Bamanga’s Exit, Jonathan’s Dilemma,By Ali M Ali

Unless something dramatic happened over night, Bamanga Tukur, the hard fighting ‘global villager’ is gone (silly!) not to the great beyond. He is gone to where his predecessor chairmen of the ‘largest party’ in Africa-the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) habitually went -political hall of infamy. Gemade, Ogbeh, Ogbulafor, Nwodo. These were a few of the ex- chairmen compelled to kiss the canvass willy-nilly in the afternoon of their ‘tenure’. And now Bamanga.
I am not, altogether, surprised. What surprised me was the former chairman’s staying power. The old man, and I dare say ‘old’ fought a good fight. By September 15,he would be 79.His traducers say he is older. Someone told me under oath that in 1983 when he was sworn in as duly elected governor in the truncated Second Republic, he was 51.For a man this old, he brought unusual energy to bear on his office. Kudos to that.
I have no quarrel with his age. But I quarrel with his style-it was exclusive. This pitched him from day one with entrenched interests in the party. From that day he began fighting a lost battle. He was up against very powerful enemy-PDP governors.
I penned this piece at exactly 8.45 pm last night in between watching Nigeria’s lack luster performance with Mozambique and pondering what options are left for President Jonathan as the political noose tightens. It was a cheerless consolation that we won 4-2. With the backbone of his presidential bid gone, I wonder who could possibly contract the space in the manner Bamanga did.
Marketing Jonathan for 2015 is near impossible. It was a lot easier in 2011.Most Nigerians and patriots didn’t know of his admirable lack of capacity. Now they know better.
An inquisition into Bamanga’s two-year stint reveals interesting variables. The opposition couldn’t have done a better job emasculating the ruling party. Bamanga was a God sent to ease one of their own into the presidential villa. His days
As chairman singly fractured the PDP irreparably. Thanks to him, his party now is the minority in the lower chamber of the National Assembly with the prospects of the opposition similarly taking over the Senate once it reconvenes very high. His interminable fight with the governors leading to the exit of five of them similarly weakened it as 2015 draws inexorably near.
Make no mistake about it. Governors occupying executive mansions owned the political parties. In PDP or APC, the governors are the tin-footed gods in whose presence every politician must bow in deference to their power. This power derives from, in the main, the constitution of the Republic and the enormous state resources they control. Because of these, they fund the political parties. They determine who gets what and when. Even a decidedly foxy President like Obasanjo occasionally deferred to them.
The governors’ influence heightened with the death of Yar’adua. In the epic battle of wits with Senators who pushed for one of their own to be Vice President to Jonathan, a ‘dark horse’ in the form of first term governor Namadi Sambo, upstaged the more politically suave Senator Ahmed Makarfi, himself a former governor.
In the sundry shadow political boxing bouts with the governors, Obasanjo had his nose often bloodied. The governors’ forum, under him, more or less became a counter force to the National Assembly. Its clout is evidenced in the elevation of late Umaru Yar’adua and current President, Goodluck Jonathan from its ranks. And for the heck of it, sitting Vice President, Namadi Sambo is also from within their ranks.
With a profile like this, it was positively foolhardy for anyone to dare the governors. Unless one had a death wish as PDP chairman, standing eyeball to eyeball with the governors was patently ill advised. Yet this was exactly what Bamanga did. In fact he did more than this. He out stared some of them. And he did that in a uniquely grand style. He first, antagonized them. Second, he annoyed some of the major stakeholders even in his home state of Adamawa. Third, he spoke and acted more like a garrison commander in the mould of Ahmadu Ali. Even hewers of wood and fetchers of water know that Bamanga was brought in expressly for one purpose-guarantee the incumbent a re-election ticket. And he didn’t disappoint. Repeatedly he made it clear that there was not going to be a level playing field for other aspirants. His choice was not in doubt-Jonathan.
At a point, even the ‘enforcer’ Tony Anenih had to caution the former chairman to control his verbal hemorrhage.
Except for one or two, all those who held the party’s plum ended up ignobly. Until Bamanga happened, pretense to ‘electing’ the leadership ended with Audu Ogbeh.
In 2001,PDP governors rallied solidly behind Ogbeh and forced Barnabas Gemade who, two years earlier, was the ‘dark horse’ that upstaged the more popular SB Awoniyi in the maiden post military rule convention of the party.
It was a ‘no contest’ between highflying Awoniyi and, if you like, ‘low flying’ Gemade. Informed minds gave it to the late politician. Mark you Gemade was no pushover. His political pedigree was fascinating. In his kitty for instance, at the time, was chairmanship of the defunct Congress for National Census (CNC), one of the five parties that adopted late Abacha as its presidential candidate. He was not a lightweight in his ‘category’.
Still he stood no chance in the ‘heavyweight’ category in which Awoniyi was a veteran. He was like a sheep in a desert marathon race of camels. That was until the President, Obasanjo deployed the might of his office to torpedo the ‘Sardauna Kekere’ whose reputation of uprightness and honour sharply contrasted with his diminutive appearance. These twin virtues were poisoned chalice clearly to an incipient dictator who would later run the party as a fiefdom.
Subsequent leaders beginning with ‘garrison commander’ the (in?) famous Ahmadu Ali were either appointed or ‘acting’ to fill a void following the forceful removal of the chairman of the day.
Under Ali, the culture of garrison politics found roots in and became entrenched in the party. This culture Bamanga took to another level in the bid to please Jonathan. With his exit, Jonathan’s vulnerability in the 2015 bid is all too obvious. Whoever replaces Tukur will be reluctant to stick out his neck for an undependable ally like Jonathan who will sooner sacrifice him at the sight of adversaries. This is Jonathan’s dilemma now. Who will replace Tukur?