President Bola Tinubu has departed Abuja for France.
The Airbus A330 business jet conveying the President and some of his key aides lifted off from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at 04:08 pm, PUNCH Online reports.
Earlier on Monday, sources with knowledge of the President’s trip confirmed that the aircraft landed in Abuja at 08:30 pm Sunday after a nearly five-hour flight from EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in France.
“The plane arrived yesterday, and the President will be using it to travel to France today,” said a Presidency official who asked not to be named.
On Sunday evening, a statement by Tinubu’s spokesperson, Mr. Ajuri Ngelale, announced that the President will embark on his fourth trip to the European country on Monday, August 19, departing from Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Although the Presidency did not state the purpose and duration of Mr. Tinubu’s visit, it said, “The President will return to the country after his brief work stay in France.”
The modified jet is one of the three presidential aircraft recently seized by a French court in favour of a Chinese firm, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Limited, over a dispute with the Ogun State Government.
However, on Friday, August 16, Zhongshan announced that it had decided to release one of the three presidential aircraft belonging to the Nigerian government, which had been clipped down in France.
The Chinese firm said it did so as a gesture of goodwill, referencing a scheduled meeting between President Tinubu and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
Zhongshan said it realised the importance of the aircraft for this diplomatic engagement and, therefore, availed the equipment for use.
The dispute came just weeks before President Tinubu’s scheduled participation at the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation held in Beijing, China, from September 3 – 8, 2024.
In July, the aircraft was reportedly spotted in Germany with its tail livery featuring the seal of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Valued at $100m (N150bn), it contains a bedroom, an office space and a conference and dining room and will make its maiden trip with the President aboard on Monday.
It is Tinubu’s 23rd foreign trip since assuming office about 15 months ago.
So far, he has been Equatorial Guinea, London, the United Kingdom (twice); Bissau, Guinea-Bissau (twice); Nairobi, Kenya; Porto Norvo, Benin Republic; Pretoria, South Africa; Accra, Ghana; New Delhi, India; Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; New York, the United States of America; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (twice); Berlin, Germany; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dakar, Senegal and Doha, Qatar.
