The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has accused Ebonyi State governor, Engr. Dave Umahia, of being a tyrant and lacks the temperament to rule Nigeria as President as he does not accommodate dissenting views.

HURIWA, in a statement jointly signed by is National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the Media Director, Zainab Yusuf, dismissed the public notice by Umahi to run for the Office of President of Nigeria as a pipe dream which must never be allowed to materialize.

HURIWA said its stand was based on the threat by Umahi to “deal ruthlessly” and to ban two journalists, the Sun and Vanguard Correspondents in Ebonyi State because of their reports, which the Governor said was creating panic in the state.

The statement reads in part:

“If the bedrocks of democracy are the free exercise of fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution such as the freedom of expression, then unrepentant dictators like David Umahi should not go near the office of president or else the tyrannical regime of Uganda’s dictator, Yoweiri Museveni, would be a child’s play and Nigeria would return to a primitive era whereby might becomes right.

“David Umahi’s legendary intolerance of press freedoms and the freedom of political opponents to go about their legitimate businesses would mean that the oppressive regime of late General Sani Abacha would just be inconsequential compared to what Dave Umahi will do with the presidential powers just as he would collapse Nigeria into a one party state.

“As President, Umahi will capture or jail his political opponents and will rule as he likes with no accountability or transparency. Nigeria must never be ruled by persons who are worse than the bad President we have had since 2015 for that would lead to disintegration.”

HURIWA recalled that Umahi, recently, at Aso Rock Villa, intimated President Buhari of his ambition to run for the Office of the President in 2023 and promised to replicate his feats as a governor at the national level if he eventually gets to fly the party ticket and win the presidential election.

HURIWA then asked Nigerians to reject Umahi who as governor of the tiny Ebonyi State threatened to deal ruthlessly with two journalists covering the state if they continued to write reports that create ‘panic’ among the people.

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