By Ayo Dada
Recently during an interview on Arise TV, the Governor of Kaduna state, Alhaji El Rufai, categorically stated that he will not be running for the office of the president of the federal Republic of Nigeria.
During the interview, El Rufai stated that, rotational presidency is the way to go, noting that even within the states in Nigeria, rotational power is advocated for on the premise of fairness and the sense of belonging of other communities that make up the states.
Governor El Rufai further revealed that, even in PDP, rotational presidency is in their constitution. “Even though, I may not agree with it” (Rotational Presidency), it is the right thing to do, the way to go.
When asked by the interview host if he will be running for president, El Rufai emphatically replied, NO I will not.
This is a far cry from the arrogant North, who claim that they are “born to rule”. For instance, on September 19, 2021,
The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) vowed that the north will continue to lead Nigeria, arguing that the region has the majority to produce a leader through the ballot.
With the 2023 presidential polls in view, leaders and politicians of southern extraction have been clamoring for a shift in power, arguing that the region must provide the nation’s next leader.
But NEF, in its recent submission in September 2021 on the nation’s polity, rejected the push to have Nigeria’s next president come from the southern region.
“We will lead Nigeria the way we have led Nigeria before. Whether we are president or vice president or whatever, we will lead Nigeria,” NEF spokesman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, said on Sunday at a lecture in memory of the late Maitama Sule in Zaria Kaduna State.
The demand for rotational presidency is not flying with the northern elites who described it as unconstitutional and undemocratic.
Commentators on the debate for rotational presidency between the north and the south were divided with some insisting that we should be concerned with the president’s competence and integrity and not the part of the country he comes from.
Former Emir of Kano and the former Government of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Malam Lamido Sanusi and former vice presidential candidate to General Buhari, a man, many believe is being groomed for the position by the northern olygarchs in manyquaters, argued that “what is needed at this moment is the person who can do it.
Political parties should bring their best forward. Let the best of the best emerge. It can go to the south, it can go to the north. It’s only one seat.”
Therefore, is El Rufai’s stand genuine?
Or is it a white towel thrown into the ring to appease the aggrieved Southerners agitating for a constitutional reform, and, or self determination?
Is he speaking for himself, or was he sent to test the waters, or go in search of or to lure a stooge?
Only time will tell, but from the antecedents of the northern power brokers, they can never be trusted in power play.
RESTRUCTURING, and returning the 1999 CON-STITUTION with the 1963 Republican CONSTITUTION is the answer.
@AyoDada
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