Oluwatosin Ojaomo, an Abuja-based lawyer, has sued Hanan, daughter of the President Muhammadu Buhari for alleged illegal use of the presidential aircraft for a photography jamboree in Bauchi State on January 10.
Mr. Ojaomo asked the court to order Hanan, who is the sole defendant in the suit marked CV/1023/2020, to refund the costs of both the fueling of the plane and the travel logistics incurred to the Federal Government’s consolidated revenue fund account.
The litigants further asked the court to make a declaratory order that she “has no statutory right to use the presidential aircraft which is provided for the president and other public officers for the purpose of performance of their official functions.”
The lawyer is also seeking a perpetual injunction “restraining the defendant, not being a public servant from using the presidential aircraft for private purposes as was done in Bauchi State.”
Mr. Ojaomo urged the court to issue an order compelling her to pay the sum of N2m as the cost of litigation.
The claimant satisfied the requirement of locus standi, saying in his statement of claim accompanying his writ of summons, that as “a taxpayer” and “an advocate of probity and accountability”, he knew “it costs Nigerians over N5bn to maintain the presidential fleet in the 2020 budgetary allocations approved by the National Assembly.”
According to him, the president’s daughter is not a public servant and therefore not entitled to spend public funds on her private projects in whatsoever means.”
Ojaomo recalled that “the reason many Nigerians voted Major General Muhammadu Buhari into office is because he promised Nigerians that he would ensure that corruption was fought to a standstill and to also ensure that all leakages in public spending were nipped in the bud and that all public funds should be spent judicially and judiciously in accordance with statutory provisions in Nigeria.”
Recall that Hanan had flown in the presidential aircraft to Bauchi for a durbar on January 10, 2020, where she was said to have been invited by the Emir of Bauchi, Rilwanu Adamu, to do a photographic document of the culture of the people there.
Hanan is a graduate of Photography.
A presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, had defended her use of taxpayers’ money for such a project.
Shehu had said in response to public outrage, “in existence for a long time, the Presidential air fleet is available to the President and the first family and four others, namely the Vice-President, the Senate President the Speaker and any other person(s) authorised by the President.”
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