Abba Kyari ‘died on national duty’

The league of Imams and Alfas of Yourbaland, Edo and Delta states says Abba Kyari, late chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari died on national duty.

Kyari died from COVID-19 complications on April 17.

The late chief of staff had tested positive for the disease after a trip to Germany where he attended a meeting with officials of Siemens to discuss issues relating to the Nigerian power sector.

In a letter of condolence dated April 20 and addressed to the president, Tunji Bello, head of the organisation, said Kyari is a martyr of “our national cause.”

Bello said in the last five years, Kyari used his “enviable experience” to serve the president.

“I wish to commiserate with you personally and our nation in general over the tragic death of a beloved brother, your friend and your devoted Chief of Staff, Malam Abba Kyari,” the letter read.

“Judged by his personal relationship of over 40years with Your Excellency, his rare commitment and loyalty to your presidency in particular and the Nation in general, there is no gain-saying that his death at this critical point in time will be devastating to you.

“May Allah (SWT) adequately console you, his family, the Muslim Ummah and the Nation in general for his sudden desparture from this planet. As Muslims, one of the cardinal points of our faith at a time like this is the reality that ‘We all came from Allah and to Him shall we all return.’

“We are further admonished to thank Allah in all circumstances. We must therefore thank the Almighty Allah for his eventful and fulfilled life.

“In the past five years, Malam Abba Kyari has placed his enviable experiences in both the public and private sectors at the services of Your Excellency, the Nation, and the entire humanity. Above all, he was a shinig ambassador of the Muslim Ummah in both his public and private lives.

“It is an irony of circumstances that he died of [the] coronavirus infection which he contacted while on national service abroad. This definitely makes him a martyr of our national cause.”

Since Kyari passed, tributes have been pouring in for him.

While The Economist of London said the late chief of staff tried to clean up the country, the Financial Times said he was on the verge of leading an oil reform in the country.