Abba Kyari, rallying point for entire workforce —Presidency

The Presidency has said the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is coming to terms with the death of his Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari, who died on Friday after contracting the coronavirus.

Kyari was laid to rest at Gudu Cemetery in Abuja, on Saturday, in accordance with Islamic rites.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who spoke in a graveside interview with TVC, which was monitored by our correspondent, hailed Kyari as a pillar of the Presidency and the rallying point for the President’s staff.

The presidential spokesman said Buhari had accepted Kyari’s death as an occurrence that could not be helped, saying, “The matters of life and death are not things we have a choice in.

“It is Providence that says who goes and who stays. So, the President, obviously, as a deeply religious person, takes it that it cannot be helped and, in the end, all of us will also go that way.”

Shehu also described Kyari as a long-standing associate of the President who knew his principal’s stance on all matters.

He said, “Abba Kyari is (sic) like a pillar there in the Presidency. He is a rallying point for the entire workforce, working for the President. He has had a long relationship with the President. For more than 40 years, they have been together.

“He had the full understanding of the President. He knew exactly where the President stood on every issue and so, he was there to fix things for the President — get them done as the President wants.”

According to Shehu, the late chief of staff offered 100 per cent loyalty to the President.

He added that, in all of the things, Kyari brought to bear focus on matters of long-delayed infrastructure, including roads, railway and power.

“All of that has the imprint of the President because this is what the President lived and believed.

“Abba Kyari was there to ensure that the President, at the end of his two terms, leaves behind a legacy that will last and for which he will be remembered,” the presidential spokesman said.

Shehu stated that the burial and funeral were strictly private, adding that there would be no such ceremonies as the paying of condolence visits.

“We want Nigerians to observe the regulations as put in place by the NCDC and the Federal Ministry of Health,” he said.

Prominent persons at the burial included the National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force, Dr. Sani Aliyu; former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima; and Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika.

Others were Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari; Minister of Communications, Isa Pantami; and Permanent Secretary of the State House, Tijjani ldris Umar, among other top government officials.