The Nigerian Village Square - That "Tokunboh" Plane

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Mobolaji Aluko

That "Tokunboh" Plane – and Sedition in Nigeria

Wednesday, 28 June 2006

INTRODUCTION

Boeing Inc, with headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, is the largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, followed closely by Airbus of France. It typically takes 2 years to complete one of its aircrafts in the 737 New Generation (NG) series, from order to delivery.

One of such aircrafts being contemplated to be built was given the Construction Number 34260 in 2002 or 2003 by Boeing following an order by some "mysterious customer" – even though that did not mean that it would be built. However this particular one – a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) was built – the 1746 ^th737-NG plane ever actually built. [A total of 5097 737s have ever been built, as of June 17, 2006.]

According to a Boeing press release, the BBJ is a high-performance derivative of the commercially popular Next-Generation 737-700 and provides unsurpassed levels of space, comfort and utility, with a cabin offering 807 square feet (75 square meters) of space, nearly three times the interior space of competing models with similar range capability. There are currently 84 of such planes in service around the world - these include 10 BBJ2s which are based on 737-800 and which offer 25 percent more cabin space and twice as much cargo capacity as the standard BBJ. All BBJs are manufactured at the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group manufacturing facilities at Renton in Washington State, USA.

In any case, this particular BBJ 737-700 plane that we are interested in took its first flight ever on June 29, 2005, with a Boeing manufacturer "dealer plate" Registration number N1786B. Having passed that test flight in flying colors, it was given a substantive Registration number N1781B. It was then entered in the log books as signed, sealed and delivered by Boeing on July 5, 2005. At this time, the designation of the plane as a Boeing "type 7N6" was a code-word that it was a Boeing 727-700 meant for the Government of Nigeria ("7N6" is used for Nigerian government as operator.)

On July 14, 2005, it actually became the joint property of BBJ and the Government of Nigeria, and it was "re-registered" with the new registration number 5N-FGT. The following day, it was freight-forwarded to Newcastle County Airport (ICAO code KILG) in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. Still not completely satisfied with the thrust and fuel range of the standard BBJ, the Nigerian government asked for and got at least three and possibly seven auxiliary fuel tanks installed on this its spankingly new 737-7N6 plane, registration number 5N-FGT. This was achieved at the PATS Aircraft, LLC facility in Georgetown, Delaware. This enhancement was completed on August 31, 2005.

How did I get all the information that I gave above about this plane? Simply by using Google search on the Internet ! The reader is invited to try it himself or herself. I did not speak to a single soul!

And I stand to be corrected.

"TOKUNBOH PLANE" ALLEGATION - AND SEDITION KE ?

We were not to read about this plane again until

- it was allegedly physically delivered in Nigeria on or around May 7, 2006 – almost a year after last re-fitting by PATS;
- it developed an engine problem on May 16, 2006, and had a make an emergency landing at the namdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja a few minutes after take-off with President Olusegun Obasanjo and some of his aides and top government officials on board, all enroute to Paris, France. The new plane had only the week before returned from a trip to Indonesia and Kampala where President Obasanjo had gone to attend the D-8 meeting and the swearing-in of President Yoweri Museveni for a third term.
- A newspaper reporter (Rotimi Durojaiye, Daily Independent) reported on June 12 in an article titled ""Controversy over age, cost of presidential jet" (see below) a speculation that the plane was a five-year-old retrofit bought from abroad and previously owned by Lufthansa – a "Tokunboh" in Nigerian parlance, which in Yoruba literally means "arrival via overseas route.". This report was then the subject of a TV program (Focus Nigeria; anchored by Mr. Gbenga Aruleba) on African Independent Television AIT on June 13.
- June 14, Aruleba were arrested by Nigeria's SSS, and held in detention before being released the following day. He was asked to report back on a daily basis.
- June 26, Aruleba was re-arrested – this time with Durojaiye also arrested;
on June 27, they, along with their publishers and employers [the Africa Independent Television and the Daily Independent Newspapers Limited] were arraigned for sedition. The six-count charge sheet said their showed "intent to bring into hatred or contempt or excite disaffection against the person of the President or the Government of the Federation".

And that is where we are now.

These arrests on such a speculation is an atrocious attack on the Press and Media in Nigeria in a manner reminiscent of the dictatorial Abacha days, and an affront to the people of Nigeria to who the press owes an obligation to play a watch-dog role without caring whose ox is gored.

let us come to the issue of malice and sedition.

