El-Rufai maintained
that the Presidency should rightly return to the Southern part of Nigeria.
He said though the
constitution of the All Progressives Congress, APC, does not make provision for
rotation but in the interest of justice, equity and fair play, Presidency
should go to other regions of the country.
Vanguard quoted him
as saying: “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.”
El-Rufai a chieftain
of APC, added that presidential candidates are chosen on the basis of merit and
general acceptance.
“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.
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