Muhammadu Sanusi II, former Emir of Kano, says zoning the presidency to a particular region may leave the country “with two useless candidates” in 2023.

Speaking on Arise Television on Friday, Sanusi said he has always objected to discussions that take into account where a president should come from.

There have been talks in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) about zoning the presidency to the south.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor said Nigeria needs a president who can deliver, irrespective of where he is from.

“I have always objected to this idea that we should focus on where the president comes from. We have got southern governors saying we want the presidency and some northern governors saying that they want it in the north. Have you noticed that nobody has given the name of what they want?” he said.

“This whole thing is to corner the presidency to one part of the country and the big masquerade will come out. And that is why at the end of the exercise, you end up as Nigeria… presented with two useless candidates. Those who want to be president should show their face either from the north or the south.

“Meanwhile, we have before us very serious issues. You have a simple issue of electronic transmission of results which is designed to make the electoral process fairer and you have people saying that they do not want it, shamelessly announcing to the country that they want to rig. Why are we not talking about these issues?

“The greatest weakness we have as a country is that we do not think. We are very smart when it comes to making money by doing our work but we do not apply critical intellect to… and these guys just take the entire country for a ride.

“Give me a president from any part of the country who can deliver and we should vote for him. He is not taking the presidency to his hometown.”

Sanusi said civil society organisations (CSOs) and the national assembly are not doing their jobs.

“The institutions have failed, the national assembly is not doing its work. The CSOs are not doing their work. We all have been appropriated into the agendas of political society,” he said.

“Everyone wants office, everyone wants favours from the government. If we had a strong civil society holding political society to account, we would begin to improve and tackle issues.”