Rivers Recovered Aircraft: APC Mocks Wike; Angry Questions For APC

By Adesina Soyooye

The Rivers State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, is mocking Governor Nyesom Wike over  the recovery of the State-owned Embraer 600 from Munich, Germany.

The Aircraft, which was bought during the administration of Dr Peter Odili, was for reasons yet to be made public, taken to Germany and abandoned there by the Government of former Governor Chibuike Amaechi.

Wike had, months ago, revealed that his Government received information that an asset of the State, the Embraer 600, was abandoned in Germany. He claimed it was not part of the handover note his administration was given by the Amaechi administration. He said he got to know about it when patriotic Rivers people brought it to his notice.

On Tuesday, September 27, 2022, Governor Wike who, in the past couple of months, has been in and out of Europe, flew back to the  Portharcourt  International Airport on the Aircraft. He was received with an elaborate receception marked by pomp and pageantry.

Addressing the people at the Airport, Wike commended everybody involved in the recovery of the Aircraft which he, re-emphasised, was abandoned by the Amaechi administration. It said it cost a lot of money to put it into shape and fly it back to Rivers State. He said his Government did so in the interest of the people.

But the All Progressives Congress, APC, which Government was headed by Amaechi is mocking Wike over the recovery. In a statement issued on Thursday, September 29, and signed by Darlington Nwauju, its Rivers Chapter Spokesperson, the APC said that the recovery of the Aircraft makes no economic sense. It calculated how much money it would cost to mIntain it and keep it. It said it runs into millions of Dollars. It also listed what the Government could do with that amount of money, and gave an unsolicited advice to the Government: Sell the Aircraft.

The full text of the statement reads:

“Our attention has been drawn to yesterday’s dramatisation of the return of an Embraer A600 aircraft to Rivers State, a feat “miraculously” achieved by the outgoing state government.

“We, however, wish to place on record that there is no economic benefit of a private jet to the people of Rivers state. We would like to educate the state government on what to do with the aircraft if it’s difficult to understand that there is a global economic meltdown and governments all over the world have their sleeves rolled up for work and not jamborees or investments with zero Return on Investment (RoI), that can only shoot up our debt burdens and deliver an unhealthy balance sheet to the incoming APC Government in Rivers State.

We recommend that the State Government should immediately dispose the said legacy jet A600 and invest its accruals into refurbishing all abandoned primary and secondary schools, resuscitation of the moribund primary healthcare system, pay off all outstanding salaries owed teachers of demonstration secondary schools, wrongfully dismissed lecturers of Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, 5 years salaries of RSSDA staff, pensions/ gratuities, students bursaries and many more unresolved obligations of the state government.

Rivers people are tired of the more than 2,675 days of inchoate rhetorics going on in the State.

We salute both the promoters of the “miracle” and the court jesters working on this monumental achievement, which no state government in Nigeria can EVER attain! We suspect that this miracle was made possible by the combined efforts of Germany-based metaphysicians who gained access to the handover notes of the Rivers State Ministry of Transport and discovered the Ministry’s assets/liabilities as at 2015 which included a Legacy jet A600 aircraft.

In the interest of our beloved Rivers State, we have elected to pose the following questions to the state government:

(a) From which budget will the state defray the following obligations – (i) landing cost of the aircraft which approximates to $20,000.00 USD?;

(ii) Daily parking fee of up to $2,000 to park on the tarmac or will the state award a contract to Julius Berger to build a hanger?;

(iii) Up to $4,100 navigational charges per flight whenever it has to be used?;

(iv) Minimum of N1.5m monthly salary for a Pilot and #500,000.00 for at least one cabin crew member?;

(v) Engagement of a ground crew (maintenance engineers, cleaners, security)?;

(vi) Maintenance, observation and repairs (MoR) to carryout C-check in Europe, the cheapest being in Turkey because of its proximity to Africa but this will cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars?;

(vii) Payment of insurance on the aircraft which is in dollars?;

(viii) 3million Euros cost of refurbishment;

(ix) NCAA air-worthiness check.”

But not a few Nigerians are wondering what the APC expected Wike to do. They are worried that instead of the APC to first of all, ask Amaechi why he abandoned the Aircraft in Munich,  Germany, it is asking why Wike brought it back.

The questions they are asking the APC are: If it would have preferred that the Aircraft be permanently abandoned in Germany to bringing it back? What economic sense does it make to abandon the Aircraft in Germany? Isn’t it a waste of money to abandon the Aircraft there? Why was it abandoned? And why was it not noted in the handover note given to the Wike Administration.

Said one angry Rivers Elder Statesman: “I will encourage the Governor to set up an urgent Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate why the Aircraft was abandoned in Germany. The culprits should be punished accordingly.”

The Rivers State Government is yet to respond to the APC statement.