Withdraws official vehicles, stops
refreshments
The Presidency has taken a drastic action to
check the overwhelming influence in Aso
Rock, the seat of power, of Alhaji Mamman
Daura, a nephew of President Muhammadu
Buhari.
Mamman Daura is reputed to be the main
“power behind the throne” in the Presidency.
Without any publicly announced portfolio or
appointment, Daura’s only qualification for
the power and influence he wields in the
government is that he is the President’s
nephew.
Among the steps taken by the Presidential
Villa to cut Daura to size was the immediate
withdrawal of all his official vehicles and the
stoppage of the supply of refreshments to
his office.
Our source learnt that the Presidency’s
action was prompted by the increasing
outcry against what an insider described as
the “overarching powers and influence” of
Mamman Daura in the affairs of the Aso
Villa.
Daura is reportedly older than Buhari by four
years and is alleged to have influenced most
of the appointments made so far by the
President.
The President’s nephew, who is different
from the Director-General of the Department
of State Security (DSS), sources said, moved
his office to one of the guest houses in the
Villa, popularly referred to as the Glass
House, and parades a large retinue of staff
on the payroll of the Presidency.
Recently, he was said to have
commandeered a fleet of official vehicles
from Aso Rock for his personal use while
also ordering that breakfast and lunch be
provided daily for him and his clan of hang
ers-on from the Aso Villa kitchen.
However, in what sources described as “a
decisive move by the First Family to
properly define everyone’s roles in the
Presidency,” our source gathered that both
the official vehicles and the supply of
refreshments to his supposed office were
withdrawn last week.
The move, it was gathered, has the tacit
support of members of the President’s
immediate family, who consider as
embarrassing some of the actions attributed
to the President but which, in reality, were
masterminded by Daura.
Indeed, in a widely circulated interview he
granted two national newspapers recently,
radical Kano politician, Dr. Junaid
Mohammed, who accused Buhari’s
government of nepotism, going by the way
and manner in which the administration has
made appointments, confirmed the fears
already expressed in some quarters about
the “incestuous” powers of the President’s
nephew.
Mohammed had described Daura as the
most influential person in the Presidency.
He said: “First, the most influential person in
the Presidency today is one Mamman Daura
whom as you know, is a nephew of the
President. His father was Buhari’s elder
brother. In addition, Mamman Daura was the
one who singlehandedly brought up Abba
Kyari, the current Chief of Staff to the
President.”
Mohammed, a Second Republic member of
the House of Representatives, added: “Next,
the Personal Assistant to Buhari himself is
the son of Mamman Daura; next is what they
call SCOP, the State Chief of Protocol, and
he is also a son-in-law to Mamman Daura
because he is married to Mamman Daura’s
daughter.
“Next, the minister they unilaterally chose
against the interests of the party and against
the wishes of the Sokoto people, happens to
be the daughter of the younger sister of
Mamman Daura’s wife. Both of them are
daughters of Sultan Dasuki, who was sacked
by the late head of state, Gen. Sani Abacha.
We have the Aide De Camp to Buhari
himself, Colonel Abubakar. He is married to
the granddaughter of one of Buhari’s elder
sisters. Next, we have the woman who
represents Kaduna in the Federal Executive
Council (FEC), she is a cousin to Kaduna
State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai.
“It is well known that el-Rufai is one of the
closest governors to Muhammadu Buhari.
Next, we have the Minister of the Federal
Capital Territory. The Minister of the FCT is
the man called Musa Bello, who used to be
the Managing Director of the Northern Ni
geria Development Corporation, which used
to be the biggest holding company that
belonged to all the northern states. His only
qualification to be FCT Minister is the fact
that his father has been Buhari’s friend over
the years. Now, there is a young man called
Sabiu Yusuf, nicknamed Tunde – probably
because of the late General Tunde Idiagbon.
He is another PA to President Buhari. He is
also a grandson of another sister of Buhari.”
While the Presidency has pooh-poohed
Junaid Mohammed’s revelations as “sour
grapes”, sources close to the First Family
said they are actually worried about the bad
image “some of Daura’s rather untidy
activities have created for the President and
may have decided to put an end to it.”
To that end, sources equally disclosed, “the
aspect of his influencing future appointments
in this regime can no longer stand if the
current development is anything to go by.”
