So earlier today, News broke out that President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari,was on a flight to
London, with Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke,
also on board.
According to Sahara Reporters, Buhari’s trip was scheduled while
Diezani only booked herself on the same British Airways flight when she
discovered the President-elect was traveling.
The reports said she had been billed to travel to the UK next week
Tuesday, but reportedly asked the airline to book her on the same flight
as Buhari so that she could have a chance to discuss directly with the
President-Elect.
The flight was said to have departed Abuja this morning at 9:00am Nigerian time.
Well, there is a new development, read it below as reported by SaharaReporters:
Last night’s secretive and rather abrupt trip to London by Nigeria
President-Elect Muhammadu Buhari caught several of his political
associates unawares, several of them learning about it only when we
broke the story.
Asked if the President-Elect had any health
issues that may have required urgent travel overnight, they insisted he
appears to be healthy.
Meanwhile, sources have told
SaharaReporters that the efforts by the Minister of Petroleum Resources,
Diezani Alison-Madueke, to speak with Buhari aboard the British Airways
aircraft failed abysmally as the President-Elect only greeted her
during the boarding process and then quietly settled into his seat 2K in
First Class. The embattled Minister, SaharaReporters learnt, had
somehow booked herself into seat 3K, seating directly behind Buhari on
the six-hour flight.
Our sources said she rose up a few times
and tried to stir up a conversation with the President-Elect, but that
he only nodded and let her get back to her seat without permitting any
dialogue. The flight arrived Heathrow in London at 2:15p.m. local time,
but the passengers didn’t disembark until 2:45pm due to delays at the
airport.
Other Nigerian dignitaries in the First Class
compartment of the flight included the chairperson of the National
Electricity Commission, Sam Amadi, as well as Senator Philip Adida,
Segun Awolowo, and Hakeem Bello-Osagie, who sat in 4K directly behind
Diezani.
When the airline crew announced passenger
disembarkation, Buhari asked if Diezani had any of her bags in the
overheard compartment so he could step out of her way. It then turned
out she had occupied the entire overheard compartments with several of
her carry-on bags, traveled with two of her aides also in First Class.
Buhari was reportedly traveling with only one aide.
The Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK, Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, met Buhari at the airport.
As
SaharaReporters reported earlier, Minister Alison-Madueke was
originally scheduled to travel to the UK next Tuesday as she is billed
to address the Nigerian Senate on Monday regarding the fuel scarcity
crisis. Our source disclosed that upon learning of Mr. Buhari’s trip,
she booked herself on the same flight in the hope of an opportunity of a
direct discussion with the man who takes over the governance of Nigeria
one week from today. Her Ministry, reputed as being one of the most
corrupt, is likely to be among the first to come under Buhari’s
scrutiny.