ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The leader of Nigeria's ruling party said Thursday that he believed the West African nation's president should be allowed to run in next year's election, despite a power-sharing agreement that calls for a candidate from the Muslim north.

People's Democratic Party chairman Okwesilieze Nwodo's endorsement of southern Christian President Goodluck Jonathan's candidacy comes as an election could be held as early as January in the oil-rich nation. Nwodo made the comments just before a party meeting Thursday night about the informal power-sharing agreement that attempts to satisfy the country's Christian-dominated south and its Muslim north.

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