The Presidency on Saturday night said that the views of nephew to President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Mamman Daura that there would be no zoning of the Presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2023 does not “in any way, reflect that of either the President or his administration.”
Presidential Spokesperson, Malam Garba Shehu said in a statement that Malam Daura, who qualifies to be a statesman, “does not need the permission or clearance of anyone to exercise this right” to free speech.
Mamman Daura, a nephew to the President and one of the influential members of President Buhari’s inner cabinet, suggested that the most qualified Nigerian irrespective of zone should succeed his uncle in 2023.
Daura, said in an interview he granted the Hausa Service of the BBC, which was monitored in Abuja, on Tuesday, posited that since Nigerians have tried the rotational presidency about three times, it would be better to go for the most qualified candidate in 2023 irrespective of whether he comes from the North of the South.
According to the statement by Garba Shehu, “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 an 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.”