These notable personalities were former public servants whose records while in service are worth reckoning with. ELEOJO IDACHABA in this report wonders where they could have been since they left office.
Bamanga Tukur
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur can be described as “a man of many parts.” He is a titled chief, businessman, technocrat and politician. In all of these, he had excelled while they lasted. Tukur, with the title of Tafidan Adamawa, was once the executive president of African Business Round Table and also chairman of NEPAD Business Group. His last known public appointment was between 2012 and 2014 when he was elected as chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) through the help of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Earlier, in his political life, he had in 1982 contested and won the governorship seat of the old Gongola state (now comprising Adamawa and Taraba states) before that democratic dispensation was truncated by the military incursion of December 1983. Following that development, he entered full scale business and established BHI Holdings. Under him as chairman of PDP in 2014, six governors of the party left to join the nPDP which was spearheaded by Atiku Abubakar and Abubakar Baraje, a group that later joined forces with other associations to form APC and wrestled power from PDP in 2015. He is said to be someone who has spoken extensively about the need for the PDP to respect party supremacy and shun arrogance.
In one of his presentations about the looming crisis in the party then, he said, “It is very significant for me to make a presentation on various issues affecting the party leadership and also suggest the way forward. From 1999 to date, we have maintained a solid leadership position and control of Nigerian politics and this is a testimony of our deep understanding of the political terrain as we can always resolve issues amicably. As good leaders, let us not forget that we have an obligation to serve the people very well. Those who resort to dismal performance should never underestimate the political awareness of Nigerians.”
Like a soothsayer, his prediction came to pass after as the fortunes of the party nosedived in the 2015 elections because if his advice was heeded, the party would have performed better in that election. Tukur is one Nigerian whose business empire traverses every nook and cranny of the country, but since 2014 when he was forced to step aside as chairman of PDP, not much has been heard about this Adamawa state-born politician/business mogul.
Jerry Ugokwe
Jerry Sonny Ugokwe is a former lawmaker who represented the Idemili North and South federal constituency of Anambra state in the House of Representatives in 1999 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He was very vocal while in the House and was noted for the passage of many bills especially the bill for the award of the contract of Onitsha/Owerri road which was in a complete state of disrepair and a death trap to many road users then. He was also very outspoken on the government poverty eradication programme which, according to him, was the only way to improve the welfare of the masses. A bold and courageous law maker, he always stood for what he believed in. Despite his robust contribution as a lawmaker, he could however not return to the House in 2003.
In 2008, former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him as Nigeria’s ambassador to Austria at a time that the rating of Nigerians in that country was so bad. He was, however, able to turn the perception around a few years after he assumed that position. Writing on the personality of Ambassador Ugokwe, Uzoma Ahamefule, a Nigerian based in Austria, said, “Before the coming of Dr Jerry Ugokwe as Nigerian Ambassador to Austria in 2008, the image of Africans, particularly Nigerians, was so bad that every black person on the street was suspected to be a criminal or a drug dealer and would be the first to be arrested within the scene of any crime. That Dr. Ugokwe has been overwhelmingly acknowledged by many as a good leader in Austria cannot be a mistake or by accident because people are judged and remembered in life for two things, the problem they solved and the problem they created. Across ethnic lines, political affiliation and religion, Dr Ugokwe helped over 30 Nigerians to sustainable working positions in the UN, a feat many people in his status may not have bothered to use their positions to influence. He was a dynamic and a selfless leader. With his good deeds boldly printed in the heart of many Nigerians in Austria, history will be fair to him and we will never forget him.”
Although he was removed as ambassador to that country, it is on record that the enviable record of this architect-turned politician made impressionable marks in Austria such that the negative stigma which was a burden on Nigeria in that country was removed. He has since been quiet even when his political associates have been making desperate efforts to out-do one another on the political scene.
Iyabo Anisulowo
Iyabo Anisulowo was the minister of state for education in the late Gen. Sani Abacha’s regime. An indigene of Ogun state, she has, according to pundits, retired to her country home of Ilaro where she now sees Nigeria from a distance. However, she was before then very prominent in Ogun politics, having served as secretary in a local government and commissioner in the state civil service commission. Later, she also served as commissioner for agriculture, rural development as well as water resources. To prove her political sagacity, she once contested the gubernatorial position of her state on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (APP) even though lost the position.
In 2002, she joined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and represented Ogun West in the Senate between 2003 and 2007. While in the upper chamber precisely in October 15, 2004, following allegations that she withdrew N500, 000 and N700, 000 respectively from the pockets of the Senate Committee for State and Local Governments, Senato Anisulowo was physically assaulted by a fellow Senator, Isah Mohammed, from Niger state.
She, however, denied the allegation saying the money was for the Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting in Geneva Switzerland to be held that year. Since then, it has not been on record that she has ever been prosecuted or convicted of any crime. Not much was heard about this former Ogun senator until 2016 when information had it that she was kidnapped by a gang of four men who waylaid her vehicle in a commando style. She was later released though.
Since then, not much had been heard about her until the 2019 governorship election in the state when she was alleged to have lashed out at the vice-president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, and former APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, for, according to her, sponsoring the crisis in the political crisis in the state.
At the moment, it’s not clear where she could be.