Governor Nyesom Wike had alleged that his predecessor secretly abandoned aircraft belonging to the state in Germany. He said it would cost the state three million Euros (not 300 million Euros as erroneously reported yesterday) to repay and retrieve the aircraft.
George in a statement, made available to The Guardian, said: “It is simply not possible that a plane that was properly documented in the handover notes of the state Ministry of Transport (which I supervised as commissioner) to the incoming administration in 2015, can be said to be secretly abandoned.
The statement issued in Abuja was preceded by a press conference in Port Harcourt.
“When we got the new aircraft that the current government uses now, the older Legacy aircraft was sent to Germany for repairs and refurbishment and then to be sold to generate revenue for critical infrastructural projects in the state, as the previous administration felt that there was no economic sense to keep and maintain two state planes. The cost was just too prohibitive, so the plan was to sell off the older Legacy plane.
“The plane was still in Germany at the time we handed over to the incoming administration and I had stated in the handing over notes to the ministry of transport that the Legacy aircraft was in Ruag, Germany.”
George said when the new administration took over in 2015, they claimed the same aircraft had been stolen, now they are saying the aircraft was secretly abandoned.
“We couldn’t have taken the aircraft to Germany and just dump it there and walk away without proper and formal documentation. Is Ruag, Germany a dumping ground?
“I recalled that Rivers State government had made an issue of the new aircraft currently in use, having a United States registration number, accusing the past government of wanting to steal the aircraft.
“They accused us of doing an N registration for the sole purpose of wanting to steal the aircraft. They made so much fuss at the time. But till date, which is nearly seven years after taking possession of the aircraft, they are still using the same foreign registration. Why haven’t they changed it to Nigerian registration, “he asked.
He described the issue as “purely political and vindictive, hurling false allegations on the previous administration.”
