Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has said he remains uninterested in contesting for the presidency in 2023 and beyond. According to the Governor, age is a major factor concerning his mindset about ruling the nation.
El-Rufai disclosed this in an interview with the BBC aired on Saturday.
El-Rufai, 62, said, “Governing Nigeria is a serious job, which is obviously 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.”
The Kaduna Governor also expressed that he had no interest in being vice president and voiced support for the zoning of the next presidential candidate.
“I have said it that in the political system we have, after eight years of President Buhari, the presidency should go to the south,” he said.
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El-Rufai said he was fed up being linked with the presidency, adding that such had been happening in the last 15 years.
The Governor expressed his displeasure with being termed a presidential aspirant, which he says has been happening for the last 15 years.
“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,” he said.
El-Rufai addressed allegations against him, terming him a Jihadist, saying that he isn’t even an active member of any Islamic organisation.
He said, “They have called me all sort 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 devote 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 to our graves separately.
“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 (Congress for Progressive Change).
“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?”
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