Okiki_Oluwa: Hm! Something is fishy here. Rotimi should just thread gently.

utumunta: Is Rotimi Amechi elected to traverse d lenght and breadth of Nigeria attending funerals? From Abuja - Owerri -Akure - port harcourt, whose money is used to fuel this jet? We always miss the point and argue over triflings in ds con3.
Is Amechi angry that his Jet was delayed at the airport to make for proper documentation? (the word grounded should nt apply in this instance).
Is this press release meant to curry symJIpathy from d masses that bought and fuel the jet, yet cannot afford "attach" seat on a night bus or members of Amechi's billionaires club?

Omo_Tier1:
Fear not! By mid next year, GEJ will be reduced to where He belongs. He really has under estimated how unpopular He is and the last thing He ever should desire is to pick a fight with His own.

The painful part of it all is, GEJ never exert this manner of energy to address the burning issues that affects every day Nigerian. If only He exerts the same manner of speed and precision in dealing with the looters of the treasury, and fixing the lopsided economy

koruji: Unfortunately for you, you are actually talking about GEJ here not Amaechi.
The laws of the land doesn't stop Amaechi from aspiring to any political office.
But the laws of the land bar GEJ from using state resources to prosecute a political fight.
His bed in kirikiri will be extra hard if he keeps this silly autocracy up.

Omo_Tier1:
Isit now you want to quote the bible? I am even surprised at your comment about the purchase of the jet. Peter Odili bought a jet for Rivers State government and Amaechi sold it off and use part of the money to buy a better jet that cost less to maintain. The jet in question belongs to Rivers State government and not Amaechi and is being used by Rivers State government for both private hie and business functions.

If Rivers State can afford it, I see nothing wrong in them having it. However the crux of the matter is not the jet per say, it is GEJ' cowardly act in hunting Amaechi because He holds an aspiration to become a VP. Come 2015. When has it become a crime for any one to have an aspiration? Or has the constitution now prevent people from doing so?

Jimmy Boy: If the arguement is about Amechi globe trotting at the expense of Rivers state people, then I support the grounding of the plane.However, Jonathan is equally guilty of the same offence, he recently acquired 2 new falcon jets while Nigerians have continued to die on the death traps called roads.

However, I detest GEJ's tendency to be high handed against his critics while handling his thieving friends with kid gloves. 2 Leadership journalist detained over what they said about good governance jamboree. $40m contract awarded to isreal company to sniff on our internet activities. But he will rather grant Alams pardon, Police will rather claim they dont know Maina's whereabout only for him to resurface once he got the court rulling that House of Reps can not get pension thieve him arrested. Not to mention pension and subsidy thieves which none of them is in jail today.

Those that voted for Jonathan becauase he is humble now know that they were sold a dummy, this guy no humble anything.

RICHIE BOI:

[/b]NEVER! [b] nothing go happen. If time is not taken I see Amaechi decamping to APC. U think his presence at the late deputy governors funeral and parleying with ACN leaders at the funeral not enough sign. They shouldn't push Amaechi to the wall. GEJ might just be shooting himself on the foot.

deletrue: But, how come that Amaechi is so forgetful? Or has he failed to realise the enormous powers of the president? I have very strong believe that he ( Ameachi ) is destiny to go down shamefully since he is a very proud individual unless he turns back immediately and appeal for forgiveness from jona.
Or let us see how arrogancy will help him this time.

me_for_you: Correct if I'm wrong, did this jonathan-amaechi fight not start when dame patience was hurriedly ferried back to abuja from ph. The day she went and publicly insulted amaechi for constructing model primary schools in her kalabariland when her people just have little land and much water.

[/quote]

Bkl4real: The Grounding of Rivers State Aircraft: My Story —- Governor Amaechi


Rivers State Government explains how the Federal Government grounded its Bombardier jet at Akure Airport

We had set out from Abuja in the morning of Friday April 26, 2013 to Imo State to attend the funeral rites of the younger sister of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. Our plane, a Bombardier jet owned by the Rivers State Government, landed at the airport in Owerri. It was in Owerri that the pilot of our plane was first tipped off that there is a plot to ground our plane in Owerri that friday.

Fortunately for us, we took off from Owerri airport and arrived at Akure airport en-route to Ekiti for the burial of the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State Funmilayo Olayinka without any incident. On the flight to Akure was the Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal who we met in Imo State and was also heading to Ekiti for the burial of Mrs Olayinka. Also on the flight were the Governor of Rivers State Rt. Hon, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the Director-General Nigeria Governors Forum(NGF) Asishana Bayo Okauru, Kalabari prince and politician Prince Tonye Princewill, some aides of the Governor and me.

