Former aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to refund to the national treasury the cost of using Presidential jet to ferry his representatives to his Personal Assistant, Bashir Ahmed’s wedding in Katsina on Friday.
In a statement by Reno Omokri, he stated that: “A Presidential jet is not the property of the President. It is the property of the nation, let to the President for use in ferrying him to and fro his official functions.”
“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 25, 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,” he said
Reno cited occurrences in South Africa and where reimbursement was subsequently made to the national treasury.
According to him, “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.”
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 suspends 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.
In addition, the Office of the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, is investigating the ANC and the government over the incident, he said.
“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,” he added.
Reno said that the Buhari administration keeps complaining that times are hard, but they are living large at the country’s 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,” he concluded.
