6 Reasons why I Quit Politics—Bamanga Tukur | Says “I have contributed to Nationhood”

Alhaji Bamanga Tukur
On Tues. 15th
Sept. 2015 at the lecture to mark his 80th birthday, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, former National
Chairman of PDP shocked his guests, when he announced his formal retirement
from partisan politics. He also revealed his success secrets plus the problem
with Nigerians politics. His speech is loaded. Read on.

Allah the greatest and most merciful
whom it pleased in the first place to create me and bring me to this part of
the world, and who has sustained and given me life, good health and love from
my birth till date.
It is therefore, no
doubt, a great privilege to attain the age of 80 years. I know a great number of those who were born at the same
period with me, and many more that I came later in life who are no more today.
I have every reason to thank Almighty
Allah
and I have a greater reason, therefore to humbly, rededicate my
services to Allah, my country and
mankind.


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I owe all that I
am, all I have achieved, all that I have been and all my future endeavors to Allah. Allah the Greatest and most
merciful has been exceptionally good to me. He has blessed me, he has blessed
my work. He has blessed my family. Allah
is indeed the reason why I am speaking with you today and celebrating long
life. May his name be praised and lifted up in the corners of the earth. In
whatever position I have I have found myself throughout my sojourn in this
planet, I have tried to the best of my ability to use it and do good to all
manner of people regardless of their background, religion, sex, ethnicity,
tribe and such-like primordial considerations. 
 “I deem it fit to use this opportunity of my
80th birthday celebration to announce my retirement from partisan
politics. It is time to say goodbye to formal politics. I have several
political platforms to serve my country. It is time to rest”.
Today, I can state unequivocally
that my circle of friends cut across all the states of the Nigerian Federation, Africa and beyond. Early in life, I cultivated
the habits of building bridges of friendship and comradeship. I have been true
and open to my friends and all those I have come across in either business or
politics. I can state assuredly that the secret in life and in the entire
endeavor I have embarked upon is honesty and contentment.  To me, honesty is the best policy in
politics, business, social interactions and the like. Nothing less will do. One
trait which I was born with is that of affecting the life of those I come in
contract with positively. I have always tried to help those around me whether I
know them or not. I like to smile on otherwise sad faces. I remain grateful to Allah for helping me to change many
lives for better and for giving me the resources to touch lives positively and
creditably. I have held many positions of authority. In my own little way, I
used those positions to serve my country and humanity. I served as;
(a) Managing
Director of the then Nigerian Port
Authority
(NPA)
(b) Governor of the Old Gongola State which
is today’s Adamawa and Taraba States
(c) Federal Ministry of Trade & Industry
(d) President, African Business Roundtable
(ABR),
(e) Chairman of People’s Democratic Party (PDP),
(f) Chairman NEPAD Business Group Africa
(g) Chairman Nigerian Railway Corporation
(h) Ambassador-at-large of Federal Republic of Nigeria, etc. which
is the highest reputation in diplomatic circles.
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur
In these
capacities, I try to improve lives. I added meaning to the lives of people
through my programs. I created jobs, I awarded scholarships, I helped a lot of
people to go to school and pay school fees, i offered employments to many
Nigerians. I added value to governance. As a businessman, I helped in the
formation of several companies and enterprises which provided job on how to
develop their countries.
My regime
revolutionalized the ports in Nigeria. Sanity
was brought to ports and they became veritable revenue earners for the Federal Government.
We destroyed
certain ills bedeviling the ports then. We cleared the ports congestion which
created demurrage that sapped our economy.
“Today, I can state unequivocally that
my circle of friends cut across all the states of the Nigerian Federation,
Africa and beyond. Early in life, I cultivated the habits of building bridges
of friendship and comradeship. I have been true and open to my friends and all
those I have come across in either business or politics”
In politics, I wish
to state with humility that I was among those who mid-wived this republic. I
participated fully in all talks and discussions about the return of democracy
to Nigeria. as a victim of military
dictatorship, I joined forces with like-minded democrats to press for
democratic republicanism and full expression was given to this advocacy which
led to the formation of Political
Parties
, principally People
Democratic Party(PDP)
out of the then G34
Pressure Groups.
I was one of the founders of the party and also a
foundation member of the party.
I had the privilege
of serving as the National Chairman of
the party during which I tried to introduce sanity in the party affairs,
introduced the idea of internal democracy, party discipline and supremacy.
These are the great ingredients of a strong party system which ultimately drive
democratic process. Perhaps, on account of the long period of military reign in
Nigeria, Nigerian politicians have
not yet internalized and applied the principle of internal party democracy. I
hope that with time, party democracy will be entrenched in our political
parties system as this will strengthen our nascent democracy.
A corollary to the
concept of party democracy is the idea of party discipline. True politicians
should avail themselves of constitutional right to assembly with anybody or
party. The need to Checkmate frequency of defection from one political party to
the other can hardly be overstressed.
Political parties
are stronger when members submit themselves to the rules and regulation of the
parties and subscribe faithfully to the ideologies of the parties they belong.
Our political parties should strive to have concrete ideologies as this will
certainly help to curtail unmitigated defection in the system for “a strong
party breeds a strong Government”. A strong Government breeds a strong economy.
A strong economy brings Development, Peace and Security”
“I deem it fit to
use this opportunity of my 80th birthday celebration to announce my
retirement from partisan politics. It is time to say goodbye to formal
politics. I have several political platforms to serve my country. It is time to
rest. I leave partisan politics for the younger generation. I want to be a
statesman and an adviser. At the age of 80, I feel I can serve our dear nation
more in the capacity of a statesman and father figure,”
My door is open to
all politicians, businessmen, business women and all Nigerians who may seek my advice
or opinion on any issues affecting our country and beyond. I wish to enjoin
politicians to play the games according to the rules and to take interest of
the country at heart; Politics should be seen as an avenue for rendition of
service to the country. Politics should not be a bread and butter affair. All politicians
should rededicate themselves to the service of the people.
Elected officers
and government officers should regard their position as sacred and it must be
used, to serve the nation and nothing more. My nation has given me so much. It
is now pay back time. I want to rededicate my time, life and resources to the
growth of our nation as an Elder statesman and father. My aim is to help to
‘take Nigeria to the land of promise, to make her truly great and to ensure
that she assumes her rightful position in ‘the comity of nations. I want Nigeria
to be truly great in line with the dream of her founding fathers in my
lifetime.
I want to use this
opportunity to thank all my former political associates across all the
political parties, I remain grateful to them for their support, understanding
and commitment. The success story which I am recounting today would not have
been possible without them. They were my backbone and I am highly indebted to
them for the good time, ideas and strategies we share and pursued together, I
call on Nigerians to support the Federal Government under the
leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, there should be peace in all
facets and organs of Government for Nigeria to move forward.
I congratulate Ex-President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for fashioning out a credible
electoral system for Nigeria and for his statesman-like
concession of victory at the last Presidential Election.
All hands must be
on deck to ensure that the dividends of democracy trickle down to the man in
the street, the proverbial hewers of wood and drawers of water. Nigeria
has all the requisite indices to be great and great it must be! Thanks you all
for your attention. May Allah bless you all abundantly- Amin.