SWITZERLAND, APRIL 19 – In the early hours of Saturday, 18th of April 2020, Presidential media aide, Garba Shehu announced the death of Abba Kyari, President Muhammadu Buhari’s powerful Chief of Staff. He was laid to rest at Gudu Cemetery in Abuja on Saturday in a solemn ceremony. He will be remembered by many as a powerful, conservative and controversial man who rarely spoke but wielded enormous influence on the government and remained loyal to his president till the end.

The Aso-Rock power man was diagnosed with the dreaded coronavirus over three weeks ago after returning from Germany. He was flown into Lagos after his condition deteriorated and the public did not hear of him for almost three weeks until the news of his death cleared our doubts. Until his death, he was alleged to be a member of a powerful cabal that acted as gatekeepers to the president.

Kyari’s death shows the non-discriminatory nature of the coronavirus; that it can afflict both the rich and the poor alike, and that it can reach to the highest levels of power. His death will also destabilize the balance of power in the country as he had wielded so much influence in Buhari’s government that some called him the de facto president or unofficial Prime Minister.

Many people knew Kyari as powerful, secretive and conservative. But the Aso Rock kingpin was also intelligent and highly educated as well as loyal and ruthless

Not much is known about Abba Kyari’s beginnings besides the fact that he was from Borno State. Even his age is a subject of controversy. However, it is reported that in1980, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Warwick, and also received a bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Cambridge. In 1983, he was called to the Nigerian Bar after attending the Nigerian Law School.

In 1984, he obtained a master’s degree in law from the University of Cambridge, while also later attending the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. He showed up at the Harvard Business School in 1992 and 1994 where he was part of the Management Development Program.

Kyari joined the law firm Fani-Kayode and Sowemimo and worked there for some time after his return to Nigeria.

From 1988 to 1990, he was Editor with the New Africa Holdings Limited, Kaduna. He was to later serve in 1990 as a Commissioner for Forestry and Animal Resources in Borno State.

From 1990 to 1995, Kyari was the secretary to the board of African International Bank Limited, a subsidiary of Bank of Credit and Commerce International, from where he became an Executive Director in charge of management services at the United Bank for Africa, and was later appointed the Chief Executive Officer.

In 2002, he was appointed a board director of Unilever Nigeria, and later served on the board of Exxon Mobil Nigeria.

Kyari was appointed the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, a position he held till his demise on April 17, 2020.

To many Nigerians, one of the the events that depicted just how ruthless Kyari could be was his bitter exchange with former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita during a Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, where the duo (Kyari and Oyo-Ita) argued over a leaked memo from Oyo-Ita to the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President on the wanted former Chairman of the Pension Reforms Commission, Abdulrasheed Maina, in which she warned the CoS of the implication of reinstating Maina into the Civil Service. Although, Kyari and Oyo-Ita appeared to have reconciled, the latter later resigned after being accused of a N570 million fraud.

In August 2020, just after inaugurating the new ministers for his second term administration, Buhari directed the incoming ministers to channel all requests for meetings with him through his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, further accentuating his influence.

“In terms of coordination, kindly ensure that all submissions for my attention or meeting requests be channelled through the Chief of Staff, while all Federal Executive Council matters be coordinated through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF),”
Buhari said.

Another event that shows just how much power Kyari had been wielding, was a leaked memo from the National Security Adviser, NSA, Babagana Monguno, accusing him, of “unwarranted meddlesomeness” on matters of national security. In a memo to all service chiefs, Monguno urged them to desist from taking further directives from Mr. Kyari, accusing the Chief of Staff of issuing directives to service chiefs without the knowledge of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Chief of staff to the President is not a presiding head of security, neither is he sworn to an oath of defending the country.

“As such, unprofessional practices such as presiding over meetings with service chiefs and heads of security organisations as well as ambassadors and high commissioners to the exclusion of the NSA and/or supervising ministers are a violation of the Constitution and directly undermine the authority of Mr. President. “Such acts and continuous meddlesomeness by the chief of staff have not only ruptured our security and defence efforts, but have slowed down any meaningful gain that Mr. President has sought to achieve,” Moguno’s leaked memo reads.

Al Jazeera calls him a proponent of government’s involvement in the economy, an idea that brought him at loggerheads with the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo who is a proponent of less government involvement in the economy. The trajectory of government policies in recent times indicates clearly whose idea was winning.

Just how powerful was Abba Kyari? Many may never know as he was not much of a talker but his hand was seen in many events that have shaped the Buhari presidency.

https://www.todaysecho.com/politics/te-editorial-abba-kyaris-legacy-power-loyalty-controversy/