Hanan Buhari, the youngest daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday visited Bauchi on a presidential jet to attend a special durbar ceremon
Hanan Buhari, the youngest daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday visited Bauchi on a presidential jet to attend a special durbar ceremony organized in her honour by the Emir of Bauchi, Rilwanu Adamu, at his palace on Wednesday January 9, 2020
A certified creative photographer who recently bagged a first-class degree in Photography from Ravensbourne University, London, Hanan Buhari is expected to document her experiences in pictorial form in her gallery.
The photography aficionado arrived at Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi on Thursday, and was received by the First Lady of Bauchi State and other government officials.
It was gathered that the durbar was specially organized to avail the president’s daughter of the opportunity to take photographs of the traditional durbar, Bauchi architecture and other cultural sites in the state.
Her visit on a presidential jet has however caused social media storm, with most people condemning the use of the Nigerian Airforce aircraft for “personal use”. This is despite complaints by Nigerians that the budget of N8.5bn for the Presidential jets in the 2020 budget is too high.
By law, only the President, first lady, Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker, Chief Justice of Nigeria, former Presidents and a Presidential delegation are allowed to use the Presidential jet.
Recall that Buhari had before becoming President, criticised past governments for misusing public funds. Even the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC had promised to sell off some of the jets in the Presidential fleet due to the high cost of maintenance.
However, only two helicopters out of the fleet of 10 was donated to the Nigerian Air Force while two presidential aircraft, a Falcon 7X executive jet and Hawker 4000, that were advertised for sale in October 2016, had yet to be sold as of 2018.
Pro-transparency activist, Inibehe Effiong, described the use of the Presidential jet by Buhari’s daughter as an abuse of office and a waste of tax payers’ money.
“Buhari is only fooling himself and his supporters with this fake integrity,” he added.
But some Buhari supporters, however, said there was nothing wrong with the President allowing his daughter to use the Presidential jet. When contacted on the telephone, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said a statement would be issued soon.
“We will soon put out a statement,” he said.
