Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, a PDP chairmanship aspirant, said on Monday in Abuja that the leadership position of the ruling party was not a job for children.
“The chairmanship position of the ruling party is not a job for the children, but a job for the daddies at the moment,” Tukur said in an interview with State House correspondents.
He was fielding questions from newsmen after a closed-door meeting of PDP governors from the North East Zone with President Goodluck Jonathan.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the chairmanship position of the party, which is to be contested at the forthcoming national convention, is zoned to the North East.
Reacting to claims in some quarters that at 77, he was too old for the job, and that he represented the old guards, Tukur said he was the most suitable for the job because he had more experience.
He said he was in the villa at the instance of the governors and not as a result of the rumour making the round that he had been anointed by Mr President to clinch the plum job.
Tukur said the people would decide the fate of the aspirants and that for them to back him as their choice, “I have to tell them what I will do as the leader of the party”.
He said although he recognised the President as a factor for winning, the best he could do was to canvass for his support as well as the support of the governors and other stakeholders.
Tukur denied knowledge of reports that he would be made a concensus candidate, saying that competing for the position would deepen internal democracy in the party and make the exercise more credible.
It is competition. It is good, the more the merrier. We want to deepen democracy. Anybody who believes he or she has a solution or improvement for our party let him or her come.
“Yes, absolutely, it should be thrown open and it has already been thrown open.
“However, if they decide to do otherwise, ok. But as far as I am concerned, competition is always good,” he said.
Gov. Murtala Nyako of Adamawa, who spoke on behalf of others, said the meeting with the president was on the election, especially as it concerns the party’s chairmanship position, which is zoned to the North East.
He, however, did not confirm whether the governors were pushing for a consensus candidate among the many aspirants that picked the forms for the position.
In the team, were governors Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State; Dambaba Suntai of Taraba, and Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, as well as Mr Ahmed Gulak, the Political Adviser to the President.
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