Long before Malam Abba Kyari's reign began and ended as the 'power behind the throne', there was a certain Greg Scarpa! The difference; Mr. Scarpa was a life-long criminal while Malam Kyari was a technocrat and distinguished public servant. The similarity lies in their larger than life persona, their unalloyed loyalty to their respective principals and sadly the circumstances surrounding their untimely deaths.
For those familiar with the five family structure of the New York wing of the American Mafia, may have heard of Greg Scarpa, he was a high ranking figure in the Colombo crime family. (The crime families are Colombo, Gambino, Luchesse, Genovese and Bonnano spread across the five boroughs of New York City) As a top ranking Capodecina in the Colombo family Greg Scarpa like Malam Kyari after him was never the Boss (in our case the President), the Under Boss (Vice President) or Consigliere (SGF) yet he wielded so much power and influence within his Borgata and beyond. So influential was this Capodecina that word on the street at that time was Greg Scarpa was the de facto Boss of the Colombo Borgata! No major decision, score or move could take place without first bouncing it off Mr. Scarpa. In fact Mr. Scarpa cuddled power, clung to its appurtenances, while cunningly putting the energy it generated to devastating use, building a cult of personality around himself, dolling out favors to associates and in the most extreme case determining who would live or die! (It was for the latter he earned the moniker 'the Grim Reaper). A lot of the aforementioned epaulettes were attached to the Kyari mystique the exception; the part of being a purveyor of death. Greg Scarpa's loyalty to his Boss was without question, it was fierce it was unimpeachable and like Malam Kyari after him the same could be said, in fact Waziri Adio tried to qualify it, in his words, 'he was always ready to take a bullet for his Boss. That is what loyal aids especially Chiefs of Staff do'. When the Colombo administration was threatened by some renegades from within the family it was Mr Scarpa the Boss turned to, to quell the mutiny, deal with the dissidents and restore order. In Malam Kyari's case he had to constantly restore order, albeit covertly as a result of what Simon Kolawole described 'as the narration of everything that went wrong within the Buhari government was constructed to put the blame at Kyari's doorsteps. As is the case with all mortals Greg Scarpa like Malam Kyari after him had his life cut short at the height of his power, not by the bullets of a criminal up-start but by a rampaging virus that claimed the life of this mob titan. It was said that when Greg Scarpa's death was announced spontaneous jubilation broke out in and around the New York criminal landscape and wait for this...even within certain law enforcement circles! Despite the negative press and vilification of Mr Scarpa there was genuine out-pouring of sadness by certain ordinary folks saddened by his passing. In the case of Malam Kyari after him we saw something similar an equal measure of joy and sadness on his passing. I will not dwell on the former, in the case of the latter the most poignant show was from no other than the Minister of the Exterior Mr Geoffrey Onyema, his beautifully crafted dirge could well be described as a colorful tapestry of effusive praise written for a deserving 'Best Man'. RIP Malam Abba Kyari!

Interesting piece. Thanks for posting.

Why stop? Finish it na