Frontline aspirant for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Chairmanship contest, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, said yesterday that he was the right man for the party’s top post, which he said was for daddies and not children.
Tukur,? who led PDP governors from the North-East to the Presidential Villa,? denied moves by the party to have a consensus chairman, saying the contest was thrown open to any aspirant who thinks he has what it takes to move the party forward.
The governors, who accompanied Tukur to the parley at the Villa? were those of Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe and Adamawa States. Political Adviser to the President, Mr. Ahmed Gulak, was also at the parley.
Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, Tukur said that the chairmanship race was open to all who are capable of leading the party.
He said, “As far as I am concerned, competition is always good”.
On insinuation that he was too old for this job, he said, “PDP leadership is not a job for the children. It is a job for the daddies at the moment. It is competition. It is good, the more the merrier. We want to deepen democracy. Everybody who believes they have solution or improvement for our party let them come”.
?Tukur denied being sponsored by the President for the post, adding “Our party will take a decision at the Eagle Square with people voting or at the ward level as we are doing now or at local government level. For the people to back me, I will tell them what I am doing.”
Asked whether it can be safely said that he was at the villa to canvass for the president’s support and whether the president was favourably disposed to his aspiration, he said, “Yes. I canvass for support anywhere I go. I express my interest. Well, you do the lobby or canvassing, you wait for the person you canvassed to decide”.
Also speaking, Adamawa State governor, Admiral Muritala Nyako said that President Jonathan holds the ace in deciding who becomes the party’s national chairman and assured that the governors were ready to support whoever the president decides to support.
He, however, opted for a consensus candidate for the contest,? as the method would add to the unity of the party and reduce cost and time.
?“The President is the leader of the party in the country, just like me in Adamawa state. I am the leader of the party in my state and when it comes to the question of top leadership of the party in my state, definitely I should consider certain things.