Tinubu had travelled to Saudi Arabia on a charter flight at the weekend for the ongoing World Economic Forum in Riyadh from the Netherlands.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has left Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for London, England, SaharaReporters has gathered.
Tinubu had travelled to Saudi Arabia on a charter flight at the weekend for the ongoing World Economic Forum in Riyadh from the Netherlands.
The Nigerian leader arrived in The Hague on April 23 from Nigeria for a series of economic and diplomatic engagements at the instance of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
A Nigerian newspaper, Peoples Gazette had reported how Tinubu learnt shortly before he was scheduled to depart the Netherlands on Friday that his plane had suffered unspecified problems, one of which an official identified as including an oxygen leak.
The president and his delegation left the presidential aircraft behind and opted for a charter jet company to take them to Saudi Arabia for the forum, arriving on Friday night.
The Gazette reported that Tinubu and some of his aides left Rotterdam on a Falcon 8X 9H-GRC private jet for the summit, which was 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.
Checks by SaharaReporters also revealed that the Gulfstream G550 marked 5N-FGW was parked at Riyadh International Airport in Saudi Arabia at the time of filing the report on Sunday.
According to a statement issued last week by the special adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, the special World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Riyadh was expected to end on Monday, April 29.
“After his engagements in the Netherlands, President Tinubu will proceed to attend a special World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting scheduled for April 28-29 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,” the statement had read.
While Ngale’s statement was silent on when the President would return to Nigeria after the summit, investigation shows that Tinubu on Tuesday morning left Saudi Arabia for London.
SaharaReporters gathered that the presidential aircraft which conveyed Tinubu, a Gulfstream Aerospace GV-SP (G550) with registration number 5N-FGW and serial number 5310 (Mode-S 0640F2) left Riyadh International Airport at 12:05 am (02:05 am Saudi Arabian time) and arrived at Stansted Airport, London at 06:35 am, UK time.
The 5N-FGW (Gulfstream Aerospace) which was operated during the 6 hours 30 minutes trip as Nigerian Air Force 1, meaning the President was on board.
The jet was used to replace the Boeing Business Jet (Boeing 737-700) 5N-FGT that is still in Germany for repairs.
“Nigerian Air Force 1 isn't technically the plane, it's simply the radio call name for any Nigerian Air Force jet carrying the President of Nigeria.
“As soon as the president steps aboard an Air Force jet, either the Boeing Business Jet (Boeing 737-700) 5N-FGT or Gulfstream Aerospace GV-SP (G550) with registration number 5N-FGW or the Falcon 7X jet (5N-FGV), that aircraft is referred to as Nigeria Air Force 1 by the crew and all air traffic controllers, in order to avoid confusion with any other planes in the area and give him special treatment.
“No plane can operate as Nigerian Air Force 1 without the President onboard, it’s an illegal and treason offence. So for it to be operated as NAF 01 to London as you stated clearly showed President Tinubu was onboard.
“If you check the flight history of the current plane in London, you would have realized it was operated recently as Nigerian Air Force 2, meaning that Vice President Shettima was the one onboard,” a senior Nigerian Air Force officer told SaharaReporters.
Tinubu’s unannounced trip to London comes when most Nigerians are lamenting the hardship caused by the scarcity of petroleum products across the country as many businesses and households that depend on generators for power supply are in darkness.
Despite the government’s repeated claims it had enough petroleum products in stock, the scarcity has persisted amid a poor supply of electricity across the country.
The recent development comes amid economic hardship and ongoing security concerns in the country.
The Nigerian economy since Tinubu took over the affairs of the country in May 2023 has grappled with a series of complex challenges, with the prices of food items rising, almost on a weekly basis.
Hunger and poverty have also worsened in the country as a result of government policies such as subsidy removal, among others.
For years, the cost of insecurity, particularly in the north, has adversely affected agricultural production and cost of living.
Before the 2023 general elections, Tinubu’s health was a source of concern for many Nigerians.
SaharaReporters had reported how the former Lagos governor spent over four months patronising hospitals in France, the United States and the United Kingdom where he underwent several surgeries between 2020 and 2022.
He was flown out of the country some days before Christmas in 2020 to Paris, France. The President returned to Nigeria on January 24, 2021, after a month's absence from Nigeria.
He also went for a medical check-up in France in June 2021 and was conspicuously absent from a one-day working visit of then-President Muhammadu Buhari to Lagos State. Tinubu, amidst death rumours, was forced to return to the country on Tuesday, June 15, 2021.
SaharaReporters also reported that Tinubu was hospitalised in Maryland, the United States in July 2021. On August 9, the APC leader had another knee surgery at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Maryland, the United States.
The APC chieftain, it was learnt, left the US for the United Kingdom on crutches, a few days after the surgery.
Sources close to Tinubu had told SaharaReporters that he wanted the surgery in Paris, France but changed his plan over rumours of his death.
In August, his predecessor, President Buhari paid a visit to Tinubu in London and the latter was seen with a walking stick during Buhari’s visit, confirming SaharaReporters’ story that he had undergone surgery in the US.
Upon his return in October 2022, Tinubu confirmed that he underwent surgery on his right knee as well as post-surgery physiotherapy on the said knee during his medical trip abroad.
SaharaReporters also reported how the President, after the May 29, 2023 swearing-in became exhausted and went on a bed rest.
SaharaReporters had also exclusively reported that Tinubu returned to France to see his doctors, weeks before his inauguration on May 29.
“He is returning to France to see his doctors ahead of the stress of the inauguration period so he can prepare for his swearing-in,” a top source in the ruling All Progressives Congress had told the newspaper.
On May 1, 2023, SaharaReporters exclusively reported that Tinubu visited Lagos to take a medical rest and see some of his doctors who had arrived in the country to give him follow-up medical care.
It was learnt that some members of the medical team who treated Tinubu in France were in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria to give the then-President-elect follow-up treatment, which is the care given to a patient over time after finishing treatment for a disease.
Although his media aide, Bayo Onanuga insisted he was on vacation in France, SaharaReporters had exclusively reported that Tinubu fell ill after the March 18 governorship and State Assembly elections and was flown to France for medical treatment.
However, despite the denials, SaharaReporters also reported that Tinubu’s ailment was so severe that for five days while being hospitalised abroad, he could not speak and had to be intubated.