The Association of Ebonyi Indigenes in the Diaspora (AESID) has rejected the declaration by the state Governor, Dave Umahi that he would contest the 2023 presidential election
The group in a statement issued Thursday by its president, Paschal oluchukwu, warned that Nigeria cannot survive under Umahi’s dictatorship, citing his exploits in Ebonyi state as an example of a failed leader
The Association noted that it “received with mixed feelings the news that Ebonyi state Governor, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, declared his intention to contest for presidency, saying the governor should give stewardship of his seven years in the state.”
Governor Umahi had on Tuesday met with President Muhammadu Buhari where he informed him of his intention to succeed the president.
Oluchukwu, who however acknowledge that it is the governor’s right to seek for the office said, “to secure our tiny Ebonyi State with the consistent and reported attacks and communal clashes recorded under his administration, some of which are allegedly fuelled even by his political appointees.
“As we speak, thousands who were displaced by communal war in Effium, Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state are yet to return to their ancestral homes, needless to speak of receiving any succour whatsoever from the Umahi administration.
“The thousands of victims who were also displaced in three communities in Ezza north LGA where he is lavishing public funds in building an International Cargo Airport remain displaced as they are yet to be duly compensated by the Umahi administration. Hunger and poverty has been weaponized by his government such that all might come to beg for crumbs on his table.
“Any wonder Ebonyi is now officially rated the poverty capital of the entire Southern Nigeria by the National Bureau of Statistics.”
While rejecting Umahi’s presidential ambition, the group said: “With the way and manner he has handled the State’s House of Assembly which is ordinarily a separate arm of government, are we not certain that a National Assembly under an Umahi Presidency would be worse than the current rubber-stamp legislative arm that we have in Nigeria?
“Will Nigeria truly survive just a one-week reign of a Dictator like Umahi? Rather than provide jobs for our teeming populace, what the Umahi government specializes on is to appoint, through proxies, our vibrant youths who daily sing it’s praises on the Social media for some pittance.”
