TheCable

David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state, has given 68 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to his aides.

While distributing the cars to them on Tuesday, Umahi said it was baffling to see some of his aides grumbling despite earning salaries and having new vehicles.

The governor reportedly said those castigating the system despite being a part of it were putting themselves in “a terrible spiritual situation”.

“Do you want to be like the people in the village? Everybody here, including myself, is privileged and we are not better than those not in this position,” he said.

“Nobody should take him or herself as a superstar, as you cannot be in the system and still be castigating it. Those who know what they are doing don’t have time to grumble but invent things.

“But when you have nothing to offer, you gossip and complain to cover things. The vehicles are 99.9 percent owned by government and 0.1 percent [owned] by the appointees and if you are leaving government, you will give us the vehicles.

“I cannot be giving new vehicles every four years. Our people are suffering and need our attention as their population gives us the little we have.”

The governor called on leaders in the state to make sacrifices as there were people in the state who could not feed properly.

Kenneth Ugbala, secretary to the state government (SSG), thanked the governor for providing the vehicles.

“The vehicles would be distributed to some SSAs, SAs Permanent Secretaries, 13 coordinators of local government areas development centres, among others,” he said.