Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on Tuesday insisted that former Governor Rotimi Amaechi, now Minister of Transport, abandoned a jet belonging to Rivers State government in Germany.
Governor Wike at a stakeholders’ meeting in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, refuted the claims by loyalists of Amaechi that the former governor left handover notes at the time of exit. He also highlighted the debt profile of the state and the government is paying back the loans procured from banks in Nigeria.
A former Commissioner for Transport in Rivers State, Tolofari George, had said that Governor Wike lied former Governor Amaechi abandoned Rivers State’s aircraft for 10 years in Germany. The former commissioner protested that Governor Wike was trying to malign and attack his predecessor over the aircraft, saying that a handover note containing details of the jet was submitted to Wike.
Governor Wike stated that there was no handover note at the time he was assuming office. The governor declared: “All of us are aware that there was no handover to this government.”
Governor Wike observed that when former President Goodluck Jonathan handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari, it was clear; but it was not same with Rivers State. According to Governor Wike, “If we had had a handover, we would have known what to do.” The governor told the former commissioner to provide proof of where the handover note is.
He said that his administration started getting intelligence in 2016 that the legacy jet was in Germany.
Governor Wike said that the plane was abandoned in Germany for the purpose of being diverted after the elections if the All Progressives Congress (APC) had won. He said that following up on the plane through 2017 and 2018, he decided to go to Germany to assess the plane.
Wike declared: “Let me just tell you people the whole essence of why they took the plane to that area. The former governor felt that he was going to install a governor in 2015. If Dakuku had become governor, that was just the end of the plane.
“As I speak to you, authoritatively, if there is any money we borrowed from the bank, we must pay all before the end of our tenure.
“The last loan we took from Zenith Bank was N25 billion, and the loan will be terminated in April 2023 because it is a monthly deduction paid. So, it is tenured.
“Another bank we bank with is Access Bank. We took N10 billion from Access Bank; we pay N900 million every month. So, before the end of this year, we are done with that N10 billion.”