The Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in the Diaspora have dissociated themselves from the State Governor, David Umahi, for praying for a leader with the kind of heart of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) come 2023.

The group expressed dismay that the governor, who is presiding over a state where most of the people are living below the poverty line, had the presence of mind to wish that God should give Nigeria another person like Buhari as his successor in 2023.

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President of the group, Paschal Oluchukwu, said this in an interview with journalists, in Abuja, and accused the governor of sycophancy.

He spoke in response to Umahi who spoke to State House Correspondents shortly after a visit to the President at the Presidential villa.

Oluchukwu said, “It was not surprising to us and the rest of reasonable Ebonyians that the said comments and wish attracted the kinds of umbrage of negative reactions from various segments of the Nigerian public who have worn the Buhari shoe in the last six years and therefore know where it truly pinches them.

Any wonder how many have attributed the sad comments as one coming from a leader seeking political survival.

“First is that we may even wish to clarify that Umahi is rather seeking for political protection from the centre having lost touch with realities and his people.

The welter of reactions and condemnations that has so far greeted Umahi’s weird desire for another President like Buhari- a man under whose watch Ndigbo have been reduced to second class citizens and Nigerians no longer feel safe to carry out their legitimate business because of insecurity.

“We can’t pray for a repeat of insecurity, nepotism and economic chaos. We want our children to be able to attend school without fear of being kidnapped, we want to be able to travel from Lagos to Maiduguri by road without fear.”