₦airaland Forum

Any one can die any time, so be wary of the time which is unknown
Rest the spirit of the dead O'Lord

I first met Abba Kyari in 1977 at Warwick University in England. I had gone there to do law as a second first degree. He had come to do a degree in sociology.
I had a pending application to do Law at Cambridge and when the result of that application came and it was positive, I left Warwick during the second semester.
But my five months at Warwick was enough to build a strong friendship with Abba that lasted till his passing.
Almost 43 years!
There was a small group of Nigerians at Warwick then, which included former President Yakubu Gowon (who was doing a PhD in Political Science) ; Senator Osereihmi Osunbor (former Senator and Governor); Sitonye Roy Wakama (former Deputy Inspector General of Police) and the lawyer, Desmond Guobadia.
There were a few other Nigerians. Abba was quite skinny in those days! We became friends very quickly and a life-long bond was formed.
Abba was very simple and humble. He was also very friendly with everyone.
He had very litte interest in material things. We had a common interest in politics and I believe it was our socialist political values that cemented our friendship because we were always discussing politics and how to salvage Nigeria right up to his passing.
Abba was also surprisingly sociable for someone who was so self-effacing and we had a lot of enjoyable and memorable experiences at parties and discotheques! Abba also had a very good sense of humour belied by his often stern visage.
When I left Warwick University for Cambridge, Abba came to Cambridge to introduce me to his friends there as he had studied in the city for his Advanced levels. After graduating from Warwick University, Abba went up to Cambridge to study law.
We kept in touch throughout the last 43 years. We ended up together in Lagos in 1982 to attend Law School for a year. When I left Nigeria in 1985 to work in Geneva for 30 years Abba came to Geneva often to stay with me and whenever I was in Nigeria, he made it a point of coming to see me wherever I was. When I got married in Owo to my wife from Idoani, Ondo State, Abba was my Best-Man. The officiating Vicar was somewhat perplexed because I was a Roman Catholic Igbo, marrying an Anglican Yoruba in an Anglican church with a Muslim Kanuri/Shuwa Arab Best-Man from Borno State!
The officiating Catholic priest in Geneva, Switzerland, two years later, during the baptism of our first son, was equally perplexed when a muslim Abba Kyari and a muslim Muni Attah-Sonibare were the Godfather and Godmother respectively! Abba was a Pan-Nigerian, global citizen, who recognized no boundaries between peoples, be they racial, ethnic, religious, class or political. He made friends with everyone.
Abba was a man of unimpeachable integrity. Absolutely incorruptible!
I remember after he got married to his wonderful wife, Kulu, he told me how he showed her his first paycheck so she would know that he was not wealthy and would not steal!
It broke my heart to see all the false allegations against him on issues of corruption.
He showed me the safe in his office where he put any unsolicited gift .
I remember asking him about the rumours making the rounds that he was making money from the fine imposed on MTN. He immediately showed me the memorandum setting up the Committee to deal with the issue and he was not even a member.
He also showed me how he had been able to block attempts by many influential and powerful persons to make a lot of money at the expense of the country.
He knew that fighting corruption with such single mindedness and fearlessness would see him at the receiving end of the venom of very powerful forces but was undeterred and preferred to ignore all the defamation against him.
Abba was loyal to a fault. He decided he was going to protect his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, at all costs and would take any number of bullets for him. And he did!
Since he became Chief of Staff to the President, Abba never rested. He worked day and night, seven days a week. He was a hard taskmaster who did not suffer fools gladly. A very demanding boss. He gave a lot of himself and expected his subordinates and colleagues to do the same.
He was very intelligent, very well-read and had a wide and varied professional experience. He held strong opinions and did not yield position easily. But once he believed in someone or a cause, he would fight with everything he had.
Abba believed completely in the Nigerian project and believed completely in President Muhammadu Buhari.
During the last five years he gave every second of his life for the success of both. His health suffered as a result but it was a sacrifice and investment he was happy to make.
Nigerians will look back in years to come and see that he was truly the Best Man.
Rest In Peace my brother.

Geoffrey Onyeama is Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister

cybertron88:
Make I no talk b4 them label me terrorist sympathizer. I only see one burnt Hilux and just 2 dead bodies. Wey d remaining bodies na??

Illiterate

Nwodosis:
Photoshopped from the scene of Chadians onslaught!

