By Kaduna State governor, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, has reacted to widespread rumours that he has a presidential ambition, saying he believes the south deserves the nation’s top seat in 2023.
The governor made the clarification in an interview with the Pidgin Service of the BBC on Saturday, where he mentioned that he has “suffered presidential ambition suspicion for 15 years.”
El-Rufai disclosed that being the governor of Kaduna State was telling on his age, talkless of governing the entire country, adding that the job was too much for a 62-year-old man.
“Look at me, look at my grey hair. If you see my picture when I was sworn in, my hair was very black, but look at how it has become.
“This is a very difficult job, and that is just state governor, one state out of 36. A big one, yes; a difficult one, yes, but it is not the same as Nigeria,” he said.
He said some people, all thanks to his purported ambition, had labelled him all sort of names including Hausa-Fulani irredentist, and Jihadist.
He said: “I have not thought about it at all. I have said it that in the political system we have, after eight years of President Buhari, the presidency should go to the south.
“I have been suffering this presidential ambition suspicion since 2006. I have suffered it for 15 years today, and I am sick and tired of it.
“There are people that are out to paint me in a particular picture so that I will be out of the presidential race, but they don’t know that I am not in any race anywhere.
“They have called me all sorts of names. They said I am a Hausa-Fulani irredentist; I am Jihadist and all that. Jihadist when? Where? I am not even an active member of any Islamic organisation.
“I am Muslim, yes, a devout one. But I believe religion is private. Even here in this office, when it is time for prayer, I just excuse myself as if I am going to the restroom. I don’t ask anyone to come and pray with me, because we will all go into our graves separately.
“Look around me as see; I am surrounded only by Muslims. This government is the only state government in this country that has at least people from 13 other states of the Federation as cabinet members.
“One of the most influential persons in my life, one of my closest political associates is Pastor Tunde Bakare.
“It was Pastor Tunde Bakare that actually introduced me to Buhari and CPC. I didn’t join the CPC because Buhari lives in Kaduna or he is a northerner.
“So, if I am an Islamic Jihadist, why will Pastor Tunde Bakare be speaking to me?”
