‘Suffered a major blow under Obasanjo’ — five things we never knew about Mamman Daura

Mamman Daura, President Muhmmadu Buhari’s nephew, crossed into the octogenarian league on Saturday and one of his children penned a tribute for him. In the piece about Daura whom she described as an “extraordinarily man”, Fatima  shared a lot of information which many do not know about her father.

Here are five highlights from the piece:

HAS JUST ONE SON LIKE BUHARI

Daura and Buhari have many things in common and on Saturday, Fatima disclosed that the duo have one son each. Just like his nephew, Buhari also has many daughters.

In her piece, Fatima said rather than conforming to the common ideology of giving preference to the only son, Daura treats all his children equally.

“In fact, my brother often mentioned when we were growing up that once his friends or acquaintances realised that he was the only male child, they assumed that he was treated more specially – which he always countered with much conviction that it was indeed the reverse case,” she wrote.

HE’S A MONOGAMIST

Unlike the dominant practice of marrying more than one wife as practiced in the north, Daura is married to just one wife, Ummu Kulthum, and together they have five daughters, one son and 14 grandchildren.

In the tribute, Fatima said Daura neither fought with his wife for at least 30 years nor bugged to provocation from different quarters to pick another woman.

“Baba is unruffled by provocation – I doubt that in my 40 plus years of existence, I have heard him raise his voice or blurt out invective or harsh reprimands even if justified. Baba never shouts at anyone at all – his aides or domestic workers inclusive,” she said.

“I remember when I got married and Baba was giving me final words of advice before my departure from home and as I sobbed he said to me “ki yi haƙuri, ki yi kamar Maman ki. Shekaru talatin da muke tare bamu taɓa faɗa ba” (Be patient like your mother, we have never fought in the 30 years (then) that we have been together). I was actually shocked! When I was younger, I truly believed that they never used to fight or disagree at all (and I cannot thank them enough for that – for that is a great gift to give your children).”

‘AFFECTIONATE FATHER, ROMANTIC HUSBAND’

As a father, Daura showered love and affection on his children. He often engaged them in child’s play and served them food before he served himself, according to Fatima.

“When we were younger, there was no limit to how he would play and engage us when he was in the mood – he would play ‘riyo-riyo’ with us – a game where we would all hold hands and form a circle and sing ‘riyo-riyo, o ririyo gib’ and then put our right feet forward into the circle with a thump. The game is played in two sets of 3, 2 and 1 and Baba would stop the game out of exhaustion as he couldn’t keep up with our energy,” she wrote.

He is also a romantic husband, showing his wife true love in words and deeds. Describing their favorite engagement together, Fatima said her “parents do have an enviable relationship and their favourite past time is writing palindromes”.

“Baba would come back from an unusual trip to the grocery store and buy Mama a pack of Kellogg’s Special K cereal which she loves and he would say to her “here is some Special K for a special K” (in reference to her second name Kulthum). It would make her happy to no end – basking in the euphoria of a woman who knew her husband absolutely adored her.”

‘SUFFERED A MAJOR BLOW IN THE EARLY 2000s’

He experienced hardship following new government reforms in the early 2000s when ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power, according to the tribute. The reforms led to the collapse of industries, which consequently dealt a major blow on his business interests.

Despite the hardship, the octogenarian never lost faith as he persevered the hard times and through this, taught his children the lesson of patience.

“The most important lesson that I have learnt from my father is patience. Patience in adversity, patience in moments of lack and patience with the vicissitudes of life. In the early 2000s, Baba demonstrated uncommon patience. With the new government reforms, industries collapsed and all of Baba’s business interests suffered a major blow,” Fatima wrote.

“He went from having so much to having very little or a times even nothing at all – but he persevered. Year in, year out, things got only but worse; but Baba accepted this fate with utmost grace.”

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

A former editor of New Nigerian, Daura had his basic education at the Katsina Middle School and secondary education at the Government College, Okene, Kogi state. In the late 1950s, he was sent to the United Kingdom for higher education by the then northern regional government as part of a small cohort of brilliant young northern men chosen by Ahmadu Bello, the late sardauna of Sokoto.

Daura studied English Language, English Literature, Latin and British constitution at advanced level at Bournemouth College. He was then admitted to the elitist Trinity College, Dublin, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Politics and a combined masters degree in Public and Business Administration.