Bamanga Tukur, former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says he is quitting politics to give room for a younger generation of leaders.
Tukur made the announcement at an event organised to mark his 80th birthday in Abuja on Tuesday.
“I deem it fit to use this opportunity of my 80th birthday celebration to announce my retirement from partisan politics,” he said.
“It is time to say goodbye to formal politics. I have used several political platforms to serve my country. 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.”
Advertisement
Tukur was the PDP national chairman from March 2012 to January 2014.
His chairmanship of the party was rocky and challenged by some governors who pressured him to resign.
He initially vowed to remain the PDP national chairman amid calls for his resignation, saying he could only be removed through the party’s convention.
Advertisement
But after he was eventually forced out of his post and he challenged his ouster in court, PDP placed a one-month suspension on him in December 2014, saying it was “unacceptable for Tukur to institue a claim and counter claim in suit FHC/ABJ /821/2014; Gurin vs PDP & 3 others without first exploring and exhausting the party’s internal mechanism of redress and for attempting to stop the forthcoming national convention to nominate the party’s presidential candidate as well as regularise the position of the national chairman and other members of the national working committee”.
His suspension was lifted at the end of January 2015.
Tukur was succeeded by Adamu Mu’azu from Bauchi state. But like his predecessor, Mu’azu was was also coerced into resigning his position after the party’s dismal performance in the 2015 general election.
Advertisement
Add a comment