Once our party left the Akure airport for Ekiti, our pilot went to the airport offices to make statutory airport payments and fees, file his flight plan and declare his manifest. After filing his fight plan and declaring his manifest, our pilot was told to go and see the Controller. The Controller bluntly told him that the Rivers Government plane would not be allowed to leave the airport. In other words, the plane had been grounded! He said that the plane should have been grounded in Owerri. The Controller on duty at the airport in Akure mentioned some vague issues relating to the customs papers of the plane, which has been flying in Nigeria for many months? That didn’t make any sense to the pilot. He enquired on whose orders the plane was being grounded, he was told that it was the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA). And that he should reach the NAMA MD.

By the time our party, which now included four House of Representatives Honourable members- Mohammed Sani Idris Kutigi, Daniel Rayeineju, Idris Ahmed Wase and Ifedayo Abegunde- returned to the Akure airport, there was confusion everywhere. Speaker Tambuwal, the Honourable members and Governor Amaechi and his team, were all stranded at the airport. The plane that brought Speaker Tambuwal and Governor Amaechi to Akure could not leave Akure airport. Calls were being made as these two democratically elected leaders, furious and perplexed, tried to fathom what could have caused this monumental embarrassment to them and their offices.

After trying fruitlessly for some time to get the plane released, Speaker Tambuwal then offered to fly Governor Amaechi to Port Harcourt with the plane(another small aircraft) that brought the other four Honourable members to Akure. To accommodate Governor Amaechi in the small aircraft, one of the House of Representatives members offered his seat to the Governor .

The pilot of the Rivers State Government plane was already locking up the aircraft for us to leave for Lagos by road when a call eventually came through that the plane could now leave. The Controller received a directive to allow the plane fly out of Akure. The decision to let us go, we later learnt, was due to the pressure brought on the aviation authorities by Speaker Tambuwal.

It is indeed most shameful and ludicrous that NAMA and the Aviation authorities are now saying that they grounded the Rivers State Government plane because the pilot did not file a flight plan and declare a manifest. That’s a blatant lie. A big fat one at that. The pilot filed the flight plan and manifest, and paid all the statutory airport fees and charges shortly after the plane arrived at the Akure airport in the afternoon. If the pilot filed a flight plan and manifest at the airports in Abuja and Owerri, where he flew from same day, why won’t he then do the same in Akure? It is instructive to note that all through the traumatic time we spent in Akure, no official of the airport or aviation staff came to tell Governor Amaechi that we were grounded because our pilot “refused to file a flight plan and manifest.” All they kept saying was that they were just obeying directives, it was beyond them and we should call Abuja. Speaker Tambuwal and the other four members of the House of Representatives are living witnesses to that charade.

NAMA and the aviation authorities should explain to Nigerians why an aircraft owned by a State government, that flew the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and a democratically elected Governor of a State who also the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, would be grounded at an airport for no just cause?

DAVID IYOFOR
Chief Press Secretary
To The Rivers State Governor

April 27, 2013

http://www.ediong.org/post/49033545436/rivers-state-government-explains-how-the-federal#_

[quote author=Bkl4real]The Grounding of Rivers State Aircraft: My Story —- Governor Amaechi


Rivers State Government explains how the Federal Government grounded its Bombardier jet at Akure Airport

We had set out from Abuja in the morning of Friday April 26, 2013 to Imo State to attend the funeral rites of the younger sister of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. Our plane, a Bombardier jet owned by the Rivers State Government, landed at the airport in Owerri. It was in Owerri that the pilot of our plane was first tipped off that there is a plot to ground our plane in Owerri that friday.

Fortunately for us, we took off from Owerri airport and arrived at Akure airport en-route to Ekiti for the burial of the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State Funmilayo Olayinka without any incident. On the flight to Akure was the Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal who we met in Imo State and was also heading to Ekiti for the burial of Mrs Olayinka. Also on the flight were the Governor of Rivers State Rt. Hon, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the Director-General Nigeria Governors Forum(NGF) Asishana Bayo Okauru, Kalabari prince and politician Prince Tonye Princewill, some aides of the Governor and me.

Once our party left the Akure airport for Ekiti, our pilot went to the airport offices to make statutory airport payments and fees, file his flight plan and declare his manifest. After filing his fight plan and declaring his manifest, our pilot was told to go and see the Controller. The Controller bluntly told him that the Rivers Government plane would not be allowed to leave the airport. In other words, the plane had been grounded! He said that the plane should have been grounded in Owerri. The Controller on duty at the airport in Akure mentioned some vague issues relating to the customs papers of the plane, which has been flying in Nigeria for many months? That didn’t make any sense to the pilot. He enquired on whose orders the plane was being grounded, he was told that it was the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA). And that he should reach the NAMA MD.

