Ondo State governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu says the All Progressives Congress (APC) must retain power by rotating the presidency to the southern part of the country in the 2023 elections.

“APC must work to retain power. We must rotate power to retain power !!! Rotate to the South. Shikena,” Mr Akeredolu wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.

Mr Akeredolu’s admonition comes as the ruling party enters the homestretch in its quest to name a presidential candidate at a special national convention billed for June 6-8 in Abuja 

President Muhammadu Buhari told APC governors on Tuesday that he should be allowed to unilaterally pick his preferred successor.

The demand has since caused rumbles among party faithful who see it as a plot to retain power in the North. Mr Buhari had long been cast as a nepotistic leader who readily offered the most important federal positions to persons from his northern base.

Mr Akeredolu’s latest take re-echoes a Southern Governors’ Forum’s resolution in July 2021 where they insisted that the next Nigerian president must come from the South.

It is however not clear if the governors still hold their demands sacrosanct.

Opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, last Saturday, elected Atiku Abubakar, a northerner, as its flag bearer. Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike who was the runner up in that election accused fellow southern governors of betraying southern interests.