Senate President Godswill Akpabio has denied receiving any letter from President Bola Tinubu requesting the upper chamber’s approval for the purchase of a presidential jet.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the Senate and the House of Representatives were billed to resume from the short break on July 2, but the presidency requested that the parliament convene for emergency session to further extend the implementation of 2023 to December 31, 2024.
There were reports that Mr Tinubu was also seeking the National Assembly’s approval of funds to purchase the new presidential jet.
But speaking after a closed-door meeting at the chambers which lasted for over an hour, Mr Akpabio said the report was sponsored by mischief makers.
He said: “I have never had that correspondence to approve the purchase of a plane. We care about the president; we care about Nigerians. We will approve things that will benefit the people.”
“There is nothing before us. But the purveyors of the story know that there is a problem with the presidential fleet.”
Earlier, the Senate leader, Opeyemi Bamidele said, “There is no such request, if the request comes, not only the Senate will debate it, we are 469 here. So this is the handiwork of fifth columnist and propagandists.”
