…says ‘he didn’t speak for Buhari, his views personal to him’
Presidency on Saturday disowned statements credited to Mallam Mamman Daura, nephew to President Muhammadu Buhari, regarding the qualities that the successor to his uncle in 2023 should possess.
Daura, known to be the head of the cabal said to be dictating events at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, had also said zoning should be discountenanced in choosing the next president of Nigeria in 2023, drawing flak and virulent criticisms from regional groupings and personalities from different parts of the country.
Senior Special to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on Saturday, however, said the statements credited to Daura were his personal opinion.
Shehu said this in a statement titled “Malam Mamman’s views are his own, and he has said so -Presidency.”
Daura in an interview with BBC Hausa Service during the week had said competence should be considered in electing the next President in 2023 rather than zoning.
But the Presidential spokesman said as already mentioned by Daura himself, his position was his personal opinion and not that of President Muhammadu Buhari or his administration.
According to the statement, “We have received numerous requests for comments on the interview granted by Malam Mamman Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew, to the BBC Hausa Service.
“It is important that we state from the onset that as mentioned by the interviewee, the views expressed were personal to him and did not, in any way, reflect that of either the President or his administration.
“At age 80, and having served as editor and managing director of one of this country’s most influential newspapers, the New Nigerian, certainly, Malam Mamman qualifies as an elder statesman with a national duty to hold perspectives and disseminate them as guaranteed under our constitution and laws of the land. He does not need the permission or clearance of anyone to exercise this right.
“In an attempt to circulate the content of the interview to a wider audience, the English translation clearly did no justice to the interview, which was granted in Hausa, and as a result, the context was mixed up and new meanings were introduced and/or not properly articulated.
“The issues discussed during the interview, centred around themes on how the country could birth an appropriate process of political dialogue, leading to evaluation, assessment, and a democratic outcome that would serve the best interest of the average Nigerian irrespective of where they come from.
“These issues remain at the heart of our evolving and young democracy, and as a veteran journalist, scholar and statesman, Malam Mamman has seen enough to add his voice to those of many other participants.”