Frightful flight: How Buhari queried pilot over ‘rough’ landing

Former President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, questioned the pilot of a Boeing 737 business jet he travelled with to Malta when the aircraft landed roughly after experiencing turbulence, a book written by Buhari’s former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has revealed.

The book, titled, ‘Working with Buhari: Reflections of a Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015 – 2023),’ was presented in Abuja on Tuesday.

Turbulence, which is common with air travellers, affects the balance of an aircraft, prompting flight passengers to fasten their seat belts and sit tightly,

As contained in the book, the crew was on a trip to Malta to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, when, upon landing, after turbulence, Buhari queried the pilot, “What kind of landing is this?”

However, the pilot, on touching down safely, responded, “We have just experienced what is called wind shear, a sudden change in the direction of wind. Apologies Mr. President, and distinguished passengers.”

The book detailed that the aircraft had also been under bad weather and experienced a change in wind direction.

The memoir read, “A presidential jet is not immune from bad weather and the accompanying turbulence (many hours of that we experienced). Neither is it spared from what aviators call wind shear (a sudden change in the direction of the wind). We had a frightful experience).

“In November 2015, we had travelled to Malta to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and it was an uneventful flight till the flight crew announced that we should get ready for landing.

“Few seconds from touching the tarmac, the Boeing 737 business jet got buffeted from all sides and began to sway dangerously. On touching down, it pirouetted and gyrated like a drunken sailor; and was almost turning over.”

The book also read a caption in its 21st chapter – “Over 50 foreign trips… and a health scare”, detailing how the former military leader travelled across 94 countries during his eight-year tenure with the highest being 19 trips in 2016, 18 in 2022, 16 in 2015 and 12 in 2018.

The same book revealed how Buhari had stated the reason why he didn’t sack the embattled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, despite speculations surrounding his (Emefiele) presidential ambition during the 2023 elections.

The Daura-born ex-head of state also defended the naira redesign policy under his administration, saying the policy wasn’t intended to punish Nigerians who had suffered to gain access to new naira notes as directed by the CBN under Emefile’s leadership.