Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, said that the state has located one of the state’s owned Legacy 600 aircraft, which had been flown to and abandoned in Germany, according to government intelligence.
Wike said that the aircraft had been abandoned in Germany by Governor Chibuike Amaechi-led administration in 2012 and that it was wrong for the previous administration to have surreptitiously transferred a state-owned asset to Germany and abandoned it without any paperwork.
According to a statement released by the Governor’s Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, the Governor led a group of Rivers leaders to General Atomics Aerotec in Munich, Germany, where the plane had been abandoned for ten years.
He claimed that the State government had spent more than three million euros on efforts to repair and rescue the plane.
Governor Wike revealed during a meeting with Markus Froetschi, General Manager, Business Development, General Atomics Aerotec, that his government had learned the Legacy 600 jet acquired by Dr Peter Odili’s administration was in Germany as part of an effort to reclaim State assets.
“We had no knowledge our plane was in your facilities when we came into office in 2015,” Wike added. We had to ask a lot of questions before we found out that Legacy 600, which belonged to our state, was in RUAG before General Atomics. And we attempted to contact you and were successful. Since a result, we wish to express our gratitude for not concealing anything from us, as it is the property of the Rivers State government.
“This plane was purchased by the administration of Dr. Peter Odili in 2003, and by 2007, he had handed it over to the following government, which was now led by Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation. This jet was transported here in 2012 when he was in office. We have no idea why.”
He claimed there was no evidence that the state-owned plane was flown to Germany and then abandoned for unknown reasons.
Wike said he had to fly to Munich, Germany, with a state delegation to verify that the Legacy 600 plane had been found and was on its way back to the state government.
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