*Party must respect its founding principles

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur was the former governor of Gongola State. That was his immediate political office after serving as the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority for several years.
During the Abdulsalami Abubakar transition programme in 1998, Alhaji Tukur became one of the founding fathers of the PDP and served as a minister.
But as it is with almost all things PDP and its former national leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, the centre no longer held and, therefore, Tukur quit that government.
Thinking it was a matter of principles and the need to build a strong, virile political party, Tukur, along with some other founding fathers of the party banded together only to be expelled by the party.  It was, no doubt, Obasanjo’s call.
With the election of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, a reconciliation process began that brought him and other members who had left the party back.
And with preparations for the party’s national convention where new members of its National Executive Committee, NEC, would be elected, Alhaji Tukur has indicated interest in becoming the chairman of the PDP.
In this interview, Alhaji Tukur, who was a member of the defunct National Republican Convention, NRC, gave an insight into his vision for the party and other sundry issues.
With the thunderous-sounding alias of BAMANGAR POWER, Tukur says he is set to return the PDP to its path of honour, respect and dignity.
Excerpts:

Why do you want to be the chairman of PDP?
I am looking for the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as its chairman because it is a very important platform we need to explain to the nation and our followers what type of party we have.

 That statement suggests an admission that…?
Look, I am one of the founders of the PDP. I know the philosophy of the party.

I know the principles which should be guiding the workings of the party.
We should have a level playing field whereby members of this big political party should have the right and freedom to express their own aspirations.
But the reality is that a level playing field has not been available in the PDP?
We did not found this party just sitting down in our offices thinking what the party should look like.

We went to villages, local governments to sensitize people because we needed to establish democracy.

People joined this party because they felt together they can aspire and get what they believe is their right on our platform. Before we drew up our manifesto, we asked a cross section of Nigerians what they expected from a political party.

Some said we want good roads, others said they needed education for their children while others wanted water and so on.

 Would you say in all honesty that the PDP has delivered?
Now, if you entered a covenant with the people and they accepted your party, they expect you to perform after they have elected you into office. If you have the party supremacy, the party should be able to ensure that all elected people should be accountable to the electorate. I am offering myself as chairman of the party because I found out that the house we built is now reducing. It is collapsing. The PDP has got a lot of problems.

 Good to hear you admit that?
If you don’t identify and accept that there is a problem, then you are gone. We need to get those people who left the party to come back because this is a party that one day would lead Africa to a United States of Africa. It may not be in our time but it is possible. It is very necessary especially for those of us who knew what we wanted in a party to be able to come out and say let us now come back on the track. Our party is a party of inclusion so why are we excluding people? We said this is a party of consensus, why are we imposing people?

The government works on the basis of its own policy. In the party, the covenant with the people is very important.

Let the people decide since we say it is democracy we want. When the people decide, you act. The party leadership should ensure that that trust that existed before should be maintained.

 Is the house you built reducing because the PDP has failed to keep faith with its covenant with the people?

To use the word fail is negative.

They failed to deliver what they were supposed to deliver.

Why do people leave one party to the other? They leave the party which they formed and go to another party yet they win election.

It is simple.
It is because there is consensus in that party.
Anybody who tells you that the PDP has no problem is joking.
But you cannot say because it has problems, it has failed.
Yes we have problems!

But we must make sure that we do not fail.

 Will it be right to say that the elected PDP officials have largely observed the manifesto of the party in the breach?

They did not implement it in all its ramifications. Look at the number of cases in the court even after elections. It means there are some loopholes. As a founding father, I cannot sit back and watch things go bad because if I do that, history would judge me harshly.

 What we have observed with former chairmen of the PDP is that apart from Ahmadu Ali who completed his tenure, almost all of them ended up in a way that was not too palatable. Are you not scared by the possibility of being hounded out of office in disgrace?
I am talking about the party. I am talking about election.
I am not offering myself to the president but to the nation.
I am offering myself to our party, the PDP, to show them that the party is in dire need of reformation.

I am not offering myself to the president.

Bamanga Tukur

I believe that if the people decide to vote for me, they know the philosophy we stand for, party supremacy, level playing field and deepening of democracy.
My track record is very clear in this country.

The PDP of today is being funded by governors of the party. There is the saying that he who pays the piper dictates the tune. How would you handle this situation if you become the chairman of the party?
Let me tell you, when we were forming this party, we interacted with the African National Congress, ANC, of South Africa. They are the richest party in Africa.

Their members contribute to the funding of the party. By the grace of God this is the path we want to tread. Party is like a club. When you are a member of a club you pay its dues.We shall strive to show people how to be productive. If you are a member of a party, that party should be able to teach you how to fish and not to give you fish.

 When the PDP was going through all the trying moments, why didn’t you as a founding member of the party raise your voice against what was happening rather than keep quiet?
I am sure you are aware that I was expelled from the PDP.

I wonder where it has happened before that a director would sack shareholders.
It was like a coup.

You may be holding the mandate but there is a de facto custodian of the mandate and a de jure custodian of a mandate. You cannot do something when you are excluded from the process.
That is the reason why I could not do anything then.

But now that there is an opportunity for me to stand up and do a job, I have indicated my interest.

We want to reform. We want to change and we want to refocus.

The political party is just like a mother of twins.Even if you give each of the twins the same quantity of food, one would want to appropriate that of the other person.

As a mother, it is your responsibility to stop the children from fighting.

When the party is strong, the executive will find the environment good to govern, the legislature will find the environment good to make laws and those who are being governed will get the dividends of government.

 Conflicts appear to have become second nature to PDP?
Some of the conflicts we see now are conflicts which impede development.
A party should be able to call its members to order.

It should check its members in the executive and the legislature consistently so that checks and balance can take place.

 Don’t you think your age is a disadvantage?
On the issue of my age, I did not say I was contesting to go for a wrestling bout.
I recently organised the biggest economic conference in America where President Goodluck Jonathan was there and other world leaders attended.

When world leaders see credible people organising conferences, they would attend.

If I could advise the Ghanaian government to turn around the economy of Ghana, what is PDP?

The PDP has been winning elections but it has not been able to win the minds of the Nigerian People. What do you think is responsible for this?

We have to win the hearts of the Nigerian people. If we fail to win their hearts, they will never vote for us. People say PDP will rule forever, it is a lie. We can only rule for ever if people continue to do the right thing that it was known for.