Alhaji Dauda Birmah
Alhaji Dauda Birmah, a former education minister and one time presidential aspirant of the defunct ANPP, explains in this interview why he is defecting from the PDP at the age of 75. He says the re-organisation of PDP would fail because the party has exchanged its ‘gold for a monkey’ at the market.
 

Daily Trust: You were a known figure in the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) which with other parties formed the All Progressives Congress (APC). You left for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), why are you leaving the PDP now at 75 even with the ongoing reorganisation of the party?
Alhaji Dauda Birmah: Firstly, let me say what happened in 2011. I participated in the presidential primaries in Abuja. It was clear at that time that the ANPP was in the strangle-hold of state governors and they decided what would happen irrespective of what anyone had done. So I decided that there was no room for self-actualisation in the ANPP based on the conduct of the governors. Then two things happened, Sanusi Daggash, who is like a son to me was appointed a minister in the PDP government. It would be inappropriate to be opposing the PDP when my son was a cabinet minister, secondly, Mohammed Goni, who was my class mate for 15 years and a long-time friend was nominated governorship candidate of the PDP in Borno State. I am someone with duel state citizenship, I was born in Adamawa but grew up in Borno, and thus the bulk of my political and social association is in Borno. Thus there was no way Goni would be a governorship candidate in PDP, Sanusi Daggash a cabinet minister in the PDP and I would continue with opposition in ANPP. So I decided to go to the PDP because all the battles I wanted to fight in the ANPP were fought and lost, so I joined the PDP in 2011. 
Immediately I joined the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur became the national chairman. In his attempt to emerge the national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur made me the chairman of the North-east campaign committee. The bulk of the campaign was in the North-east since the chairmanship was zoned to the North-east. As chairman of the campaign committee of the North-east I took some prominence and became very close to him and I thought it was worthwhile. So we started and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur wanted to democratise the party. He said the party should be electing its people while the party is used to selecting people. He wanted democracy in real sense.
The milestone of my falling apart with PDP was when Bamanga Tukur was removed as the national chairman. They did not want him to continue because his stance was contrary to the characteristic stance of the PDP as they always wanted three or four people sitting in a smoke-filled room to decide what people should ordinarily decide in conventions or primaries. That was the point I parted company spiritually with the PDP. In the PDP I was elected a national delegate from my local government, but it was surprising that when we wanted a congress to nominate the governor in Adamawa, they moved the congress from Yola and brought it to Abuja and almost all the delegates were jettisoned and left in Yola, while the PDP came to Nyanya and collected political prostitutes who were given peanuts to come and pose as delegates. I was a national delegate and I did not know when the nomination was done. So I did not participate in nominating the governor and the president. If with my status in the party that can happened, then I should not continue to stay in the party.
So when elections came I did not vote for the PDP, I did not vote for the PDP but General (Muhammadu) Buhari as president and Jibrilla Bindow as governor, because PDP turned its back on me and I also turned my back on them.
DT: Did you at any time made your grievances known to the appropriate authorities in the party for redress?
Birmah: A party is a body made up of its chairman, working committee, and all the paraphernalia. And in 2014 leading to 2015 it had the federal government. An individual with a grouse would not have opportunity of protest as it was the party that turned its back on you. If it was you that turned your back, they can call you to say let us talk, but if it was the party that built a wall, how do you talk to them?
DT: Did you not think the party would see some of your actions during your protest as anti-party activities?
Birmah: I voted for Buhari and Bindow, and by that time I had taken putative steps to move out of the party. My defection has been brewing. But it is important that my supporters and Nigerians know and not be confused that I am part of what is happening in PDP today. What they are doing today to re-organise the party is nothing, they had gone to the market and exchange their gold with a monkey and I do not want to be part of that.
DT: What would you do if the party made overtures to you now?
Birmah: The doors have closed. There would be no overture that would make me to go back to PDP. As a young man I had pleased myself on what I wanted and the way I wanted it. But as an old man at 75, I can’t be doing that anymore. I believe that in the next five years when I reach 80. I would take a position to disengage myself from partisan politics like Bamanga Tukur and assume the status of an elder statesman. With the five years left to assume that I do not believe I have the elbow room to please myself. I have not decided which party to go to now. I would do that after consultation with my people across the country and that would be my final destination politically in partisanship.
This shall be done within weeks, we have been discussing, Architect Yomi Banjo, David Amo in Makurdi, Benue State, Fidelis Seri from Kaduna and others are part of this issue and they also know the direction we are going.
DT: Having been in PDP for some time, are you sure you are doing the right thing?
Birmah: I have not stayed in the PDP more than in ANPP. I joined the ANPP in 2001 when I left government, and left ANPP after 10 years, while I was in PDP for four years.
DT: Are there political parties making overture to you?
Birmah: There are not political parties making overtures to me, but I am interested in a political party, and for decency sake must be done properly. If you say it is Labour Party, APC, Accord or any other, you may not be right as we are yet to make final decision on this.
DT: You said you were disenchanted after Bamanga Tukur’s removal, why are you defecting now instead of last year when your interest was affected?
Birmah: In all human activities there are things that you choose and ask yourself if you are right or wrong. For instance, if you do bad things to me, I would think over it and if I feel you have something going on this then I should be patience and give you room to regret it. It is an incipient decision and not to act like a bull in a China shop but ask yourself if you are right or not, this may take time.
DT: Virtually all the parties are in one crisis or another, how sure are you that your loyalists would find home in the party you are going into and what happens if you were given bitter treatments there?
Birmah: I have another five years of active political participation. If I joined another party and it was the same rogues running the party, I would tolerate them as I am not joining a political party because I wanted to become this or that. With my level of education and experience, I want to pay back to the country that invested in me heavily. With my experience and contacts, I feel I still need to be in partisan politics for the next five years. I would then be available for anyone as an elder statesman wherever you come from

Mynd44 oam4j

You were a known figure in the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) which with other parties formed the All Progressives Congress (APC). You left for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), why are you leaving the PDP now at 75 even with the ongoing reorganisation of the party?

From ANPP to PDP and then APC, zombies would be here soon to support this round tripping.

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