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Alhaji Bamanga Muhammad Tukur spent more than five decades in Nigerian public life, moving between business, administration and politics.
He was a governor, minister, businessman, technocrat and national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
By the time he died on Saturday at the age of 90, Tukur had served under civilian and military administrations, headed the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), governed the old Gongola state, occupied a federal cabinet position and led the PDP when it was Nigeria’s ruling party.
His career spanned some of the defining moments in Nigeria’s political and economic history.
He entered public service before independence, rose through the transport sector to become NPA chief, took charge of the ports during the “cement armada” crisis, entered electoral politics and later became a prominent figure in African business circles.
His death brings to an end the career of one of Nigeria’s most enduring public figures and one of the final links to the country’s Second Republic.
Tukur was one of the four surviving governors of Nigeria’s second republic. With his death, only three remain: Jim Nwobodo of Anambra, Awwal Ibrahim of Niger and Asheik Jarma of Borno.
THE BOY FROM JADA
From Jada to Bauchi, Zaria, London and Pittsburgh, Tukur pursued education, which enhanced his career path
Tukur was born on September 15, 1935, in Jeda, present-day Adamawa state. His education began with Islamic and Quranic studies before he attended Jada Elementary School, Yola Middle School and Government Secondary School, Bauchi.
After secondary school, he studied accountancy and public finance at the Institute of Administration in Zaria, now associated with Ahmadu Bello University.
His career in public service began in 1958 when he joined the Adamawa Native Authority as an accountant and supervisor.
But transportation would eventually become one of the defining themes of his career.
He proceeded to Britain and attended the London School of Economics, where he read transportation and economics in 1965.
He afterwards obtained a master’s degree in public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States.
Those qualifications would prove useful when he returned to Nigeria.
He moved into the management of the country’s transport infrastructure, eventually becoming manager of the Lagos Ports Complex and, in 1975, general manager and chief executive of the NPA.
It was a period when Nigeria’s ports were under considerable pressure, particularly following a surge in imports.
Tukur became one of the public officials associated with efforts to improve port operations and address congestion.
The position also gave him a national profile that would later help propel him into politics.
THE ‘SARKIN AIKI’ AT THE HEART OF NIGERIA’S ‘CEMENT ARMADA’
In 1975, Lagos was faced with an unusual maritime crisis.
The country’s massive construction programme under the Third National Development Plan had created enormous demand for cement. Domestic producers could not meet the demand, leading to large-scale imports.
Hundreds of ships loaded with cement were stranded off the coast, waiting for space to berth at Apapa port, choking Nigeria’s main gateway for imports and threatening to disrupt the movement of other essential goods.
At the height of the crisis, a contemporary TIME report cited 406 ships waiting outside Apapa.
More than half were carrying about 2.4 million tonnes of cement.
The port had become so overwhelmed that vessels carrying machinery, spare parts and other goods needed by the country could not get in or out.
The Apapa port itself was in need of a makeover, but the imported parts and machinery were also stuck in ships unable to offload.
What followed became known as the “cement armada” — one of the most notorious procurement and logistics failures of Nigeria’s oil-boom era.
It was into this mess that Tukur stepped in as NPA general manager.
The problem was not simply how to unload the cement, as the backlog was holding up the entire port system, while demurrage bills mounted and the government faced growing pressure from foreign suppliers.
The response to the cement crisis eventually involved diverting ships away from Lagos to Warri, Port Harcourt and Calabar, while Apapa port was expanded through the construction of Tin Can Island wharf.
Yakubu Gowon, who was head of state when Tukur served at the NPA, would later nickname him “Sarkin Aiki”, a Hausa word for “chief worker”.
In the foreword to a 2021 collection of Tukur’s speeches, Gowon described him as a workaholic, in reference to Tukur’s work ethic, a quality that resonates in how people described him.
Tukur remained at the NPA until 1982.
The cement armada became the episode that cemented his reputation as one of Nigeria’s most capable transport administrators and propelled him into the wider national stage.
THREE MONTHS IN GOVERNMENT HOUSE
Tukur’s governorship tenure was cut short by a military coup
After leaving the ports, Tukur turned his attention to electoral politics.
In August 1983, he contested the governorship of Gongola state on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and defeated Abubakar Barde.
He became governor in October 1983.
However, his administration barely had time to settle in when the military overthrew the civilian government of Shehu Shagari on December 31.
It was one of the shortest governorship stints in the history of the old state, but the experience gave him another distinction in a career already marked by unusual variety.
