Former Governor of old Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa has backed the incumbent, Nasir el-Rufai’s call for the presidency to return to Southern Nigeria in 2023.
El-Rufai made the call earlier in the month, The Herald reported.
He denied nursing a presidential ambition, noting that “the southern part of the country is supposed to produce the president come 2023; I don’t support a northerner to vie for the seat after President Muhammadu Buhari, based on Nigeria’s political arrangement.”
Reacting, Musa said that although rotational presidency was not codified in the 1999 Constitution, it was consistent with the principle and observation of the federal character.
“I completely support the idea of the Presidency returning to the South. It is in the spirit of fairness and equity to let the South have the Presidency in 2023, by which time Buhari would have been on the seat for eight years.
Those opposed to zoning on the ground that it is not provided for in the constitution may have a point but truth is, zoning as entrenched in the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is a good thing even though the party later flouted its own arrangement.
“Now, you can’t support federal character and not support zoning because both are tailored to give every segment of the country, a sense of belonging. Zoning is today being practiced at the ward, local and state levels. So why not replicate it at the federal level?” Musa told Saturday Vanguard.