Senate President, Godswill Akpabio has finally told suffering Nigerians that the Senate will approve the proposal for the purchase of a new presidential jet if President Bola Tinubu made a request for it.
After much flipflopping on the issue, Mr Akpabio stated this at the plenary on Thursday, claiming however, that there is no request for the approval of the purchase of a presidential jet before the Red Chamber.
Media reports had alleged that Tinubu was seeking the National Assembly’s approval of funds for the purchase of a new presidential jet – despite austere times and notwithstanding the fact that the presidential fleet has at least 10 planes, with the current president’s jet only about 19 years old.
This had outraged Nigerians, who accused the president of asking them to tighten their belts, but not doing same.
But Akpabio said, “We care about the president and we care about the Nigerian people. We will approve things that will benefit the Nigerian people.
“We will approve things that would improve the living standard of the people. At the same time, we will also take cognizance of the duties of the president.
“If his vehicle is bad, we will repair the vehicle. If his plane is bad, we will approve money for the repair of the plane. So that is not an issue. There is nothing before us. I don’t think you should worry about it.”
He also said, “ Somebody called me from BBC, that what I said in Senator Mongunu’s house, was false and should be disregarded, that I was now saying that I will not approve.
“That is what you can call anticipated blackmail. The professors of the story know very well that maybe there is a problem with the presidential fleet and that where they will go will be the parliament.
”And so they are now trying to do anticipated blackmail to tell us if they bring it, do not look into it.
“So I think that we should ignore them because of what we are doing here. I read the president’s correspondence to us. Nothing was touching on a plane or no plane, but I can tell you that when you hear stories such as the death of the vice president of Malawi as a result of a defective plane.
“And then you hear students such as the death of the president of Iran as a result of defective aircraft.
“We shouldn’t ever sit and allow such to be at the ocean. It wouldn’t be. The Senate is very responsible. The National Assembly is very responsible. We will look into issues that will benefit the governance of the country.”
He added, “Irrespective of anticipatory blackmail, because those people know very well that something like that might come in the future. And if it’s a necessity, the Senate will look into it. But there is nothing like that before us now.”
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