Gongola itself no longer exists. The state was split in 1991, producing present-day Adamawa and Taraba states.
FROM GOVERNMENT HOUSE TO BOARDROOMS
Following the military takeover, Tukur returned to the private sector and founded BHI Holdings, also known as the Daddo Group of Companies.
He also became more active in African business circles. Tukur founded and served as executive president of the African Business Roundtable (ABR), which brought together business leaders and policymakers around the continent to promote private-sector development, regional trade and economic integration.
Through the platform, he advocated closer economic cooperation among African countries and greater involvement of the private sector in the continent’s development. He was also the chairman of the NEPAD Business Group.
He was also involved in international maritime organisations and held positions connected to port management and investment.
In the late 1970s, Tukur became the first African to serve as vice-president of the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH), a global body representing ports and maritime interests.
He was also involved with the Nigerian Railway Corporation and other public and private sector bodies, drawing on the transportation expertise that had characterised his early career.
In a 2025 tribute to mark Tukur’s 90th birthday, Adebayo Sarumi, a former NPA chief executive, said Tukur’s vision for regional integration, trade facilitation and good governance “directly contributed to the conceptual foundation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)”.
AIMED FOR THE PRESIDENCY, LANDED IN A MINISTRY
In 1992, during the political transition programme of Ibrahim Babangida’s military government, Tukur sought the presidential ticket of the National Republican Convention.
He, however, did not win the nomination.
A year later, he returned to government, this time as a member of the federal executive council.
Between 1993 and 1995, he served as minister of industries under the military administration of Sani Abacha.
TAKING CHARGE OF PDP
Tukur with former President Goodluck Jonathan at the inauguration of National PDP Councillors’ Forum in Abuja in 2013
In March 2012, at the age of 76, Tukur assumed leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as its national chairman.
The appointment placed him at the head of Nigeria’s then dominant political party and made him one of the most powerful political figures in the country.
The PDP had controlled the presidency since 1999 and was the dominant political organisation in Nigeria.
Tukur therefore took charge of a party at the height of its national influence, but also at the beginning of one of its most serious internal crises.
His tenure suffered an internal crisis as disagreements between the party’s leadership and some of its governors, lawmakers and influential members intensified.
In 2013, seven governors, 22 senators and 57 members of the house of representatives broke away to form what became known as the New PDP.
Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was among the prominent figures associated with the faction.
The crisis weakened the party ahead of the 2015 general election, which it eventually lost to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
There were calls for Tukur’s resignation, but he insisted that only the party’s convention could remove him.
He eventually resigned as PDP national chairman in January 2014, ending less than two years at the helm of the ruling party.
He was subsequently appointed ambassador-at-large by then President Goodluck Jonathan.
THE MAN WHO WOULD HAVE BEEN AN EXCELLENT FARMER
Away from the offices, political meetings and business dealings, Tukur would be remembered by his children as a hard-working and affectionate father.
In a 2020 interview with Daily Trust, Maryam Tukur Shagaya, his 18th child, recalled that although her father was often busy as his political career progressed, he still made time for his family.
“He would be at the end of the phone line every evening to chat with us and ask if we had eaten,” she said.
Her memories offered a glimpse of a softer side of the man who was known publicly for his long career in politics and business.
As a child, she remembered him organising contests among his children to see who had the biggest stomach.
Shagaya described her father in three words: hard-working, ambitious and kind. Of those qualities, it was his work ethic that she said she inherited.
“My dad has a good work ethic. He believes in making great efforts to achieve his goal. As a doctor, this is something I share with him,” she said.
She said if he had not gone into politics, her father would have made “an excellent farmer” because “he loves nature”.
He enjoyed the outdoors and animals, she said, and relaxed by strolling around his garden or swimming.
He watched nature programmes, read newspapers and biographies, and preferred tuwo with miyan kuka, known as pokko in Fulfulde.
IT’S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE
On his 80th birthday, Tukur announced that he was retiring from partisan politics.
He said he wanted to leave partisan politics to younger Nigerians and serve instead as a statesman and adviser.
“It is time to say goodbye to formal politics,” he said.
“I have used several political platforms to serve my country.
It is time to rest.”
“At the age of 80, I feel I can serve our dear nation more in the capacity of a statesman and father figure.”
He also urged politicians to treat politics as service rather than a means of personal gain.
For more than five decades, Tukur’s movement spanned spheres of life; each chapter took him into a different arena, but the work ethic that earned him the name “Sarkin Aiki” remained constant.
At 80, he said it was time to rest. Ten years later, Bamanga Tukur’s final goodbye has come.
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