Could Durojaiye have missed the correct information? Certainly, since he is human – but he could have missed it without malice against the Nigerian government. In fact, he might have been looking for information about a standard 737-800 plane – maybe due to wrong information by the Nigerian government itself – but saw no Nigerian government plane listed in the relevant database, while in fact the plane that was purchased was a 737-700 BBJ.

Is there a Lufthansa connection ANYWHERE? Yes, a BBJ plane with Construction number 30752 – the 451 ^st 737 plane ever built , an 737-7CN/W with test number N1786B (first flown December 8, 1999), registration number N1026G, later re-registered as HB-IIQ – is shown in the accessed database as being operated (as of June 2002) by BBJ/Privatair/Lufthansa. The close association of Nigerian government with Lufthansa (Germany) in the past might have led to the present speculation that that was the same plane.

The point here is that the Lufthansa connection was not a WILD claim, even if it was an incorrect one.

A THIN-SKINNED GOVERNMENT WITH "BAD BELLE"

So, instead of the government charging the newspaper author Durojaiye for publishing the speculation, and Aruleba for discussing it on TV, why did it not just tender all the Boeing information to assert that the plane is indeed new? Should incomplete or speculative information about a plane be equated to sedition?

Absolutely not!

The arrest of Aruleba – for discussing a newspaper report on TV - is even more ridiculous, and both of the arrests must stem from "bad belle" (malice) over AIT and the general Nigerian media's very laudable and leading role in the demise of the Third-Term agenda (TTA).

EPILOGUE

Some legal eagles of Nigeria – for example Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana and others - have stated that the law about sedition in Nigeria is a dead law, and was brought over in the first instance by the colonial masters. This writer believes that it should stay dead. Hence Aruleba and Durojaiye should be released to their families and their employers without further delay.

Finally, for the rest of the one year left for the Obasanjo regime, it should not do anything further to heat up our polity unnecessarily: The First Estate of the Realm should leave the Fourth Estate alone.

I rest my case.

Robot Robot is offline
Villager


	# 1 INTRODUCTION Boeing Inc, with headquarters ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot\| 28.06.2006 16:04

omoeko omoeko is online


	# 2 NVS admin, thank you. This man Obasanjo is really wacko! Posted by omoeko\| 28.06.2006 18:05

I Love Nigeria I Love Nigeria is offline
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	# 3 Prof. Aluko, thanks for the wealth of information supplied. Some legal eagles of Nigeria â€“ for example Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana and others - have stated that the law about sedition in Nigeria is a dead law, and was brought over in the first instance by the colonial masters. Posted by I Love Nigeria\| 28.06.2006 18:07

kvin33 kvin33 is offline
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	# 4 Most Nigerians can smell 419 from miles away, few are naive about the nature of the FGN. Look if it really wasn't 5 yrs old, the smart thing to do is -like you said, provide the information to rival press outfits, discredit the "reckless" journalists, ask for a public retraction. The gross overreaching of charging a reporter with sedition for asking a question is remarkably shocking considering all the other crisis: Onitsha, Niger Delta etc the SSS should be focused on. I have to say, it makes you wonder what they are so scared of. Look, this overreaction will turn a one day story (most of us were initially unaware of) into weeks long or months long, depending on how long the court case lasts. Every news outlet should look into this purchase, pick it apart with a fine-tooth comb, lets see if the story we have so far is true or not. Personally, I read what you wrote and I still see a gap of months when anything could have happened. I will not be surprised if the jet from boeing was sold off and a five year old similar one from lufthansa purchased instead, repainted and sent to Nigeria. Of course, the balance pocketed. I hope I am wrong, but think about it, SEDITION! They probably wanted TREASON but got scared they might not be able pull it off. Nonsense! Posted by kvin33\| 28.06.2006 18:08