PDP looters

SLAP44:
Audio anihilate

Pervert

Farewell, My Friend and Authentic Comrade

By Comrade Adams Oshiomhole

There are two most important dates in a man’s life. Other than the day he was born, according to Mark Twain, the other day is the day he discovers why he was born.

Doubtless, Mallam Abba Kyari realised his own purpose early enough: a conscientious pursuit of common good without seeking personal glory.

My first encounter with him was not in the corridors of power in Abuja, but in a very humble environment back in 1973.

In the last five years of the Buhari presidency, Mallam Kyari surely meant different things to different folks as the Chief of Staff.
Perhaps the popular perception is that he was the embodiment of loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari and an abiding patriotism to Nigeria.

But to confine his profile to his last official address is to miss the full height of the essential Abba Kyari and lose the broader picture of a life devoted entirely to fighting for the under-privileged, even though quietly.
Indeed, those who knew him would never begrudge him; those who resented him had obviously never the chance of truly knowing him.

I say this with the authority of one whose intimate association with him dates back to the days of Zamfara Textile in Kaduna.
I will illustrate with a few anecdotes.
Way back in 1973, we had found ourselves in opposing sides of the isle at Zamfara Textile in Kaduna: I was the leader of the workers union while he represented the management as Admin Officer.

But in the many brushes the union had with the management, Abba Kyari showed a true character as a conscientious man, a true Nigerian patriot, by never failing to side with workers on the core issues of human dignity and fairness. Following our protest, he was the lone voice at the management meeting who spoke against the operation of two classes of canteen by the company. He was not afraid to state that having a uniform canteen for both management staff and junior workers was the only way to convince the junior workers that their meal was not inferior.

Similarly, even though he was supposed to be on the side of the “oppressor”, Abba Kyari persuaded the management to incur extra costs by issuing all factory workers two pairs of personal protective uniform and safety boots.

The amazing thing was that, in pushing our case with management every time, Abba Kyari never sought to be seen or worshipped as a “hero”.
For him, advocating for social justice was not a favor, but a duty.

Again, when nobody believed in the chances of then General Buhari ever upstaging the behemoth PDP, Abba Kyari’s faith was unshaken.
I recall he was the one that first approached me in 2002 as the National President of Nigeria Labour Congress to sell Buhari’s candidacy to the labour movement. He invested his personal resources, energy and wide contacts in the business world in the project.

To say he shared President Buhari’s passion for a Nigeria that works for the vast majority as against the interest of a buccaneering elite is an understatement. It is partly the reason that Abba Kyari was never the darling of those used to gaming the system and their collaborators in western capitals.

That natural instinct to fight for the downtrodden was very much on display in 2016 when the Buhari administration was barely a year in office and the nation found herself in economic recession inflicted by the mismanagement of the economy by the previous administration.
I was still Edo Governor then. I recall that Abba Kyari, just like President Buhari, was quite stubborn in opposing the devaluation of naira. Just as they were averse to the removal of petrol subsidy. In several official meetings we had then in Abuja, you could always see the sadness on their faces when the matter came up and when the decision became inevitable. They were unhappy that such policies would hurt the vulnerable and erode the purchasing power of ordinary Nigerians.

Abba Kyari was not only loyal to President Buhari, he was also faithful to friends through thick and thin. His sense of humour was phenomenal. I recall that whenever we met and I complained that the stress of running the office of National Chairman was such that I had little time to socialize with old friends like him, he would tease by saying, “If a young man like you is complaining of stress as ordinary National Chairman of a party, I wonder what you expect someone like President Buhari who is running the entire country at his age and with all he has been through since the 60s and is still making sacrifices today, to say.”

In summary, there is no doubt that President Buhari has lost a dependable lieutenant and a close ideological disciple. Words cannot express our grief at this hour. But compatriots, we are comforted that Abba Kyari was a man of stellar character, a workhorse who toiled day and night to advance President Buhari’s vision, a luminous torchbearer for the progressives’ community and a committed advocate of the downtrodden who fought for them quietly without seeking personal glory.

The verdict of history will surely be kinder to him than the one borne out of whatever might be the reading or misunderstanding of his contemporary role in some quarters.

May Allah grant him peaceful repose and comfort his family and Mr. President over this great loss.

Farewell, my authentic comrade.

Signed:

Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, mni, CON
Chairman, All Progressives Party.