By the time our party, which now included four House of Representatives Honourable members- Mohammed Sani Idris Kutigi, Daniel Rayeineju, Idris Ahmed Wase and Ifedayo Abegunde- returned to the Akure airport, there was confusion everywhere. Speaker Tambuwal, the Honourable members and Governor Amaechi and his team, were all stranded at the airport. The plane that brought Speaker Tambuwal and Governor Amaechi to Akure could not leave Akure airport. Calls were being made as these two democratically elected leaders, furious and perplexed, tried to fathom what could have caused this monumental embarrassment to them and their offices.

After trying fruitlessly for some time to get the plane released, Speaker Tambuwal then offered to fly Governor Amaechi to Port Harcourt with the plane(another small aircraft) that brought the other four Honourable members to Akure. To accommodate Governor Amaechi in the small aircraft, one of the House of Representatives members offered his seat to the Governor .

The pilot of the Rivers State Government plane was already locking up the aircraft for us to leave for Lagos by road when a call eventually came through that the plane could now leave. The Controller received a directive to allow the plane fly out of Akure. The decision to let us go, we later learnt, was due to the pressure brought on the aviation authorities by Speaker Tambuwal.

It is indeed most shameful and ludicrous that NAMA and the Aviation authorities are now saying that they grounded the Rivers State Government plane because the pilot did not file a flight plan and declare a manifest. That’s a blatant lie. A big fat one at that. The pilot filed the flight plan and manifest, and paid all the statutory airport fees and charges shortly after the plane arrived at the Akure airport in the afternoon. If the pilot filed a flight plan and manifest at the airports in Abuja and Owerri, where he flew from same day, why won’t he then do the same in Akure? It is instructive to note that all through the traumatic time we spent in Akure, no official of the airport or aviation staff came to tell Governor Amaechi that we were grounded because our pilot “refused to file a flight plan and manifest.” All they kept saying was that they were just obeying directives, it was beyond them and we should call Abuja. Speaker Tambuwal and the other four members of the House of Representatives are living witnesses to that charade.

NAMA and the aviation authorities should explain to Nigerians why an aircraft owned by a State government, that flew the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and a democratically elected Governor of a State who also the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, would be grounded at an airport for no just cause?

DAVID IYOFOR
Chief Press Secretary
To The Rivers State Governor

April 27, 2013

http://www.ediong.org/post/49033545436/rivers-state-government-explains-how-the-federal#_

Bkl4real: The Grounding of Rivers State Aircraft: My Story —- Governor Amaechi


Rivers State Government explains how the Federal Government grounded its Bombardier jet at Akure Airport

We had set out from Abuja in the morning of Friday April 26, 2013 to Imo State to attend the funeral rites of the younger sister of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. Our plane, a Bombardier jet owned by the Rivers State Government, landed at the airport in Owerri. It was in Owerri that the pilot of our plane was first tipped off that there is a plot to ground our plane in Owerri that friday.

Fortunately for us, we took off from Owerri airport and arrived at Akure airport en-route to Ekiti for the burial of the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State Funmilayo Olayinka without any incident. On the flight to Akure was the Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal who we met in Imo State and was also heading to Ekiti for the burial of Mrs Olayinka. Also on the flight were the Governor of Rivers State Rt. Hon, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the Director-General Nigeria Governors Forum(NGF) Asishana Bayo Okauru, Kalabari prince and politician Prince Tonye Princewill, some aides of the Governor and me.

Once our party left the Akure airport for Ekiti, our pilot went to the airport offices to make statutory airport payments and fees, file his flight plan and declare his manifest. After filing his fight plan and declaring his manifest, our pilot was told to go and see the Controller. The Controller bluntly told him that the Rivers Government plane would not be allowed to leave the airport. In other words, the plane had been grounded! He said that the plane should have been grounded in Owerri. The Controller on duty at the airport in Akure mentioned some vague issues relating to the customs papers of the plane, which has been flying in Nigeria for many months? That didn’t make any sense to the pilot. He enquired on whose orders the plane was being grounded, he was told that it was the Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Authority (NAMA). And that he should reach the NAMA MD.

By the time our party, which now included four House of Representatives Honourable members- Mohammed Sani Idris Kutigi, Daniel Rayeineju, Idris Ahmed Wase and Ifedayo Abegunde- returned to the Akure airport, there was confusion everywhere. Speaker Tambuwal, the Honourable members and Governor Amaechi and his team, were all stranded at the airport. The plane that brought Speaker Tambuwal and Governor Amaechi to Akure could not leave Akure airport. Calls were being made as these two democratically elected leaders, furious and perplexed, tried to fathom what could have caused this monumental embarrassment to them and their offices.

