The governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has said he would not support a northern candidate for the presidency in 2023.
El-Rufai said this on Saturday in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service as published by The Cable.
According to him, the idea of zoning the presidential seat is necessarily not constitutional, but is based on the country’s political arrangement which he believes should be respected.
The President, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Retd.), is from the North.
El-Rufai said, “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.
“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.”
The governor, however, said he had no interest in becoming the president in 2023 and termed rumours around such as being baseless.
President Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura, had earlier in an interview said he was against the zoning of the presidency.
(The Punch)