DWJOBScom:
Big yes as it’s an income
It’s just 10%

He should also not forget to pay the entire sum as first fruit since that is the first installment and then look for money to also pay the 10% tithe on it to guaranty future flow in Jesus name

DWJOBScom:
Big yes as it’s an income
It’s just 10%

Crime does not pay

Pay all as tithe
That is what makes you gullible

Should they increase the volume?

A commissioner that can't spell domineering is that one a commissioner?
Good riddance to bad rubbish

Ojukwu died at 78
Awolowo died at 78
What is the big deal to now die at 82
Agents of darkness everywhere
Anti Christ celebrating another's death while theirs is some minutes away
More perverts to be sacked very soon before their sudden death

Just pray you smell 72 talk less of 82

What if he wants to marry more than one wife.
All these unholy boyfriend and girlfriend things should be discreet

Moneywirer:
Could this be true

Illiterate

byteem:
El Rufai how is your BP.. dnt worry... what will be will be..let corona fight our battles.

Mumu
Anti Christ
Vampire
Agent of darkness
You are not immuned

Racoon:
The legendary liar-Lai Mohammed said COVID19 victims bodies will not be release to anyone? So now the rule have change right? Guess the NCDC will be the ones to conduct the burial? Power is transient.

Illiterate, learn to read before scrambling thrash

That is Islam for you
No hanky panky about the dead
82yrs on Earth no be beans
How many of yourfathers and Grandparents are still relevant at 82?
Farewell Abba Kyari
You have done well with your time here

Agent of darkness
Vampire, congratulations
Your own clock is ticking
Anti Christ everywhere

When it is not Chelsea vs Man U match, comments now on the 43rd page, celebrating some else's demise for a plague that is still doing press up?
Where is your humanity?

Antichristus:
Vanitas Vanitatum, Omnia Vanitas. Buhari is next. Nigeria is a land flowing with 'milk and honey', and Nigerians should be living as princes and princesses. However, in the hands of the evil and corrupt politicians, Nigerians are slaves in their own homeland. It will not be well with all those who decimated Nigeria's glory and mortgaged its citizens' prospects and future. The same shall be lot of their children's children. The stolen wealth will not save you. Aisan ti ko gbo'ogun l'o ma pa gbogbo yin l'o kookan.

You are next, for what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander

sharone21:
At 82 person still dey thief instead of being more concerned about his life hereafter.,...

Okay, u plan to behave similarly at that age that is why u see him as your mentor?

Nigerians are confused people and deserve the kind of leaders they get!

You are so sure of these claims, let justice be done divinely even after death and for those still living

Hello 'Celebrant'
Let your celebration not be premature.
You know why, COVID-19 has not been tamed and you or your loved ones could be next

eagleu:
Very soon God will rid Nigeria of all her tormentors.
One by one, Abacha style!

Hopeless slowpoke
Dingbats style of thinking

1938 to 2020 na beans?
How old was your fada?

Jaysnowkid:
Thank You Lord. Corona virus is the best thing that has happened to Nigeria.

Pagans have better chance than these born against anti Christ

How humans can be foolish
Those self servicing on this will not be near Abba Kyari's age before kissing the dust

Braintrain:
Good riddance

Pervert
Anti Christ claiming Born against

nkwuocha1:
More to go....
May coronavirus uproot ALL the CABALS.They took one of the only two ventilators in Gwagwalada General hospital just to save him,but, Mercy death said NO WAY,NO NO NO MBA,IRO,NA LIE,FOR WHERE, your time is up!!!

N:B

Noticed some BMC animals and miscreants quoting me.Quick question; Na Nkwuocha kill Abba kyari

Is he better than the poor , helpless Nigerians dying EVERY MINUTE as a result of lack of basic medical facilities of which several billions are allocated for?

Se na my papa go fund ASO ROCK CLINIC?


Make Ogun kill Una there!
Awon elede rada rada oshi!

Anti Christ claiming Born against

nkwuocha1:
The guy don die,wait for yours as I wait for mine
The imported chinks couldn't save him.They came because of him, and will soon go back.

Fu'cck him anyway.


My grandfather died at a ripe age after eating his favourite.Better bitterleaf soup and well pounded fufu .

Pervert
I am sure non of your kindred is as old as he was

Nnemuka:
Life
All the stolen common wealth couldn't save him.

RIP to the dead

Senseless slowpoke