₦airaland Forum

Tribute from the minister of Foreign Affairs

Geoffrey Onyeama April 19, 2020 - Tribute to Kyari: The Best Man

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.

Amosun will only use your head to break coconut

We are aggressively moving to the next level, haters, leave road or u get crush

Next level about to start fully with Nigerian workers. it will only get better

Asiwaju is our leader, he leads, we follow.

bmcariyo:
We dare them to do anything. Say no to rubbish police comment. Protest must happen!!!

protest must happen or revolution must happen, wch one of the two?lol

Those who make darkness their abode but choose to shoot arrows in the light will have their miserable lives shattered in the end.

Next level yaaaaaa

Dandsome:
So said a slave serving his fulani masters

he voted his Fulani,u voted ur Fulani,his Fulani won and ur Fulani lost,how his he a Fulani slave?

hmmm

Tinubu is a great man, building men

NLC foolishness is like Zeeworld.

Extraordinarily everyday

Nobody takes dem serious again

Dino foolishness is like Zeeworld
...
Extraordinary everyday

Year 2019: We are moving to the NEXT LEVEL.
AMEN

Many are mad, few are on d street.

Anambra getting set to move to the NEXT LEVEL

If I no get money, wetin I gain?


NEXT LEVEL yaaaaaaaa

Better than the whole man utd players

Hazard have finally move to the NEXT LEVEL

APM PARTY ADOPTS PRESIDENT BUHARI AS ITS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2019 ELECTION
Caption - President Muhammadu Buhari receives the letter of adoption as Presidential Candidate for 2019 from National Chairman Allied People's Movement (APM), Mr Yusuf Mamman Dantalle accompanied by Governor of OgunState , Ibikunle Amosun at the State House in Abuja.

Next level yaaaaaaaa

Bros has gone mad again

Women of today leads men to shoprite and Mr Bigs

Everybody wants to ride Benz by fire by force

CuddleBear:
I haven't heard a single knockout. Are you sure Tuesday is Xmas

Boys that throw knockout are now riding benz

Lagos state moving to the NEXT LEVEL

paskilo247:
God punish u, who dey among Chelsea fans wey wan join misery next level thing

God punish you and Ur generation

We Chelsea fans have decided to move to the NEXT LEVEL. Join the moving train

We are moving to the NEXT LEVEL

A water well was spotted in middle of the road in Ibadan, and this was confirmed in a photo shared by an Instagram user @teekayboys.This is coming after it was reported that findings revealed  that 69 million Nigerians  or 1 in 3 (35.0 percent) of the population, has no access to safe water while  less than 1 in 10 (9.2 percent) of households drink safe water.

These and other findings are from the 2016/2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, MICS, carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, and the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, NPHDA,  in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF.

The National survey which reveals the country’s progress and lapses in key areas of development also show that 2 out of every 3 households (64.1 percent) use improved water sources while a little more than one-third (35.9 percent) used improved sanitation compared to  58.5 percent and 31 percent respectively in 2011.

RIP in advance.