Following issues on rotational presidency between Northern and Southern Nigeria, it has been reported that the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has stated that his colleagues in the North under the aegis of the Northern Governors’ Forum never opposed the presidency going to the South in 2023.
He reportedly noted that the regional governors were only against the language used in the resolution of the southern governors on the issue of power shift.
He further disclosed that southern governors should have reached out to their northern counterparts on the issue of power shift instead of playing to the gallery.
Disclosing this In a communiqué read out to journalists by the chairman of the forum and governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, in the Monday’s emergency, the governor had stated that, “The Forum observed that some northern states governors had earlier expressed views for a power-shift to three geo-political zone in the South with a view to promoting unity and peace in the nation.”
He made it known that, “Notwithstanding their comments, the forum unanimously condemned the statement by the Southern Governors’ Forum that the presidency must go to the South.”
He added that, “The statement is quite contradictory with the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended, that the elected President shall:- score the majority votes; score at least 25% of the votes cast in 2/3 states of the federation. In the case of runoff, simple majority win the election.”
The governor, who spoke in Hausa, also reminded that “the North has supported southern presidential aspirants in the past,” recalling that it “supported Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s aspiration in 1999 and his re-election in 2003”.
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