2023: Governor El-Rufai says he supports return of power to the south
- Governor El-Rufai has urged the APC to honour zoning arrangement ahead of 2023
- El-Rufai made the plea on Monday, November 30, during a TV programme
- The governor said it would be better if the party zones the presidency to the south in 2023
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Amid the controversy on which geopolitical zone should produce President Muhammadu Buhari's successor, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state has urged the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to honour the ‘informal agreement’ of ensuring that power goes to the southern region of the country in 2023.
Legit.ng reports that El-Rufai made this known on the night of Monday, November 30, while featuring on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme and monitored by Legit.ng.
The governor of Ebonyi state, Dave Umahi, had recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.
Umahi said that he left the PDP for APC because the ruling party is ready to protect the interest of the southeast people in the 2023 presidential election.
Source: Twitter
The minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, had also asked the APC to honour its agreement on zoning.
Speaking during the programme, El-Rufai said that though he is against zoning personally, the APC should honour its informal agreement on the zoning of the president.
El-Rufai said:
“I think it is important to make this clarification. Personally, I am against zoning because I believe that no country has made progress choosing leaders based on where they come from or their ethnicity or religion.
The governor, however, noted that after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari, the APC should honour the informal agreement of ensuring that power goes to the south.
He added:
"However, I believe after the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari, we should honour the informal agreement of ensuring that power goes to the south. Whether it is southwest, southeast, south-south, that is a different matter. I am against and I don’t practise it.
"But what we have a gentleman agreement that the power should go to the south and I support that. It is up to the party, at the right time, to make that decision. Our party has not taken any position as far as I know."
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that El-Rufai said the zoning process among political parties would not solve the economic problems facing the country.
It was reported that there has been subtle anxiety across parties and the political class in the country in the past few weeks about rotating the presidency between the north and south come 2023.
El-Rufai, however, suggested while delivering his remarks that “everyone should be given an equal opportunity” to run for office, and not based on ethnicity.
2023 election: Why a northerner should be President again - Shettima | - on Legit TV
Source: Legit.ng
