By ISMAILA CHAFE

The Presidency on Saturday said the views expressed by Malam Mamman Daura, on zoning were personal to him and did not, in any way, reflect that of either the president or his administration.

Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, stated this in a statement in Abuja.

He said that Mamman qualified as an elder statesman with a national duty to hold perspectives and disseminate them as guaranteed under the nation constitution and laws of the land.

He added that “he does not need the permission or clearance of anyone to exercise this right.”

The statement read in part: “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, theNew Nigerian, certainly, Malam Mamman qualifies as an elder statesman with a national duty to hold perspectives and disseminate them as guaranteed under our constitution andlaws of the land.

“He did 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.” (NAN)