Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state has said that he will remain firm in his support for a southerner to emerge as the president of Nigeria come 2023. El-Rufai said that based on the zoning arrangement already in place in the country especially since the inception of democracy, it is time for the south to produce the next Nigerian leader at the expiration of President Muhammadu Buhari's second term, Channels TV reports. The All Progressives Congress chieftain said that this has been the system even when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the ruling party which is why, according to him, former President Olusegun Obasanjo left the office for late Umaru Yar’Adua.
The northern governor insisted: “After Buhari, what is honorable is for the northern politicians to put their support for a southern candidate. I don’t believe in zoning but that is my opinion. We have this arrangement, we should maintain it. “I don’t believe any part of Nigeria has a monopoly on power. We have an understanding, let us stick to it. In 1998, this nation has a consensus that power should go to the southwest." Earlier, Legit.ng reported that ahead of the 2023 presidential election, Governor El-Rufai had said that the southern part of the country should produce Nigeria’s next president. El-Rufai said he did not support the idea that a northerner should contest for the seat after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure. “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,” El-Rufai was quoted saying he noted that the power shift arrangement among the various regions of the country should be respected even though not backed by the constitution.