Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State said politicians relapse to poverty shortly after leaving office as a consequence of meddling with the benefits of the widows and vulnerable groups in society.
He spoke Thursday during a Christmas party organised for the widows, elders and the aged by the State government in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital.
The Governor who frowned at politicians, who shortchange such vulnerable groups in society for personal gains, maintained that such actions attract God’s punishment.
He cautioned Political office holders to be careful of their conducts while in office, charging them to always carry out sincere self assessment on their public accountability.
Umahi said: “We should celebrate our fathers and mothers.
“If you want to do that, you have to be wise, and how to be wise is to listen to God.
“Do not take what belongs to the widows.
“When you have not done well, you should appreciate that you have not done well.
“The wisdom is in not fighting the widows; the wisdom is in not taking what belongs to the widows, the poor.
“This is the reason most politicians are poor: they finish their tenure, one month they have become poor because they have taken what belongs to the poor.”
The Governor, as part of his programme for the aged and less privileged, announced that the State Government would soon roll out free medical services for them at the new David Umahi Federal University Teaching hospital, Uburu.
“We are going to give free medical test for the widows and elders, 1000 persons per Local Government Area” Umahi stated.
Reacting to insecurity in Southeast, Governor Umahi appealed to the Elders to employ their wisdom in steering the youth away from unreasonable agitations and activities of unknown gunmen for their future.
He observed that the agitations have gone beyond Nnamdi Kanu and his Indigenous People of Biafra, stressing that it has been hijacked by hoodlums to cause mayhem in the zone.
He further pleaded for useful information from the public on activities and hideouts of bandits and criminals across Southeast to enable Security agencies to neutralize them.
“We the Igbos, we agitate for one Nigeria of equal treatment, equal opportunities, and now is the time to come together and end the banditry in the South East.
“Enough ought to be enough,” Umahi asserted.
He further advised the elders to caution their children against the rising trend of child trafficking occasioned by inordinate craze for oversea business trips among the youths.
In his opening remarks, the State Commissioner for Local government, Chieftaincy Matters and Rural Development, Donatus Njoku, appreciated the Governor for the gesture, noting that it has remained a tradition in Umahi’s Administration from inception to cater for such a class of people.
He charged the active population not to relent in contributing their quota to the development of the State, assuring that their efforts would ultimately be rewarded.
Others who spoke, including the Southeast CAN chairman, Rev’d Father Abraham Nwali; Chairman, Elders Council, Chief Ben Okah and the leader of the Praying Widows group, Theresa Mgbabor, lauded Governor Umahi for touching the lives of the less privileged and the aged citizens in the Society through periodic financial interventions.
Nwali enjoined the widows to hold steadfastly to God in prayer as panacea to the many challenges facing them in society.
Mgbabor also added: “We are saying thank you to His Excellency.
“We have been receiving ten thousand naira every month till today; he made himself a husband to us, buying wrappers for us.
“Now we can talk in our husbands’ houses; before we can not talk.”
The event which witnessed a large turnout of beneficiaries also has the Deputy Governor, Kelechi Igwe, members of State Executive Council and other stakeholders in attendance.