The Comptroller General of Customs who is a
well known ally of Muhammadu Buhari was
spotted on Tuesday flying first class on British
Airways flight from London to Abuja contrary to
the President's directive.
In a clear violation of President Muhammadu
Buhari’s directive banning public officials from
flying first class, a well known ally of the
president, Hamid Ali, who is the Comptroller
General of Nigerian Customs, was spotted on
Tuesday flying first class on British Airways flight
from London to Abuja.
Recall that President Buhari had in April caused the
Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, to issue a
circular to all government agencies barring top
officials from travelling first class, a measure to
cut the high cost of travelling by public officials.
According to an exclusive report on PremiumTimes , the Britisg Aairways flight BA83 which took
off from Gate 43 of Heathrow Terminal 5, London,
on Tuesday, nearly an hour behind its scheduled
10.43pm departure time, arrived the Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Wednesday
morning at about 5:00a.m, with Ali on board.
Several passengers on the flight told disclosed that
they saw Ali seated in the First Class compartment
of the aircraft during the flight.
“It was a major talking point among some
passengers whether the policy (barring public
officials from flying first class) is being
implemented with exceptions or whether it is meant
for the shelves,” one passenger on the flight told
the newspaper.
There were notable Nigerians on board and a
number of them confirmed that the customs
comptroller-general was in the first class cabin of
the aircraft during the flight.
A first class ticket to and from London costs
$11,423.23 (about N3.4million).
As at the time of publishing this report, the
reasons for Ali’s travel to London remained
unknown as no one knew if his visit to UK was for
official or private purposes, but customs insiders,
disclosed to PM that the trip was official.
Wale Adeniyi, the customs spokesperson on
Thursday, confirmed Ali was on the BA flight, but
that he travelled on a business class ticket, but
sources, some of whom travelled business class,
said Adeniyi’s claim was inaccurate.
“That is not true,” one passenger said. “I was on
business class, and I was awake most of the flight.
So if you line up those on business class during
that flight, I can identify them.”
