Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, has said the demand for power shift by Southern Governors is foolish because according to him, that's simply not how politics works.
El-Rufai who stated this in a chat with select journalists, in Kaduna, said while his position on rotational presidency remains unchanged, he however, does not believe resorting to threats is the way to go.
He said if the south wants power, it should be prepared to sit with the north, dialogue and negotiate then agree on who should be voted but not use compulsion to demand power shift.
“We are not saying there cannot be rotational presidency, it can be done but you have to come and sit with the politicians in the north and dialogue and then we agree to give our support to the south but no one has the right to sit in Lagos or Port Harcourt and say whether northerners want it or not, they must relinquish power to the south, that is wrong, it is not how we do politics and in fact, it is foolish.”
El-Rufai has back in 2020, said it would be in the interest of fairness and unity for the north to relinquish power to the south after eight years under President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, the Northern Governors Forum at a meeting in Kaduna on Monday, said rotational presidency was against Nigeria’s constitution.
The Northern Governors in a statement signed by their chairman, Simon Lalong, who is also the Governor of Plateau State, had said, “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.
“Notwithstanding their comments, the Forum unanimously condemn the statement by the Southern Governors Forum that the Presidency must go to the South.
“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 run-up simple majority win the election.”