Daura denies influencing governance decisions for Buhari

No N3b project in Katsina under Masari, says PDP

Against allegations that a cabal in Aso Villa imposes governance decisions on President Muhammadu Buhari, his nephew, Alhaji Mamman Daura, has denied involvement on such undemocratic act.

In a brief interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Hausa Service, monitored in Kaduna yesterday, Daura said he never imposed any decision on the president on how to run the country.

Though without an official portfolio in the presidency, Daura has been perceived as a very influential figure in the Villa. Several times, his family and aides had clashed with Buhari’s wife without incurring sanction from the president.

When queried on his relationship with Buhari, he simply said the president “is my uncle; my father was his mother’s firstborn and Buhari is the last.”

On whether he had been meeting the president and advising him on issues, he answered: “Yes, I do visit him to greet him. I do give him advice. But I don’t go there on my own and insist I must do this or that. You don’t do that to the government.”

Daura is not on the same page with the advocates of the rotational presidency, as, for him, the most competent person should run the affairs of the nation, since powershift has not produced a good result.
MEANWHILE, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Katsina State has taunted the Governor Aminu Masari-led government over alleged inability to execute a project worth N3 billion in the state capital.

The PDP said Masari’s government had been unable to execute even smaller projects within and outside the state capital, despite over N500 billion federal allocation that accrued to the state since 2015.

Chairman of the party, Salisu Majigiri, stated this on Monday evening shortly after the party concluded its state congress.

Majigiri said it was difficult to move around the state capital and see any tangible project worth N3 billion or more executed by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration.

He said facelift of roundabouts in the state capital and general hospitals in some parts of the state had either been abandoned or made to drag for months on end.

According to him, the present situation is poles apart from what obtained when PDP ruled the state and the nation.

“If you go round the Katsina capital, you will not see any project worth N3 billion executed and ready for commissioning. But you will see projects executed by (the late President Umaru) Yar’Adua, including the state secretariat, international airport, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University and Turai Yar’Adua Hospital.”

Majiri said with the concluded state congress, the PDP could only wax stronger, and ready to give the APC a run for its money in the 2023 ballot.

The state congress saw executive members of the party returned unopposed to run the party for the next four years.

A total of 3,601 voters participated in the congress supervised by the electoral committee led by Mr. Chika Nwaozuzu from Imo State.