A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has declared that it is the turn of the South to produce the country’s President in 2027.

As a result, the one-time Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and immediate past Governor of Kaduna State has ruled himself out of the next presidential race, announcing that he will, instead, run in 2031.

“I refused to contest in 2027 because it is the turn of the South.

“You will see me in action come 2031,” El-Rufai was quoted as saying in a tweet by ADC News (@AdcNews_) made at exactly 2:54 PM yesterday, Saturday, December 13, 2025.

The tweet, which had recorded 57.3K views as at yesterday night, praised “Mallam” for his position, saying: “This man can keep to agreement. His strength.”

This comes at a time when the debate is raging about zoning by ADC, which has, however, said that it is not a priority for now.

The opposition behemoth so far has three known presidential aspirants, namely, Ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar; 2023 Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi; and 2023 All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Aspirant, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. While Atiku is from the North, Obi and Amaechi are from the South.

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