Report: Private Jet President Tinubu Flew To South Africa Is Owned By Lebanese Ally, Chagoury, Who Was Awarded Controversial Lagos-Calabar Highway

The Nigerian President arrived at Waterkloof Air Force Base on the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital, on Tuesday evening.

President Bola Tinubu departed Lagos for South Africa to attend the inauguration of the country’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa in a private jet belonging to his Lebanese ally, Gilbert Chagoury, SaharaReporters reports.

The Nigerian President arrived at Waterkloof Air Force Base on the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital, on Tuesday evening.

Video and pictures released by the South African presidential media team showed Tinubu disembarked from a Dassault Falcon 8X aircraft.

However, SaharaReporters gathered that the private jet marked 9H-GRC is owned by Chagoury Group, a conglomerate owned by Gilbert Chagoury, a known business partner of the Nigerian President.

Born in Nigeria to Lebanese immigrants, the businessman flourished in the 1990s through his close association with the late dictator, Sani Abacha by receiving development deals and oil franchises.

After Abacha’s death in 1998, the Nigerian government hired lawyers to track funds stolen through associates of the late dictator.

The trail led to bank accounts all over the world, some under Gilbert Chagoury’s control.

In 2000, the Lebanese businessman was convicted by a Swiss court for laundering some of the funds Abacha looted from Nigeria.

He agreed to pay a fine of about 1 million Swiss francs (about $600,000) at that time to get his Swiss conviction expunged and handed back $66 million to the Nigerian government but denied knowing the funds were stolen.

“To be more precise: the Falcon 8X (9H-GRC) is owned by the Chagoury Group and operated by Hyperion Aviation: https://x.com/se_spotting/status/1803147789138063817. Less politics now, more aircraft news,” @avinngblog, an X account known for aviation news in Nigeria added.