Mamman Daura (born 1939) is a Nigerian

newspaper editor An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

who edited and later managed the '' New Nigerian'' from 1969 to 1975. He is a nephew of President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 A ...

; and a prominent member of the infamous Kaduna Mafia, a loose group of Nigerian businessmen, civil servants, intellectuals and

military officers An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

from

Northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962 it acquired the territory of the British Nort ...

Life

Mamman Daura was born in

Daura Daura is a town and Local Government Area in Katsina State, northern Nigeria. It is the spiritual home of the Hausa people. The emirate is referred to as one of the "seven true Hausa states" ( Hausa Bakwai) because it was, (along with Biram, Ka ...

, Northern Region, British Nigeria in 1939, his father Alhaji Dauda Daura held the traditional title of ''Durbin Daura'' of the

Daura Emirate The Daura Emirate is a religious and traditional state in Northern Nigeria, the Emir of Daura still rules as a ceremonial hereditary monarch, and maintains a palace. Muhammad Bashar became the emir in 1966, reigning for 41 years until his death ...

; and was

's elder brother. He was educated at Daura Elementary School, Katsina Middle School before attending Provincial Secondary School, Okene. In 1956, at the age of 17, he started working with the Daura Native Authority for a couple of years before joining the

Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation The Voice of Nigeria or VON is the official international broadcasting station of Nigeria. History Founded in 1961, the Voice of Nigeria began life as the External Service of the then Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Federal Radio Corpora ...

. He was one of six northerners selected by

Sir Ahmadu Bello Ahmadu Ibrahim Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto (12 June 1910–15 January 1966), knighted as Sir Ahmadu Bello, was a conservative Nigerian statesman who masterminded Northern Nigeria through the independence of Nigeria in 1960 and served as its first ...

to study in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. From 1962 to 1967, he read economics and politics at Trinity College, Dublin. On his return in 1967, he spent a year as an assistant in the Cabinet of Northern Nigeria, before returning to Dublin for a master's degree in business and

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...

. In 1968,

Adamu Ciroma Adamu Ciroma (20 November 1934 – 5 July 2018) was a Nigerian politician and Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, born to a Bole family in Potiskum, Yobe State. He was a member of the People's Democratic Party. Second Republic career ...

, editor of the '' New Nigerian'' was looking to recruit qualified and educated northern Nigerians for the newspaper. One of those recruits was Daura who was just finishing his master's degree in Dublin. Daura was hesitant to take the position and returned to the northern civil service as a political secretary working in the office of General

Abba Kyari Abba Kyari (23 September 1952 – 17 April 2020) was a Nigerian lawyer who served as Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria from August 2015 to April 2020. Early life Kyari was born on 23 September 1952, to a Shuwa Arab family fr ...

the

military governor A military government is generally any form of government that is administered by military forces, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and whether this government is formed by natives or by an occup ...

of North-Central State. In April 1969, he finally joined the ''New Nigerian'', replacing Adamu Ciroma as the paper's new editor. The first two years of his stewardship was a focus on coverage of issues affecting Northerners and protection of northern interests. In 1974, he later became the managing director of the paper's holding company. When General

Murtala Mohammed Murtala Ramat Muhammad (8 November 1938 – 13 February 1976) was a Nigerian general who led the 1966 Nigerian counter-coup in overthrowing the Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi military regime and featured prominently during the Nigerian Civil War ...

's administration opted to take over the ownership of the paper, Daura soon left the company and retired into private business. In the late 1970s, he served on several government boards and agencies including the

News Agency of Nigeria The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) is a news reporting agency owned and run by the Federal Government of Nigeria just like Nigerian Television Authority. NAN was formed in part to disseminate news easily across the country and to the internationa ...

; and co-founded Funtua Textiles Limited alongside Ismaila Isa Funtua. In the 1980s he was Chairman of the

Nigerian Television Authority The Nigerian Television Authority or NTA is a Nigerian government-owned and partly commercial broadcast station. Originally known as Nigerian Television (NTV), it was inaugurated in 1977 with a monopoly on national television broadcasting, after ...

and later Africa International Bank (a subsidiary of Bank of Credit and Commerce International), he also founded a furniture factory in Kaduna and was chairman of the defunct Nigerian Bank of Commerce and Industry. Mamman, a nephew of the younger Buhari, was influential in the military government of Buhari between 1984 and 1985; and later during his administration from 2015.

Notes

References

* ''Candido: The Man Behind the Mask'' (''New Nigerian'')

External links

Reporting Africa: In African and International Mass Media (1971)

"The Power Game: 'Kaduna Mafia' and The Church in Nigeria" (1989)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daura, Mamman 1939 births People from Katsina Nigerian journalists Trinity College Dublin-related lists Living people