Amaechi: ‘Fani-Kayode stole N2B as Aviation Minister’

Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, says former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, made away with N2 billion given to him by the Rivers State government to fix a deplorable Port Harcourt Airport runway.

Amaechi alleges that former Rivers State Governor, Peter Odili, handed the money to Fani-Kayode.

Odili was governor of oil rich Rivers State from 1999 to 2007.

Femi Fani-Kayode was Aviation Minister under Obasanjo (Punch) ece-auto-gen

Fani-Kayode served as Culture and Tourism Minister; and Aviation Minister under former President Olusegun Obasanjo from 2006 to 2007.

The allegation

“Those who shared in the corruption (of the past) are busy dancing about it. Fani-Kayode, when he was Minister of Aviation, Dr Peter Odili’s government gave him N2 billion to fix the runway. It’s not there in the records of Aviation. I’m minister of Transportation, I have that record. It’s not there,” Amaechi said during a recent ChannelsTV interview.

“He went away with the N2 billion. These are statements of fact,” Amaechi said, insisting that as Rivers Governor from 2007 to 2015, he was privy to the records before he became a federal minister. “The runway was closed for two years and Fani-Kayode left with the money. Is that the kind of character I will speak to? We are not on the same level,” Amaechi added.

As campaign managers of the Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari presidential campaigns of 2015 respectively, Fani-Kayode (PDP) and Amaechi (APC) sparred on television and exchanged bitter words in the media for full measure. They frequently threw mud at the other and have done so in the intervening years.

Fani-Kayode, who has been in and out of jail for alleged corruption since Buhari succeeded Jonathan in 2015, is yet to respond to a Pulse request for comments on Amaechi’s latest allegation.