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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