By Asiwaju Adekunle Saheed.
Vice President Kashim Shettima has expressed deep sadness over the passing of former Governor of old Gongola State and prominent businessman, Alhaji Bamanga Muhammad Tukur, the Tafidan Adamawa, describing his death as a huge loss to Nigeria and the African continent.
Tukur, an elder statesman and former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, passed away on Saturday, September 12, 2026, at the age of 90, just three days shy of his 91st birthday.
In a condolence message, Shettima described Tukur as a father, mentor and one of Nigeria’s greatest institution builders, whose life spanned three interlinked worlds, as a technocrat who built the country’s modern maritime infrastructure, a statesman who governed with vision, and a pan African business leader who put the continent’s private sector on the world map.
The Vice President recalled that in 1975, when Nigerian ports were gridlocked by the infamous cement armada, a young Bamanga Tukur was called to lead the Nigerian Ports Authority, where he cleared the congestion and went on to conceive the Tin Can Island Port Complex, modernising Apapa, Warri, Calabar, Sapele and Onne ports between 1975 and 1982.
Shettima said that singular intervention saved the Nigerian economy from collapse and created the trade gateway that still powers commerce today, noting that Tukur later became the first African Vice President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours in Tokyo.
On his political career, the Vice President recalled that although Tukur’s tenure as Governor of old Gongola State was cut short by the military intervention of December 1983, his vision for rural development left an enduring mark, and he later served as Minister for Industries before returning as PDP National Chairman between 2012 and 2014.
Beyond Nigeria, Shettima said Tukur was a true global citizen, founding the African Business Roundtable and chairing the NEPAD Business Group, ideas that he said helped lay the groundwork for what has now blossomed into the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The Vice President extended his condolences to Tukur’s family, the Adamawa State Government and the people of the state, praying that his soul finds eternal rest.
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