A human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the members of his family from using any of the aircraft in the presidential fleet.
Falana stated this while condemning President Buhari’s daughter, Hanan’s use of a presidential jet to Bauchi for a private function.
Following criticisms and condemnation of the act by Nigerians on social media, spokesman to President Buhari, Garba Shehu had said there was nothing wrong for the president’s daughter or any member of the First Family to fly the Presidential jet.
He added, “The normal practice in existence for a long time is that the presidential air fleet is available to the president and the first family and four others. These four are the vice-president, the senate president the speaker and any other person authorised by the president,” he added.
But in a statement on Sunday, Falana refuted the claim by Shehu.
According to Falana, the “official policy” of the Nigerian Government “does not authorise the children of the President to use the presidential jets to attend to private social functions.
“In fact, there is no precedent whatsoever for such privatisation of the presidency of Nigeria.
“The so called ‘normal practice’ of using the aircraft in the presidential fleet by members of the first family to attend to private engagements is not backed by any extant law or official policy.
“In view of the foregoing, we call on President Buhari to stop the members of his family from using any of the aircraft in the presidential fleet with a view to cutting down on waste”.
“A country that is said to be the headquarters of the greatest number of poverty stricken people in the world cannot afford to waste billions of Naira on the use of presidential aircraft and hiring of commercial jets by state governors that are owing workers several months of unpaid salaries,” he said..
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