Why PDP Needs Bamanga Tukur

Tomorrow, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would hold its national convention at the Eagles Square in Abuja,  to elect its new national officers.

The office of the National Chairman of the party  has been zoned to the North East geo-political zone. Among contestants for the national chairman is Alhaji Bamanga Tukur from Adamawa State. Whoever emerges is expected to collaborate with President Goodluck Jonathan, in leading the PDP, as well as the nation to the next level.

There is no doubt that there are a few men and women from the North East zone that are qualified for the chairmanship position. But the one that the cap fits best is Bamanga Tukur. This is in part because he is elderly and progressive.

Although it is obvious that the PDP is the largest political party in Nigeria and even in Africa,  evidence indicates that the party is slowly losing its grip by the day.  During the 2003, 2007 and 2011 general elections, the PDP lost some states to other parties. And some of the states that the party won were literally gained by iron fist. More scarily, the party would have lost the presidential  seat, if not for the miraculous intervention of a third party who gave the PDP their ticket solely because of Dr Goodluck Jonathan. That again is another scary moment in itself. This depicts the saying that “no man is an island”. These are enough warning signs for the leadership of this great party – PDP.

The days of using money to buy voters and tugs to win elections in Nigeria are gone. Now is the time for the party leadership and members to be realistic and get their acts together. Not after we have confronted crisis and start cooking up various damage control mechanisms as a way out. Moreover, who knows what will be the fate of the party in 2015 and beyond, if it were to continue with the present management style.

The good news is that there is hope for the PDP to successfully re-brand its image, and also win back the trust of Nigerian citizens and voters in every geo-political zone, of the country.

To address the aforementioned concerns, the national delegates and the leadership of the PDP should engage the services of a team player, like Bamanga Tukur as its national chairman, to lead the transformational change of the party. He is a leader who is imbibed with the necessity of the wake-up calls for transformation in PDP.

For example, he recognise that the status-quo in the party no longer works and that a change is required such  transformational; he realised that the transformation requires new strategies and practices; and most importantly leaders to change  the mindsets, behaviours, and styles of the party for positive result.

I can vouch for Dr. Bamanga Tukur, both from  professional and personal stand points is exactly  the doctor needed for the job because he has what it takes to lead the transformational change of the party. He is elderly and  progressive.

One myth about older executives is that they are slow, less productive and aren’t quality oriented. But this is not true. According to an American Human Resources expert, Robert Half, elderly executives are more conscientious and hard working than youger executives.

Dr Bamanga Tukur’s first son, Awwal once said, it took an author about 20 years to write a book about his father. The reason was because Dr Tukur was always at work with a busy schedule both at home and abroad. Look at another African elder statesman like former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He is the hardest working man in Nigeria”. How many younger men can top that? This is the reason why some Fortune 500 companies are pairing older executives with younger ones or a younger governor with a older party chairman like Governor Chibuike Amaechi and Chief G. U. Ake in Rivers State.

Governor Amaechi once talked about the advantage of the strategy for him, “many a times, when taking a decision, I would like to tell a person like-it-is, but Chief G. U. Ake will tell me not to do so because the person might have an accident on the way out”. This phenomenon brings to bare the respective strengths of older and younger executives. Dr Bamanga Tukur would make a better pair with Dr Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria’s transformational leadership style of management strategy.

The next PDP national chairman and transformational change Leadership position is not for self-centred leaders who are on ego-trip and disregard their subordinates and people they don’t know. It is for progressive politicians and business leaders like Dr Bamanga Tukur, those who are accessible and are known to have moved beyond the traditional method of management, to promoting progress towards better conditions or new policies, ideas or methods.

One thing about transformational management  is that it assumes that everyone is the expert of his or her own workplace. Moreover, it entails the use of the bottom-up management style.

Alhaji Tukur is such a good role model who loves to work especially when it comes to serving his mother’s land, Nigeria and the people of African origin.

Dr. Okoro,  is a US- based consultant with expertise in Transformational Leadership Style of Management.

Edmund A. Okoro