Senate Speaker Opeyemi Bamidele on Thursday said President Bola Tinubu had not sought approval for the purchase of a presidential plane.
The Red Chamber came under fire after reports of lawmakers’ plans to approve a new plane for President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima emerged last week.
Bamidele, who made the clarification during a plenary session in Abuja, dismissed speculation that the Senate was debating the approval of the presidential aircraft in the 2024 supplementary budget.
He said: “The Senate is aware of the insinuation that its President, God willing Akpabio, had indicated that we have a request for the purchase of new aircraft to be approved for President Tinubu.
“And the Senate President has indicated that regardless of whatever the Nigerian people are going through, the bill will be passed.
“As we sit here, some on social media are also circulating that we have had an executive session to discuss the president’s request for new aircraft and how we are going to approve it.
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“Let me remind Nigerians that there is the presence of fifth columnists and some other propagandists who are doing everything possible to destabilize this country and also destabilize parliament.
“I say for the record, as Leader of this Senate, that there has been no prior request from us.”
The Senate leader stressed that there was no basis for lawmakers to debate approval of new planes for the president and his deputy.
“This has never been discussed either in this Senate plenary session, or between individual senators, or in a plenary session.
“There is no such request. If that request comes, then the problem is not just with the Senate President.
“There are 469 elected representatives of the Nigerian people who will deliberate and take positions. We have 360 lawmakers in the House of Representatives and 109 in the Senate,” Bamidele said.
No Request for New Aircraft Approval from Tinubu – Opeyemi Bamidele first appeared on Latest Nigeria News | Top News from Ripples Nigeria.
