Wike said so much money that would have served other state needs was expended on the aircraft to put it in order and make it air worthy.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has flown back Legacy 600, a Rivers- owned aircraft allegedly abandoned in Germany by the Rotimi Amaechi administration, to Rivers.
Wike received the aircraft flown into the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Ikwerre Local Government Area on Tuesday.
He said that it took diligent intelligence gathering by his administration to discover the asset, alleging how the administration of his predecessor Amaechi flew the aircraft to Germany with no record of the development made available to his administration.
He said, “To the glory of God, the plane is back and Rivers people can see, Nigerians can see, it is not that we are playing politics. All we are saying, we never knew, nobody told us until we got intelligence that we have this asset somewhere.”
The Legacy 600 Aircraft, he said, was purchased by the Peter Odili administration, but abandoned at the General Atomics Aerotec in Munich, Germany by the Amaechi administration since 2012.
“What is very important to all of us here today is that when we came into power in 2015, nobody handed over any report or gave us handover note to let us know where such asset of the State was, only for us to hear in 2019 that this asset is somewhere,” he narrated.
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Wike said so much state fund that would have served other state needs was expended on the aircraft, including putting it in order, certifying its air worthiness by the Nigerian government before the plane could return to Nigeria.
“Of course, we did everything we could do and we told Nigerians that the grace of God we will not allow this asset to go that way. We must return it for the people of the State to decide what they are going to do with it.
“I am so elated that at the end of the day, all of our struggles are not in vain. I thank Rivers people for the support. I thank the Rivers State House of Assembly for the support. I thank the Executive for the support.
“But for their support, it would not have been possible to spend the money we spent. If you hear the money we spent, it’s money that would have been put in other development projects if we were told on time of it,” Wike said.
Dignitaries also present to receive the aircraft include Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon.Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, Senator Barry Mpigi, traditional rulers and former Presidents of the Nigerian Bar Association, Onueze Okocha, SAN and Okey Wali, SAN.