ADABATV
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Saturday departed Abuja for a working and holiday tour covering Borno, Bauchi, and Lagos, travelling aboard the 20-year-old Boeing 737 Business Jet that had earlier been offered for sale before being quietly withdrawn after failing to attract serious buyers.
Ahead of the President’s arrival, the Borno State Police Command confirmed the deployment of specialised security units, including tactical forces, surveillance teams, and operatives of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) department, to reinforce safety across the state.
Tinubu left the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, at about 11:45am, beginning a multi-state itinerary that includes project inaugurations in Maiduguri, a condolence visit in Bauchi, and the Christmas and New Year festivities in Lagos. His decision to travel with the Obasanjo-era aircraft, identified by tail number 5N-FGT, signals its quiet return to service months after efforts to sell it proved unsuccessful.
The Federal Government had removed the jet from the international sales platform run by U.S. aviation firm JetHQ in early December, following prolonged negotiations that failed to produce acceptable offers. The aircraft, purchased in 2005 for $43 million during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, served successive governments until August 2024, when a refurbished Airbus A330-200 was introduced into the presidential fleet.
The Boeing jet was first placed on the market in July 2025 as part of the Tinubu administration’s cost-reduction measures. Despite this, it was used that same month to transport the remains of former President Muhammadu Buhari from London to Daura for burial.
Presidency sources later disclosed that the aircraft was withdrawn from sale after potential buyers proposed prices as low as $10 million—figures deemed unacceptable considering the plane’s partial refurbishment and extensive C1-C2 maintenance checks carried out at AMAC Aerospace in Basel, Switzerland, in July 2024.
In a statement released Friday night, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, outlined that Tinubu’s first stop will be Maiduguri, where he is expected to commission several projects undertaken by the Borno State Government under Governor Babagana Zulum, in partnership with the Federal Government. The President will also attend the wedding ceremony of Sadeeq Sheriff, son of former Borno State Governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and his bride, Hadiza Kam Salem.
From Borno, Tinubu will travel to Bauchi to pay condolence visits to the state government and the family of the late Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, the revered Islamic scholar and spiritual head of the Tijjaniyya Muslim Brotherhood, who passed away on November 27 at the age of 101.
The President will thereafter proceed to Lagos, where he is scheduled to spend the Christmas and New Year holidays. During his stay, he is expected to appear as Guest of Honour at the Eyo Festival slated for December 27 at Tafawa Balewa Square.
This year’s festival will pay tribute to notable personalities, including Tinubu’s late mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, as well as former Lagos State Governors Alhaji Lateef Jakande and Chief Michael Otedola.