Incredulous Incredulous is offline
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	# 5 Thank you, Mr. Administrator for publishing the facts about the presidential jet on the NVS. I really do appreciate it because I tried to get the information myself on the Boeing website but did not come up with much - maybe search terms. You have done what the press in Nigeria and our many online commentators (quick to rush to judgement oft times) should have done in the first place. The facts! The facts!! It is odd to me that in the whole rush to condemn the government for what is an over the top reaction (OTT), not one newspaper, magazine or commentator thought it fit to seek and publish the facts so that Nigerians could have an informed opinion about the controversy. Like one of the other Villagers, Oluye, in a response to an earlier posting (Tyrannical Use of Security Agencies will lead to Anarchy), I am fed up with the unhealthy purveying of speculation, innuendo, conspiracy theories, rumours, conjecture and the like as news by some elements of our press. The last 2 weeks alone has seen so much of these and even when the facts disprove the original "news item" , there is no rejoinder or apology published - talk about callousness, malice and mischief. I do not hold brief for the government in any way (I still feel it's response is OTT) but I believe it is high time some marker is laid down in a court of law to temper the mischief masquerading as public service in some of our press. Neither the 2 journalists (the new "heroes" of our democratic struggle) nor their organisations have to my knowledge (I have been scouring the press reports) owned up to the fact that the original story was inaccurate. Their premise/ insinuation from where I see it, appears to have been that once again the government had set out to deceive or was deceiving Nigerians. However naive I may be, I can't fail to see the mischieviousness of it all when the facts could have been sought (as you did and I tried to do) if integrity, truth and accountability were the motivation behind it all. A case of giving a dog a bad name to kill it a nd not letting the facts get in the way of a good story. It may now be that the government is trying to prove a point going through the legal process (who advised using sedition as basis when the Supreme Court had already ruled on that one?) but it could have been handled less OTT. In addition, I believe that this is a wake up call for the government (present and future) that it cannot continue to operate in a nebulous/opaque fashion when it comes to informing the people about it's activities. It should be clear by now that Nigerians are rightly distrusting and cynical about the way our "leaders" operate and that simple accountability, honesty and full disclosure instead of spin or half-truths will heal that "wound". The goverment had the information, why not publish it to counter the untruth and let Nigerians verify the facts for themselves? Instead by it's OTT response, it is creating an unnecessary controversy and further breaching the trust of the people that it so badly needs. This storm will blow away, I only wish that we will learn our lessons - the people, the press and the government - so we can work together in moving our nation forward. Thank you once again Mr. Administrator for doing this and I would like to see more of same in the Village. Facts! Facts!! Facts!!! Without them it is difficult for me not to remain incredulous about it all. Incredulous. Posted by Incredulous\| 28.06.2006 19:11

Onos Onos is offline
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	# 6 The days of decree 4 are back! And out the window goes press freedom!! Thanks to Retired General & President Olusegun Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Obasanjo, CIAF, FSC, PST, RPT, HTTP, blah blah blah. You can take a soldier away from the barracks but you can never take the barracks away from him. Posted by Onos\| 28.06.2006 22:10

emj emj is offline
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	# 7 ONOs---take back that statement about our very dearie President, it is very seditious:rolleyes: according to section blah blah of Decree 4 of the Fed govt of Nigeria Penal Code------------------u are under arrest for stereo-typing/casting our Presidente Posted by emj\| 29.06.2006 01:33

Oghre Oghre is offline
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	# 8 Onos, How dare you forget to include "RIP" in obj's list of abbreviations? Posted by Oghre\| 29.06.2006 03:55

Celebr8 Celebr8 is offline
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	# 9 Sedition my foot! This is what my Father would call "killing a fly with a gun" or "curing a headache with decapitation". Now they're wasting taxpayers money pursuing a stupid case, the primary motive of which is to remind journalists that despite the failure of the third term bid, Obasanjo is still in control. The government of Nigeria is behaving like a spoilt child who has been refused a toy and is now throwing tantrums. We shall see! Posted by Celebr8\| 29.06.2006 05:40

oluye oluye is offline
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	# 10 Here we are again using unequal criteria in our judgement. Scene one. CNN reports that 40% of Nigerians are corrupt , we all get angry, we demand apology. Even when CNN apologises we still say the damage has already been done. It has already registered on the psyche of the whole world. If you want to confirm this response, it is still very fresh on this website. Scene two. Nigerian reporters who should seek to present a good image for Nigeria errorneously say that the president, who at present is in a very precarious position, was so foolish as to buy a "tokunboh" plane(which anyone can verify). It is not only an insult of the president's morals but also an insult of his wisdom. Now here is the twist, we say the president has no right to seek redress in a court of law! We call him names for reacting against a defamation of his person and his office. How long are we going to call black white? Does the rule change because the offence is against Obasanjo? Does the Nigerian press itself accord human right to all? I think the right thing to do is that the issue should be resolved in court so that the resolution can be as widely publicised as the insult and injury. If the reporters enter a plea and the government accepts, fine. On this issue, I have come to lose a lot of respect for so called eminent Nigerians, it has shown that they too have their own caucus and they are far from being impartial umpires. Finally, we need to ask ourselves, as we demand "understanding" from the president, has the press ever shown understanding to the president? Posted by oluye\| 29.06.2006 06:13

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