El-Rufai Declares Position On Succeeding Buhari In 2023

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has vowed not to support a northerner to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

Naija News reports that there have been debates over the 2023 presidency coming to the south with the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, disclosed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had in 2014 agreed to rotate the presidency.

Speaking on Saturday, in an interview with BBC Hausa, El-Rufai insisted that the next president of Nigeria should come from the south.

While denying interest in the 2023 presidency, the Kaduna governor described such insinuations as baseless.

El-Rufai 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.”