After trying fruitlessly for some time to get the plane released, Speaker Tambuwal then offered to fly Governor Amaechi to Port Harcourt with the plane(another small aircraft) that brought the other four Honourable members to Akure. To accommodate Governor Amaechi in the small aircraft, one of the House of Representatives members offered his seat to the Governor .

The pilot of the Rivers State Government plane was already locking up the aircraft for us to leave for Lagos by road when a call eventually came through that the plane could now leave. The Controller received a directive to allow the plane fly out of Akure. The decision to let us go, we later learnt, was due to the pressure brought on the aviation authorities by Speaker Tambuwal.

It is indeed most shameful and ludicrous that NAMA and the Aviation authorities are now saying that they grounded the Rivers State Government plane because the pilot did not file a flight plan and declare a manifest. That’s a blatant lie. A big fat one at that. The pilot filed the flight plan and manifest, and paid all the statutory airport fees and charges shortly after the plane arrived at the Akure airport in the afternoon. If the pilot filed a flight plan and manifest at the airports in Abuja and Owerri, where he flew from same day, why won’t he then do the same in Akure? It is instructive to note that all through the traumatic time we spent in Akure, no official of the airport or aviation staff came to tell Governor Amaechi that we were grounded because our pilot “refused to file a flight plan and manifest.” All they kept saying was that they were just obeying directives, it was beyond them and we should call Abuja. Speaker Tambuwal and the other four members of the House of Representatives are living witnesses to that charade.

NAMA and the aviation authorities should explain to Nigerians why an aircraft owned by a State government, that flew the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal and a democratically elected Governor of a State who also the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, would be grounded at an airport for no just cause?

DAVID IYOFOR
Chief Press Secretary
To The Rivers State Governor

April 27, 2013

http://www.ediong.org/post/49033545436/rivers-state-government-explains-how-the-federal#_

koruji: You are mixing issues.
This is not about private jets or not but the excesses of those at the center.
Whether Amaechi did right spending Rivers state money on a private jet is another issue entirely - personally I think it is obscene.
And if anyone wants to preserve their freedom in Nigeria they better make sure to counter GEJ's increasing autocratic ways.

pro01:

If we're talking about using state resources to prosecute political battles, or talking about 'silly autocracy' for that matter, then I suppose OBJ is already serving his life sentence in Kirikiri, right? Or I'm I missing something?

Billyonaire: Hahahahaahaha, You never start! When the masses are scrambling on how to catch a night bus to their destinations, Amaechi is going to Press to re-enact how his Jet was grounded. Is he searching for love amongst the masses or the Presidency he cunningly runs parallel ? Your wahala never start. Learn from Sylvia and Alams. There are 2 entities you can not fight- The Gods and Government.

pro01:

If we're talking about using state resources to prosecute political battles, or talking about 'silly autocracy' for that matter, then I suppose OBJ is already serving his life sentence in Kirikiri, right? Or I'm I missing something?

pro01: Rotimi's problems are still at their infancy. I hope his case ends up worse than Sylva and Ibori combined. When an oaf becomes too big for his britches, a resounding fall is inevitable.

Meanwhile, the smart alecs that are fond of calling GEJ "clueless" and "weak" might want to have a rethink. Since you loved OBJ's brute application of presidential power so much, perhaps GEJ is finally pandering to your nostalgic wishes by learning a thing or two from your 'Saint' Obasanjo.

(Un)fortunately, GEJ has a lot of catching up to do, and I am certain that he would never allow himself to catch up with OBJ's high standards. Unilaterally declaring the Vice President's seat vacant, ordering the impeachment removal of governors at gunpoint, even if by only eight members of the House of Assembly, changing principal officers of the National Assembly at will, unilaterally withholding local council funds from state governors that annoy him, permitting his crony, a private citizen, so much power as to abduct a sitting governor, etc etc etc. GEJ would always be too "clueless" to match OBJ in perpetuating these illegalities. The Rule of Law was in complete coma throughout OBJ's eight years in power. At least it has returned to consciousness now under GEJ, even though it is still bedridden.

tpia@:


he should just be thanking God because he doesnt know what the devil had in store for him as regards all this flying to and fro.


is all this related to politics?

Billyonaire: Hahahahaahaha, You never start! When the masses are scrambling on how to catch a night bus to their destinations, Amaechi is going to Press to re-enact how his Jet was grounded. Is he searching for love amongst the masses or the Presidency he cunningly runs parallel ? Your wahala never start. Learn from Sylvia and Alams. There are 2 entities you can not fight- The Gods and Government.