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Rotimi Amaechi, The Aircraft Loving Governor Of Rivers State

One wonder what propels the thinking of some of our elected officials whom we have collectively placed a high dose of social responsibilities across their shoulders.  Some of them take us for a ride and think we are just mere pawns they used to achieve their political ambitions which will enable them to drill us and regard us as nothing but illiterate slaves that have no say or intelligence at all. Our leaders lack reading culture and they do not learn from the pages of history how great men in some political societies fell from grace to grass due to their insensitivity and ideological bankruptcy.

One wonder what propels the thinking of some of our elected officials whom we have collectively placed a high dose of social responsibilities across their shoulders.  Some of them take us for a ride and think we are just mere pawns they used to achieve their political ambitions which will enable them to drill us and regard us as nothing but illiterate slaves that have no say or intelligence at all. Our leaders lack reading culture and they do not learn from the pages of history how great men in some political societies fell from grace to grass due to their insensitivity and ideological bankruptcy.


This brings to mind the reasons given by the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amechi on why he was in desperate need of a new aircraft. According to the Punch newspaper of Wednesday, 27 July 2011, Amechi came out boldly to defend why he asked the state House of Assembly to approve the purchase of a new aircraft. Following the paper’s report, Amechi said he needed a new aircraft "because the small size of the old plane is not compliant with the current climatic conditions, and flying in it is dangerous".


Honestly this is the most ridiculous reason I have ever come across since this year by a government official any where in the world. Amechi failed to support his claims with scientific facts, neither did he show evidence or example of what he actually meant. Amechi is not an aircraft engineer or a safety consultant and he has little or no experience in the area of private jet ownership, how he came about the conclusion that the aircraft would pose a lot of dangers to him is what is not known to history at all. Honestly if the claim of the governor is anything to go by, there is a million dollar question that is begging him for an answer: if the aircraft is not “safety compliant” why did he sell the same aircraft to the Akwa Ibom State at the cost of $9m? This is a bad product that is both dangerous and deadly.

 

Governor Amechi is one of the few governors in Nigeria that I admire their works but in this case, the gentle man missed the point totally. In fact, his reason for the acquisition of a new aircraft is simply and squarely an excuse for lack of an excuse. This is very sad that it is Amachi himself that is at the centre of this storm. His claim is just to seek a justification at all cost typical of PDP politicians scattered around the country.

According to newspaper reports I monitored on the internet, this same aircraft, was used by Peter Odili when he was the governor of Rivers State. Odili never complained to the house that he needed a new aircraft because of its size or safety reasons.

Governor Amechi was among the 36 states governors who held a summit in view of the N18,000 minimum wage demanded by the Nigeria Labor Congress NLC. At the end of the summit, the governors issued a communiqué claiming that they could not pay the N18, 000 to workers. Today, Governor Rotimi Amechi who also like other governors, is having a big headache on the possibility of paying the new minimum wage for workers, considers buying a (jamboree?) aircraft more important than to alleviate the sufferings of his people who have elected him to govern them. The amount and the cost of monthly maintenance of this aircraft will be enough to pay the salaries of workers in Rivers State for some months without any form of economic stress. It is this amount that Amechi wants to ‘invest’ in an aircraft that will almost 100 percent serve no value to the state.


I really do not see any need for Gov. Amechi who has told 150 million Nigerians how poverty took a centre stage of his life and family when he was growing up, will now use the finances he ought to have used for the development of his state to by flying around in an aircraft instead of intensifying the fight against poverty. If the truth must be told, no governor in Nigeria really needs an aircraft. What for? To fly around the villages and towns of his state or what?

The best governor Nigeria has ever produced from 1960 till date which is Alhaji Lateef Jakande (I stand to be corrected) never used an aircraft during his term as the governor of Lagos State. Till date, the impressive high performances of Jakande are still noticeable and will still remain for everyone to see sor a long time to come. Jakande did all he did within a four year term and he never used an aircraft both personal and official.


The current governor of Lagos State today Babatunde Fashola does not use an aircraft. Governors like Peter Obi, Adams Oshimohole, and some other good governors around the country do not use any form of aircrafts. Outside the country, the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair always flew British Airways when he was in power. As Rochas Okorocha of Imo State does not need an aircraft to go round Imo state is the same way Adams Oshimohole, Babatunde Fashola, Rotimi Amechi or any other governor both good and bad ones do not need an aircraft to tour their states.


The reason behind Amechi's quest for an aircraft is just to be counted among the big boys in town who who are always on air flying around the for whatever purposes period!!!b To be fair to him, he has really transformed Rivers State in many ways and am sure he did not make these remarkable achievements through the aid of an aircraft. It is a big surprise to observers that a man who has tried his best in the transformation of his state will now turn around and rubbish his achievements by his quest to have an aircraft.

I suspect there is something mysterious about the PDP boys and their love for aircrafts. Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo spent billions on aircrafts. President Jonathan has also acquired new aircraft. Now the PDP governors are following their masters to acquire aircrafts in a country where poverty walks on four legs. Did OBJ record, or is GEJ about to record any achievement which Nigerians would look at today and say thanks to aircrafts?

During the time of his presidential debate in 2003, when he was running for the office of the president of Rederal Republic of Nigeria,, the irrepressible Lagos lawyer and the icon of human rights activism in the world, Chief Gani Fawehinmi announced to Nigerians that if he won the election, he would not travel out of Nigeria for the period of four years he would serve Nigerians as their president. His reason was that he had people who would be traveling for him on behalf of the nation such as his Nigerian ambassadors and his foreign affairs minister. Chief did not see any need for such travels and still on the same conviction, Governor Amechi should reason like Gani and realize that he needs no aircraft to govern the people of Rivers State. My advise for you is to realize that at the end of your tenure, history will judge you by your achievements, on how you were able to alleviate poverty from the faces of the teeming masses in your state, how you were able to work and improve on housing, social infrastructure, education, agriculture, economy and on how prudently you managed the state resources NEVER on the number of aircraft you used as a governor.

Your brother in the PDP family Dimeji Bankole was also flying the presidential aircraft as if he had an office inside the aircraft. Today how did he end up? In the hands of the EFCC. Am very sure that the Bankole treatment awaits other aircraft loving PDP politicians.

 Governor Rotimi Amechi, if I were to be in your shoes, I would acquire a very good flying boat which I would use to be visiting the towns and villages in the state and bring governance to the coastal areas of the state. Let history judge.

 
Darlington Ojy  Onwukwe is the founder of Crusade for Positive Change an NGO. He can be reached on [email protected] or 08034307689
122 Okota Road Isolo Lagos


 

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