The Special Adviser
to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has opened
up on the personality of Mallam Abba Kyari, late Chief of Staff to President
Muhammadu Buhari.
He said that the
late Chief of Staff had been the architect behind most of the significant
projects of the Buhari administration, but added that Kyari had his weakness
just like everyone else.
Adesina also
recalled his last encounter with the late Chief of Staff to the President,
Mallam Abba Kyari.
Adesina in a tribute
he signed and made available on Thursday night, suggested that most
of Abba Kyari’s sins were forgiven simply because he loved President Buhari.
“Mallam Abba headed
the bureaucracy of the Presidential Villa, and we constantly had things to do
together. Almost daily. He had his strengths, and his weaknesses. We all do,”
Adesina said.
“But my greatest
plus for him was his loyalty to our principal. It was never in doubt. And for
me, if you love Buhari, all your sins are forgiven. If they are like scarlet,
they become white as snow. If they are red like crimson, they become white as
wool. That is me, no apologies.
“I have read
majority of the things written about Kyari. Positive and negative. I love the
balanced one by Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Raji Fashola: ‘I bear
testimony to his dedicated execution of the Presidential Infrastructure
Development Fund (PIDF) initiative, which guaranteed funds to cash-strapped
projects like the Second Niger Bridge, the Abuja-Kano Highway, the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway, the Mambilla Hydro Project, and the East-West Road…
“’Like all of us,
Abba was flawed but he was not conceited. We disagreed but I never found Abba
disagreeable.’
“Infrastructure
would be one of the strongest achievements of the Buhari government by the time
it exits in 2023. There’s no way those great projects would be counted, without
the name of Kyari being mentioned. Or the rice and fertilizer revolution, and
agriculture generally.
“He was the moving
force behind most of them, translating the vision of the President into action.
The good he did will live after him. The weaknesses have been interred with his
bones.
“Some people,
particularly on social media, have rejoiced about the passage of the Chief of
Staff. They are of all men most miserable. Really to be pitied.
“Those gloating are
mere mortals. We all have our different appointments with death. May it only be
in the fullness of time is our prayer. But nobody has control over it.
“I also point those
misguided minds to the Good Book, in Psalms 62:9: ‘Surely men of low degree are
vanity, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up; they
are together lighter than vanity.’
“Rejoice not at any
man’s death, because all men, whether of low or high degree, are vanity and a
lie.
“Abba Kyari sleeps,
till the great day of awakening, after what Shakespeare calls ‘life’s fitful
fever.’ He contracted the deadly virus on an official trip abroad. So, he died
in the line of duty. He has done his own. You too, do your own. For God, for
country, and for humanity.”
Abba Kyari died of
complications from the deadly coronavirus a week ago and was buried in Abuja on
Saturday.
Apart from seeing
the late Chief of Staff in an usual manner in his dream later on, Adesina
recounted moments of their last physical meeting before he (Kyari) was
diagnosed of COVID-19.
Adesina said, “Our
last contact was on Friday, March 20, 2020.
“President Muhammadu
Buhari was scheduled to meet with the Chairman of ECOWAS Commission,
Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, by 3 p.m. Such meetings hold in the diplomatic room of
the presidential office complex.
“The protocol is
that aides invited to attend any meeting must be seated 15 clear minutes before
the President walked in. I was in the diplomatic room at the required time. A
seat had been designated for me, next to that of the Chief of Staff.
“Few minutes later,
Mallam Abba (as he was often called by us) walked in. I rose to greet him.
“’Femi, how are you?
They have said we should not shake hands again,’ he responded. Rather
jocularly, he extended his right foot. I touched his foot with my own, and we
both laughed. Leg-shake, instead of handshake.
“The ECOWAS
Commission boss had come to discuss the ensuing constitutional crisis in Guinea
Conakry, which was to hold election that weekend.
“After 10 years in
office, and at 82 years of age, President Alpha Conde, had insisted on running
for another term in office, and he tinkered with the country’s Constitution to
make himself eligible. The opposition was having none of it, and there was
civil disobedience, in which some lives had been lost.
“President Buhari is
the immediate past Chairman of ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and
Government, and a highly respected figure in the sub-region. The ECOWAS
Commission boss had come to consult him on the way forward for Guinea Conakry.
“The meeting lasted
for about 30 minutes, during which the situation in Guinea-Bissau had also come
up briefly.
“When we rose, I had
my opinion on what to do about the matters discussed. I consulted with Mallam
Abba, and he agreed completely with me. I took my leave, headed back to my
office.
“Walking right
behind me was the Chief of Staff, flanked by Director General of the National
Intelligence Agency, and my colleague in the media office, Mallam Garba Shehu.
They were chatting.
“After I passed
through the security screening point that would see me turn off to my office, I
looked back instinctively. Why did I do it? I didn’t know, still don’t know.
But it turned out to be my last view of Kyari. He was laughing as he talked
with the two people beside him.
“That glance I took
turned out to be the very final. About 72 hours later, Mallam Abba was
diagnosed with the deadly Coronavirus, which sent him sadly on a journey of no
return.
‘Catching COVID-19
(as the inelegant virus has been elegantly codenamed by World Health Organization)
is not supposed to be a death sentence. I had no doubt that Mallam Abba would
beat the infection, and be back at his desk soon, as he had promised. I prayed
for him a number of times in the following three weeks.
“On Tuesday, April
15, the President was billed to receive a delegation from the European Union by
noon. As I walked into the Presidential Villa, I met a personal staff of the
Chief of Staff.”
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