The Public Interest Lawyers League has thrown its weight behind the action of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in grounding the private jet of Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, at the Akure airport on April 27.
The Public Interest Lawyers League has thrown its weight behind the action of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in grounding the private jet of Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, at the Akure airport on April 27.
In a statement signed by its President, Abdul Mahmud of PILL said that going by the provisions of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority Act of 2004, the agency acted within the law.
It expressed the view that, in effect:
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• The private jet illegally operated for three weeks on an expired type certificate;
• The owners of the jet willfully and or neglected to comply with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Act of 2004; and
• The NCAA has no record of Governor Amaechi’s interest in the private jet registered.
“The shorthand of this is that Governor Amaechi or the foreign operator of the private jet did not satisfy the NCAA’s terms and conditions,” the statement said. “Governor Amaechi should simply own up to his error rather than castigate a regulator that rightly exercised its powers granted to it by our rulebook.”
The organization further noted that since the saga broke, Governor Amaechi hasn’t provided any satisfactory answers that many public commentators have asked of him; stressing that it is worrying that a Governor who has over the years held himself out as a beacon of integrity and accountability has for two weeks weaved and ducked the question: “Are you the owner of the private jet, your excellency?”
It said there were issues in this regard that have been thrown up about the ownership of the plane.
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“If it is owned by the Government and People of Rivers state, why was the private jet registered to the Trustees of the Bank of Uttah? Was the private jet purchased through foreign loans obtained from the bank? If it is or it isn’t, what happened to the millions of dollars appropriated by the Rivers State House of Assembly for the purchase of the private jet?”
The statement said that while the PILL was waiting for Governor Amaechi to provide answers to some of these questions, it has written a Freedom of Information letter to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority requesting:
• A record of title to or any interest in the private jet kept by the NCAA, pursuant to Section 7 (1) (a) of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (Establishment etc) Act, 2004; and
• A record of registration and actual ownership of the private jet.
It urged Nigerians, as patriotic citizens, to recognize that they must begin to pose questions and demand answers from their public officials who think that the commonwealth can be turned into their private estates and their commons fenced off against the common people of our country.
“Governance isn’t about self-service or the willful and illicit conversion of public holdings into private uses,” the statement said, noting that private jets have now become the play toys of Nigeria’s Governors and their friends.
“At the last count, over 159 private jets occupy private hangers of our airports. In a country where poverty stalks ordinary folks, Governors- from Taraba, Rivers and Cross River to Akwa Ibom states respectively- exhibit such disdain for the condition of the ordinary people of our country. This saga presents us the one opportunity to ask questions. We simply cannot let it slip.”
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