Wike accuses Amaechi of flying Rivers State aircraft to Germany and abandoning it there

GOVERNOR Nyesom Wike of Rovers State has claimed that his predecessor Rotimi Amaechi flew a government Legacy 600 private jet to Germany and abandoned it there in a development that has so far cost over €3m.

In 2015, Governor Wike of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took over from Governor Amaechi, who had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).Mr Amaechi has since been appointed as aviation minister but the war of words between the two sides has continued unabated for the last seven years.

According to Governor Wike, intelligence sources have revealed that the state-owned aircraft was abandoned in Germany since 2012 by the administration of Governor Amaechi. Kelvin Ebiri, Governor Wike's spokesman, said his boss recently led a delegation of Rivers State leaders to General Atomics Aerotec in Munich, Germany, where the aircraft had been for the last 10 years, with a view to retrieve it.

According to Mr Ebiri, at a meeting with the general manager, business development of General Atomics Aerotec, Markus Froetschi, Governor Wike tried to get the aircraft back. He added that the aircraft was originally purchased Governor Peter Odili, who governened the state between 1999 and 2007.

Governor Wike said: “This plane was bought in 2003 by the government of Dr Peter Odili, and by 2007, he had handed over to the next government, which was my predecessor, now the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. While he was in office, by 2012 this plane was brought here for reasons we do not know."

Hon Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, the speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, said he was happy that the aircraft had been recovered and promised that the lawmakers would continue to support every effort to recover all government assets and property. However, Emma Chinda, the agriculture commissioner ion Governor Amaechi's cabinet disputed the claims levelled  against his former boss.

He added that the plane was approved and taken to Germany for maintenance purposes, adding that the present administration was only interested in playing politics with every situation. Mr Chuinda pointed out that Governor Wike's delegation had no aeronautical expert on it, proving that it was totally political.

"Wike has been talking about Rivers State plane for the past four years now, as usual, what he did was to take his comity of friends to use tax payers’ money as they have always done, to go for their meeting. If it is not so, tell me which aviation expert was in that delegation he took to Germany.

“When we were in government, that aircraft got bad and it was taken overseas for repairs. I don’t know how long it would have taken to come back but there was proper documentation done before it was taken out of the country.

 "Aircraft is not a taxi that you handle anyhow. It went for maintenance and there was proper documentation. It is the property of Rivers State government and that is why the authorities of those in Germany told that it belonged to Rivers State government and was on maintenance," Mr Chinda added.