The Presidency Says, it has received numerous requests for comments on the interview granted by President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew Mamman Daura, to the BBC Hausa Service.
In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President On Media and Publicity Garba Shehu , The Presidency said it is important to state that from the onset as mentioned by the interviewee, the views expressed were personal to him and did not, in any way, reflect that of the President or his administration.
It added that at age 80, and having served as editor and managing director of one of the country’s most influential newspapers, the New Nigerian, certainly, Mamman qualifies as an elder statesman with a national duty to hold perspectives and disseminate them as guaranteed under the constitution and laws of the land.
The Presidency noted that Mamman Daura does not need the permission or clearance of anyone to exercise this right.
The Statement added that In an attempt to circulate the content of the interview to a wider audience, the English translation clearly did no do justice to the interview, granted in Hausa, and as a result, the context was mixed up, with different meaning introduced and not properly articulated.
It explained that 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 he or she comes from.
The Presidency noted that the issues remain at the heart of the nation’s evolving and young democracy, and as a veteran journalist, scholar and statesman, Mamman Daura has seen enough to add his voice to those of many other participants.
Editor :Tunde Orebiyi
