Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu was ferried to an economic summit in Saudi Arabia by a commercial aviation operator this weekend after his main luxury jet was taken into rehabilitation and a second aircraft he was travelling with developed a technical snag in the Netherlands.

The Nigerian leader arrived in The Hague on April 23 for a series of economic and diplomatic engagements at the instance of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

He learnt shortly before he was scheduled to depart the Netherlands on Friday that his plane had suffered unspecified problems, officials said under anonymity to discuss sensitive details of the president’s itinerary. Another official said some of the technical complications included an oxygen leak.

This forced the president and his delegation to leave behind the Nigerian government aircraft and use a charter jet company to facilitate their onward journey to Saudi Arabia for a special session of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh, arriving on Friday night.

The Gazette exclusively gathered that Tinubu and some of his personal aides left Rotterdam on a Falcon 8X 9H-GRC private jet for the summit, which is scheduled for April 28-29. The rest, including several ministers and other high-ranking administration officials, made the trip on separate support aircraft and commercial airlines.

READ ALSO: Shettima Departs For Nairobi As Tinubu Yet To Return From Saudi

The knotty aircraft, a Gulfstream G550 class, was originally dedicated to Vice-President Kashim Shettima. However, the president used it on his foreign trip because his own dedicated carrier, the Boeing 737 business jet class operated by the Nigerian Air Force 001, has been under maintenance for several weeks.

On March 25, the plane was taken to a maintenance facility at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, a commercial administrative region jointly controlled by France, Germany, and Switzerland. As of Saturday night, it had not been returned to Nigeria.

The Gulfstream jet was later fixed and sent to Saudi Arabia, where it is now waiting to return the president to Nigeria after his official trip on April 29, The Gazette heard.

The vice-president was also forced to piggyback on chartered planes for his official trips. He was in Iperu-Remo on Saturday in a private plane hired from a Lagos-based consortium.

A spokesman for the president did not immediately return a request for comments about the crisis. The Nigerian Air Force also declined to comment.

READ ALSO: Tinubu Leaves Abuja For Netherlands, Saudi Arabia

This latest incident is far from the first for the presidential air fleet. According to maintenance records reviewed by The Gazette, the Boeing 737 has been taken for extensive repairs at least seven times over the past three years.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the plane, and Nigeria took delivery on April 14, 2005. The former Nigerian leader started using the luxury aircraft, first manufactured in 1998 and with a capacity of about 30 passengers, for his air travels on June 29, 2005.

The plane has now served all Nigerian presidents in the uninterrupted Fourth Republic, advancing its reputation as one of the most iconic features of the Nigerian presidency.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari sent the aircraft for repair between late September and early October 2021. Barely two months later, the plane suffered another major fault, forcing the government to again return it for rehabilitation for nearly three months.

Records showed the plane was repaired again in early April and early May 2023 as part of efforts to get it in top shape before Mr Tinubu’s inauguration on May 29, 2023.

The Gazette learnt that over $8 million has been spent fixing the plane for different vulnerabilities since December 2022 alone. This is a significant amount for a country of 230 million with an unenviable reputation as the world’s poverty capital.

READ ALSO: Tinubu’s 2027 Agenda Unstoppable For Northerners – Arewa Group

Aviation monitors have publicly decried the huge maintenance expenditure as wasteful, prescribing instead that a new plane would serve the country better, renew confidence in air travel safety for future presidents and stave off unnecessary costs that could be diverted to other crucial areas of economic development.

Whereas Mr Tinubu has managed to carry out his official duties despite a pattern of last-minute troubles with presidential planes, administration officials are nonetheless concerned that the frequent glitches, besides being immensely embarrassing for the country, could potentially inflict a catastrophe of historic proportions.

“Many of us in this administration are more concerned about the clear danger that the planes are signalling than any ridicule from their frequent breakdowns,” an official said. “We are being told that the planes are old and there should be serious consideration towards their replacement.”

READ ALSO: Northern Elders Regret Voting Tinubu, Vow To Support Less Controversial Candidate in 2027

Nigeria has had a near-perfect record in air travel among its leaders since the first prime minister, Tafawa Balewa, flew private with his entourage in the early 1960s, including on a trip to the United States on President John F. Kennedy’s invitation in 1961.

However, concerns among officials have simmered since February 2019, when former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo survived a crash while travelling on a chartered helicopter for a scheduled campaign event.

Although the report of a formal investigation into the crash was never made public, initial questions were raised about the helicopter’s operators’ poor maintenance culture.

(Peoples Gazette)

Share. Facebook Twitter Telegram WhatsApp

Related Posts

Soldiers Neutralise Kidnap Kingpin In Kaduna After Failed Bribe Attempt

July 11, 2025

Gov. Yusuf Appoints New Chief Of Staff, DG Special Services

July 10, 2025

Criminalise Unexplained Wealth Now— EFCC Boss Tells Lawmakers

July 10, 2025
Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Latest Posts

Bribery Allegation: Kano Judicial Commission Sacks Worker, Demotes Court Registrar

February 10, 20251,075

Kano Govt Insists 6 p.m. to 6 a.m Curfew Remains Despite End of Hunger Protest

August 12, 20241,061

Kano Govt Clarifies Curfew Relaxation Amid Growing Rumours

August 4, 2024937

BREAKING: Kano Govt Suspends Curfew

August 12, 2024734
Don't Miss
Crime

Soldiers Neutralise Kidnap Kingpin In Kaduna After Failed Bribe Attempt

By Editor IIIJuly 11, 2025

Troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN have neutralised a notorious kidnapper and recovered a cache of…

Gov. Yusuf Appoints New Chief Of Staff, DG Special Services

July 10, 2025

Criminalise Unexplained Wealth Now— EFCC Boss Tells Lawmakers

July 10, 2025

“We Slept with 20 Men Daily — Even During Menstruation,” Rescued Trafficking Victim Reveals

July 10, 2025
Stay In Touch
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Telegram
  • WhatsApp
About Us

Grassroots Parrot is a community-oriented online news medium focusing on social justice issues and how they are affecting people in the rural areas. We adopt tripod approaches of investigative, developmental and solution journalism to unearth developmental challenges and hold authorities accountable on possible...

Email Us: info@grassrootsparrot.com
Contact: +2348060183014

Facebook X (Twitter) WhatsApp Telegram
Recent Posts

Soldiers Neutralise Kidnap Kingpin In Kaduna After Failed Bribe Attempt

July 11, 2025

Gov. Yusuf Appoints New Chief Of Staff, DG Special Services

July 10, 2025

Criminalise Unexplained Wealth Now— EFCC Boss Tells Lawmakers

July 10, 2025
Most Popular

Bribery Allegation: Kano Judicial Commission Sacks Worker, Demotes Court Registrar

February 10, 20251,075

Kano Govt Insists 6 p.m. to 6 a.m Curfew Remains Despite End of Hunger Protest

August 12, 20241,061

Kano Govt Clarifies Curfew Relaxation Amid Growing Rumours

August 4, 2024937
© 2025 GRASSROOTS PARROT
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

WhatsApp Share