The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has said that
the says the Presidency should rightly return to the Southern part of Nigeria
as the North has no justification to remain in power after the expiration of
President Buhari’s second tenure in 2023.
Vanguard quotes the governor as saying that although the
constitution of the All Progressives Congress, APC, does not make provision for
rotation of presidency, it is in the interest of justice and equity that the
Presidency should go to other regions of the country in 2023.
The general political consensus in Nigeria is that the
Presidency should rotate between the North and the South. It is not written but
everyone understands it.
In some of the parties, like the PDP, it is even written
down in their constitution but it was breached in 2015. I think that every
politician of honour should understand and abide by that consensus except there
is an extenuating circumstance compelling it to be set aside. What could this
be?
President Yar’Adua died in office and it was compulsory for
Jonathan to continue but when 2011 election came, there were many people who
insisted that Jonathan should step aside for a northerner to complete the
tenure of Yar’Adua but I opposed it because I didn’t think it was proper for an
incumbent that got there not by his own design should be stopped from
contesting when the constitution has not barred him from running.
In the APC, we deliberately omitted rotational Presidency in
our constitution and the emergence of a presidential candidate does not take
into account zoning and that was why in 2015, Rochas Okorocha from the East
contested, Sam Nda-Isaiah contested, Buhari, Kwankwaso and others contested.
I can say that as distinct from the PDP, APC has no
rotational Presidency but candidates are selected strictly on the basis of
political merit and the general acceptability of the candidate.
I want to say that those of us from Northern Nigeria honour
agreements. We do not violate unwritten political agreements and I will be the
last person to lead in violating that agreement. I may have a personal view but
that should be the basis. I don’t care where you come from but I look for
merit.
But as a group, the Northern APC will have to sit down and
endorse someone, most likely someone from the South, because after eight years
of Buhari, I don’t think the Presidency should remain in the north unless there
is some extenuating circumstances. But all things being equal, we will honour
our agreement and we keep our words,” he said.
