Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has said that the emergence of a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction will only become reality if the people of the South-East stop threatening the country with secession.

El-Rufai said the regions that have produced Presidents that ruled the country achieved the feats by negotiating with people and political parties, stressing that politics has to do with negotiations and convincing others on why they should vote for the candidates.

The governor said this during a webinar organised by the Africa Leadership Group and tagged: ‘Developing a Viable Nation 2’.

He said Igbo people will not get the presidency by abusing everyone in Nigeria, adding that the region needs to seek alliance with other regions if they want someone from the region to be the next President.

El-Rufai, while responding to a question about why someone of Igbo extraction has not become Nigeria’s president yet, said; “I don’t think anyone has stopped the South-East from going for the Presidency. But you see, you cannot get the Presidency of Nigeria by threats or by shouting victimhood. This is a political process and you have to engage other parts of Nigeria to convince them to support you.

“That is what everyone does. That is what Jonathan did in 2011; that is what Buhari did in 2015 and 2019. That is what every President does. You don’t stay in your corner, abuse everyone in Nigeria and say give me Presidency. It is not going to happen.

Presidency is not by allocation. It is the result of a political process. You join a political party, your party negotiates with other parts of the country and it happens. That is how it is done. And you cannot get it by sitting down or threatening secession. It won’t work.

“I think the South-East is going about it the wrong way because if you look at the APC (All Progressives Congress) for instance, we do not have many footprints in the South-East.”