2023: I won’t vie for presidency; South deserves it – El-Rufai

Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai has said he would not vie for the 2023 presidency.

He stated this in an interview with BBC Hausa Service on Saturday.

The governor said the 2023 presidency should be zoned to the South at the expiration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office.

El-Rufai noted that rumour of his presidential ambition has been making the rounds since he was Minister of the Federal Capital Territory under President Olusegun Obasanjo from 2003 to 2007.

He said, “Many have been saying that I want to contest for president since I was a Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“This does not make sense.

“I do not want [to contest the Nigerian presidency].

“It’s God that gives power, whether you like it or not.

“If He [God] wants, He [God] will give it to you, but I have never intended to contest for the presidency of Nigeria and nobody can say I did.”

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El-Rufai disclosed that there is a gentleman’s agreement for power to rotate between north and south every eight years.

“The southern part of the country is supposed to produce the president come 2023; I don’t support a northerner to vie for the seat after President Muhammadu Buhari, based on Nigeria’s political arrangement,” the governor said.

He further explained that though the arrangement is not recognised by the constitution, politicians are aware of its existence.

“I believe that (there is) no developed country across the world that considers leadership based on where someone comes from. However, in Nigerian politics, there is an arrangement that we all believe on rotational leadership. We are aware of that, anyone who denies that is wrong,” el-Rufai said.

The governor’s comments came barely two weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura called for the nation to jettison zoning of the presidency.

Daura, who also spoke to the BBC Hausa Service, said, “This turn-by-turn, it was done once, it was done twice, and it was done thrice… It is better for this country to be one… It should be for the most competent and not for someone who comes from somewhere.”