Ogun Integrity Vanguard, a non-governmental, not-for profit Organisation, has described as condemnable and highly unfortunate, the reported rejection of car gifts presented to local government chairmen in Ogun State by the state governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, on the ground that they are not exotic.
According to reports, the governor had, on Sunday April 2, presented 20 units of Mikano 2006 cars to all chairmen of the 20 local government areas in recognition of their steadfastness at the guber polls, but the chairmen rejected the gift and left the Government House, Isale Igbehin, Abeokuta, disappointed.
In the statement signed by its secretary, Duro Thomas, Ogun Integrity Vanguard flayed the actions of the chairmen, saying the that it showed ingratitude and a lack of appreciation of the current economic realities.
Saying that the fact was well known that many of Governor Abiodun’s appointees have no official vehicles as the governor had been trying to channel the state’s resources to the provision of democratic dividends to the vast majority of Ogun people, the group wondered if a group of chairmen really intent on serving their people would complain about vehicles that the average Nigerian on whose behalf they are in office would die to have.
Thomas said: ” We find it highly incongruous that local government chairmen would claim that Milano cars were below standard and not enough to compensate them in view of all they had done for the Abiodun administration.
“Do the chairmen expect the the governor to open the state’s vaults and spend money recklessly because they (chairmen) are so high up in the skies and above the people they are called to serve?
“It is highly unfortunate that LG chairmen would request for the latest Toyota, Lexus and Honda Sonata cars, and that the only Mikano the know is the diesel generator.
“What do the people they want to serve have and where is their patriotic fervour?
“If they want exotic cars, what stops them from calling their car dealers and paying for them from their own purse?
“The chairmen must stop sending the wrong signals to the public, they must stop behaving as people whose only interest in public service is personal aggrandisement.”
