Jonathan, Please Let Tukur Go!

In the heat of the PDP national convention in 2012, I penned an article titled “PDP leadership and the transformation agenda” which was widely published in local and international media, and had argued that:

“As the ruling and dominant political party in Nigeria, the PDP has an important role to play in stabilizing the country and supporting the government's transformation agenda. The election of candidates with strong democratic credentials will help strengthen the democratic values of the party and water the seeds of our young democracy”

Then, as a guide to the party delegates, in the midst of the intense struggle and conflict amongst the contestants and interest groups which sought for internal dominance in the party, I cautioned that:

“It is important that the party delegates elect a chairman who is not swayed by parochial values, who is principled and who will put the country first in all his activities. The party chairman must be a unifier, not a divider. He must be versatile on the virtues of modern societies and he must be willing to stand up for the truth, irrespective of who is involved. He must have a measurable degree of success in his private life and must be intellectually sound, able to separate the facts from the fictions”

As a stakeholder in the Nigerian project, I genuinely saw the PDP national convention as a vehicle for change, an opportunity for a new beginning in the party and country. Considering its leverage on Nigeria, PDP was in a position to lead the charge of transformation at all levels of society. Its national presence and following could be harnessed to mobilize Nigerians in the march for nationhood. There was no doubt that Dr Bamanga Tukur who was a former federal Minister, former state governor, an accomplished international businessman and President of the African Business roundtable possessed very impressive resume and held the promise of a breadth of fresh air.

As such, I reasoned that based on Dr Bamanga Tukur's deep roots in the country's politics, history and economics, he towered “heads and shoulders” above the myriad of PDP chairmanship aspirants. Tukur would be a unifying force, a bridge-builder and a positive instrument for the much-awaited transformation in the party. Mine was a view based on available information in the public domain on the man and on the conviction that the country needed an individual with Tukur's experience and exposure to reform the PDP and instill democratic values in its structures.

A lot has gone wrong since Bamanga Tukur's election as PDP's national party chairman. The man has disappointed his staunchest of supporters and turned himself into a classical study in the aphrodisiac effect of power. On assuming office, he threw humility and caution to the wind and exhibited the intolerable arrogance of the past; rather than focus on rebuilding and refocusing the party, he became intoxicated with power and turned himself into a force of division in the party. He demonstrated a total lack of the temperament and mien required of a bridge builder and his body language neither inspired the party members nor attracted new followership.

In the days of yore - in the era of jack-boot politics – Bamanga Tukur might have been an effective leader, with the guns and horsewhips to back him; but this is a different era requiring a different spirit and mind frame to coalesce the divergent interests that daily struggle for survival and supremacy in the party. It never occurred to him that the country has made tremendous progress in the democratic space. He saw himself as the big boss, “the man that must be obeyed”; hence he expected other party leaders and members to come crawling to him. He was not well disposed to contrary views and easily wielded the sledge hammer at the slightest provocation.

It was as if a sword of Damocles was hanging on the neck of his fellow party members. Even the party governors were not spared as a governor was suspended for not returning Tukur's call. He appropriated the functions of the party secretary and refused to call the party's NEC meetings. Quickly, the man Tukur alienated himself from the party's stakeholders and soon became the issue in the party.

By his carriage and actions, Bamanga Tukur has turned himself into the big elephant in the china house that must be carefully removed before he wrecks everything and pulls down the house. The burdens of the party have proved too heavy for the man to carry and he needs to be advised to take a rest.

The President should let Tukur go, and initiate the rightful moves for PDP's restructuring. This is the time to start afresh. Tomorrow may be too late for the party and country. As the leader of the ruling party in Nigeria, President Jonathan owes it to his fellow party members and to the nation to start the process of change in PDP.

The party is “too big to fail” and should not be allowed to bring the nation down. Tukur's continued rulership of the party flays the nerves and does not give room for the serious task of reconciliation and party building. The President should not allow the acrimonies that have been built in the Tukur's era as party chairman to spill over to the national platform and be exploited in further weakening the embers of unity in the country. For this, it's time to move beyond Tukur and save the country!

Chukwudi Owo is the President/C.E.O
of Resourcefield Inc. based in Canada