By Tekenah
Tekenah refer to the editorial by Desert Herald Newspaper published on Saturday November 10, 2019 in respect of the 80th birthday celebration of Mallam Mamman Daura held in London.
The paper is of the opinion that “what happened in London is shameful, insensitive, highly provocative especially for the poor and a clear contradiction of what the APC government is preaching for almost 5 years now”.
Mamman is a personality of no mean character. He is a decent man who over the years earned his wealth with which he has survived his family. He is not known to be a strong member of the ruling political party in Nigeria. There is no constitutional prohibition to have his birthday celebration outside Nigeria.
Mamman Daura has been a responsible citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to the extent that there has been no issue between him and any financial crime agencies in Nigeria. He has the right to chose where to celebrate his life, moreover, it is not with any public funds as everyone present at the celebration bought their flight tickets.
Thus the negative image being portrayed in the editorial is wrong and unfounded. Going by the records, the Editor in Chief of the Desert Herald Newspaper, Tukur Mamu is biting the hand that fed him because Mallam Daura had provided moral and monetary support to him in Kaduna.
Therefore, Tekenah consider the judgement of Desert Herald as unwarranted, harsh and spiteful. I consider it highly deserving that Desert Herald do a retraction of their comment and apologize to Mallam Mamman Daura. Failure to do these may lead to further actions against the Desert Herald as may be deemed proper by the celebrant.