Presidency should return to the south in 2023, says El-Rufai

The next president of Nigeria should come from the south, Kaduna state governor Nasir el-Rufai, has said.

The outspoken governor of Kaduna, one of those thought to be eyeing the presidency in 2023 who made te disclosure in an interview with BBC Hausa, said he will not support a northerner to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to him, it is baseless for anyone to insinuate that he would contest for presidency in 2023, as he does not have any interest in the seat.

Rotating the country’s presidency, he said, may not be constitutional, but it is based on the country’s political arrangement.

He said, “In Nigerian politics, there is a system of rotation, in which everyone agrees that if the north rules for eight years, the south will rule for eight years.”

“That is why I came out and said that after President Buhari has been in office for eight years, no northerner should run for office. Let the Southerners also have eight years.

“If you look at how I am, I don’t take anyone to work with me for the zone he came from. The eligibility I look at is if who is entrusted to the public will hold it properly.

“It has been said that I have loved the presidency since I was a minister in the FCT. This is nonsense. I do not want the Nigerian presidency. God gives power, whether you like it or not, if He wants it, He will give it to you, but I have never sought the presidency of Nigeria, no one can say I have ever sought it.”