Walkout on Jonathan A ‘Coup,’ Says Bamanga Tukur

Bamnaga Tukur

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, says that last August’s walk-out on President Goodluck Jonathan by dissenting party members during the controversial convention of the party amounted to a coup d’etat.

Tukur made the remark in a response to the assertion of the Governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, that Mr. Tukur is a ‘virus’ that must be removed from the party.

A statement signed by Lamido’s Media Adviser, Prince Oliver Okpala, however said that Tukur agreed to being a virus, but described him as a “positive virus” in the party.

"Tukur agreed with Governor Sule Lamido that he is a virus in the party but a necessary virus for the entrenchment of democratic culture, discipline and good governance in the party and the country.

"He hoped that Governor Sule Lamido will soon catch this necessary virus for the good of the PDP and the country."

The National Chairman remarked that the virus that Lamido identified is a necessary virus in any democratic political structure for sustenance and continuity of the country’s nascent democratic dispensation.

He said if the virus had spread enough the likes of Governor Lamido would not have walked out on the President of the country and other party chieftains during the party’s last convention.

The actions of the governors, he said, amounted to a political coup and secession which should be condemned by every right thinking Nigerian as an insult on the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.