Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has acquired a brand new Bombardier Global 5000 (N565RS) for his exclusive use.
Mr. Amaechi’s lavish new “toy” comes at a time hundreds of thousands of
residents in his state are displaced by the worst flooding crisis in the
state’s history.
The newly purchased jet left Montreal-Trudeau
Airport in Montreal, Quebec to Dakar Yoff International Airport. And
then it was delivered to the state government on October 7th 2012.
The
jet was primarily purchased from Bombardier in Canada for $45.7 million
through the Bank of Utah Trustee account. “This is an ungodly act,”
said a Port Harcourt-based human rights campaigner. “Why should Governor
Amaechi’s priority be to acquire a jet at a time the state is
experiencing the worst flooding in its history, leaving many Rivers
indigenes homeless?” he added.
Last year Mr. Amaechi traded off
the state’s current Embraer Legacy 600 claiming it was too expensive to
maintain. There were also unconfirmed claims that the jet was struck by
lightning.
The oil-rich Rivers State already owns an AW139
helicopter which it leased to Aero Contractors. The state then turned
around to patronize Aero’s VIP Sikorsky S76C helicopter at a cost one
critic described as “exorbitant and unjustified.”
Last
year, the state government sold its Dash 8-Q200 aircraft to Cross River
State for $6 million. Cross River State then leased the plane to Aero
Contractors to undertake commercial flights to and from Obudu airstrip
in the state
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