Group Sues El-Rufai For Refusing To Contest 2023 Presidency

A northern group has sued Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, over his alleged refusal to accept their request to run for president in 2013.

The group – Nassiriya Organization – said it filed the suit before the Kaduna State High Court to compel El-Rufai to contest in the next presidential election.

Coordinator of the group, Garkuwa Babuga, said the quest to get El-Rufai to throw his hat in the ring in 2023 was based on “his track records of achievements.”

Babuga, who is the northwest zonal vice chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said the governor would be ideal to replace President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

He said, “Many people are yearning for the el-Rufai presidency. I don’t have to overblow the trumpet; you all have seen his developmental strides in the FCT and in Kaduna state. He is the best person for the villa in 2023.

“Let’s continue to be loyal and support President Buhari to complete his tenure. But el-Rufai as president and successor to Buhari will further unite Nigeria.

“We are appealing to our elders in the North, please forget party differences, we should join forces and rally round el-Rufai so that he contests and win the presidency.

 “Although he did not answer our call, we have gone to court so as to compel El-Rufai to vie for the number one seat in Nigeria.

“The next sitting on the matter is on the 2nd of November, 2020. We have sought the legal services of Barrister El-Zubair. We will all be in the court.”

THE WHISTLER reports that President Buhari hails from Katsina, a state in northwest zone of the country, and is currently serving his second and last constitutionally allowed term in office.

Kaduna, which Governor El-Rufai is presently presiding over, is a state in north-western Nigeria.

Nassiriya is asking the governor to run for president in 2023, not minding the existing informal system of rotation that provides that if the north rules for eight years, it would be the south’s turn to rule for the next eight years.

Meanwhile, in a recent interview with BBC Hausa, El-Rufai had said the country’s next president should emerge from the south.

“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,” the governor had said.