Former chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has boasted that if he was not forced out by strong forces in the party, there was no way All Progressives Congress (APC) would have won the 2015 general elections, especially at the Presidential level.
He recalled that “some powerful forces within the PDP forced me out,” adding that if he had still been there, his party would not have been defeated during the last general elections,
Bamanga Tukur who spoke today with newsmen in Abuja as part of the events marking his 80th birthday said that it would be difficult for him to change his behaviours.
“At 80 what do you want somebody to do? You want to change somebody character at 80? Is it possible? At 80 you remain because you cannot bend anymore because it will break.”
Bamanga Tukur, who was also Governor of the old Gongola State, commended the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari in his first 100 days in office.
He argued that President Buhari is on the right track in the areas of fighting corruption and insecurity, and has in the last 100 days “delivered on his promises of confronting corruption, power, unemployment and insecurity.”
“To me, they are going the right way, they are not deviating from what they said they will do.”
Bamanga Tukur who ruled out the possibility of his joining the Apc as some members of the PDP have done, offered suggestions on how to move Nigeria forward, saying: “We must remove religion from politics. We must accept ourselves as Nigerians and not see ourselves as being from A or B state, or local government. We must ensure that anything, culture or ethnicity that we cannot change we don’t bring to the table.”
He advised Nigerians to endure what they cannot change, explaining: “you cannot change yourself from being an Hausa man to Ibo man or an Ibo man to a Yoruba man, or a Yoruba man to an Ijaw man. You can’t. So forget about that, it is not an issue. So don’t bring it on the table.”
He stressed the need for the citizens to de-emphasize ethnicity in the conduct of the national affairs, saying: “What we must bring into our politics is equity, justice and for us to be our brother’s keeper.
“We can do it. I have told you, God has given you land, water and us, as a people that is what He gave to every nation on earth.” [myad]
