Bamanga Tukur: I will not resign as PDP Chairman

The ruling party chairman said blamed rumours of his resignation on “faceless individuals.”

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Bamanga Tukur, has dismissed media reports that he is under pressure to resign from office.

Mr. Tukur, in a statement he personally signed on Monday in Abuja, said he is in good accord with President Goodluck Jonathan and other stakeholders of the PDP.

He also said he is working in tandem with the elders and stakeholders in the party on the need to address the challenges facing the PDP.

The party chairman said he was aware of the antics of “some black legs in and out of the PDP” who have been funding negative media reports on activities of the party both at the state and national levels; adding that such antics would come to nothing because it “won’t go far”.

Mr. Tukur also eulogised the Nigerian media saying it has come of age and is observing the tenets of the profession. He, however, expressed dismay that a cross section of the media appear to ‘predict his failure;’ accusing them of reporting falsehood against his person and office.

“I had hardly settled down in office when some newspapers predicted that I would not last three months. Later, some newspapers wrote that I would resign in December. Another one said two days ago that I had been asked to resign. Well, I have spent more than one year in office and they still continue to write same and same thing all over. I really do not understand whether Bamanga Tukur is really the media’s problem, or the problem of faceless individuals who were manufacturing the miserable reports.

“It was more ludicrous that some people funded a report that I had resigned when indeed, I was on my way to Canada for an official engagement, and yet our so called media bought the untruth without shuddering. Then I ask myself, where is the sense of fairness and professionalism by our media in this regard?

“The problem is so bad that when members of our party meet and discuss behind closed doors, the media would say Bamanga Tukur is the issue. The media do not seem to know that we have better things to discuss in our party than issue of crises,” he said.

I am going nowhere

Mr. Tukur said he is not contemplating resigning from office, because he still has a lot to offer both to the party and Nigeria as a whole

“Let me reiterate that I am not resigning and I have no intention of doing so as an elected National Chairman of PDP. I accepted to become chairman based on my conviction that I can use my wealth of experience to help my party and my country.

“I am not looking for anything at my age other than putting it on record that God has helped me, and then, I am using the opportunities he gave me to serve the rest of Nigeria to the best of my abilities. I will not relent in using the Good office given to me by God to bring peace into the party.

The party chairman appealed to members to close ranks, saying, “It is on this note that I appeal to all our members to come together to face the challenges confronting us as a party. If we must remain the strongest party that we are in Africa, it is high time we bury the hatchets and begin to close ranks.”

“It is in our party’s interest and indeed, in the interest of President Goodluck Jonathan to have us get back on the track while regaining the grooves that have been making us tick, unbeatable and widely accepted. To do otherwise is to yield the grounds to the propagandists who have been masquerading as our opponents even with the nebulous interest of getting power in 2015,” he said,

Mr. Tukur, however, said as a Nigerian who had served in high capacities at the global level, and who had assisted in bringing business opportunities to Nigeria as the President of the NEPAD business group and who is currently heading Africa’s largest political party, he would never make a fuss by subjecting the process of his resignation from PDP to media hype and needless conjectures.