Presidential Jets Still In Good Flying Condition – Former Lawmaker, Gbillah

A former member of the House of Representatives, Mark Gbillah has urged lawmakers to make public the outcome of the House of Representatives investigation on the faulty presidential jet.

Gbillah, who represented the Gwer East/Gwer West Federal constituency of Benue State in the 9th Assembly, is the former Chairman of the investigating committee for crude oil theft in the House of Representatives.

Speaking during an appearance on Channels TV programme, the former legislator opined that the lifespan of the aircraft is still within the allowable limit, adding that the issue with the aircraft might be due to lack of maintenance.

He said, “I would encourage the National Assembly to make it public. Every decision concerning this issue should be made public.

“We can even invite other experts to tell the National Assembly the true situation and the condition of our presidential fleet which I believe should be in good flying condition once every maintenance is made and if there are repairs to be done, those can be done.”

Gbillah argued that it is not ideal for the Nigerian government to purchase a new presidential jet when the living conditions in the country is terrible.

According to him, “If there has been an investigation about what transpired with regards to the aircraft, it should be made public. We have professionals replete in this aviation sector with knowledge about the industry.

“We do not need to go into procuring new aircraft at this time. The fact that something happened when Mr President flew to Paris and couldn’t fly to Saudi Arabia might not be something to do with the plane being faulty.

“It might have been an oversight on somebody’s part. It might have been a lack of maintenance. I do not think this is a time to be procuring new aircraft, that is being insensitive.”