Femi Adesina: Abba Kyari was in my dream night before he died

Femi Adesina, spokesman to President Muhammadu Buhari, has recounted how Abba Kyari, the late chief of staff to the president, appeared in his dream the night before he died.

He recalled that in the dream which occurred last Thursday, the late Kyari, who stood waiting for him, “oddly” did not wear his usual ‘flowing Agbada’ and was heavily bearded.

The former chief of staff to the president died last Friday after battling COVID-19.

In his tribute to Kyari on Friday, Adesina said he is not much of a dreamer and made nothing of the one in which Kyari appeared until after his death.

He wrote: “On Thursday night inward Friday, I dreamt. The President and myself were in a corridor in the Presidential Villa, and he was talking with me.  Suddenly, by my right, I saw a figure waiting for me to finish with the President.

“It was Mallam Abba, clad in his usual white native attire, with the trademark red cap. But this time, there was no flowing Agbada, which I found rather odd. He never (or rarely) appeared without the flowing robe.

“He was heavily bearded, another surprise, and the beard was all white. I rounded off discussion with the President, and yielded space for the Chief.

“I made nothing of the dream, but after he died, I shared my experience with my friend, Mallam Garba Deen Mohammed. “He came to say goodbye to you, and you didn’t know it,” my friend said.

“I didn’t know till then that Garba Deen had the uncommon gift of interpretation of dreams. Well, I now know where to go the next time I dream.”

He recalled that his last contact with Kyari was on Friday, March 20, when Buhari met with Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, chairman of ECOWAS Commission, at the presidential villa.

“A seat had been designated for me, next to that of the chief of staff. Few minutes later, Mallam Abba (as he was often called by us) walked in. I rose to greet him,” he wrote.

“Femi, how are you? They have said we should not shake hands again,” he responded. Rather jocularly, he extended his right foot. I touched his foot with my own, and we both laughed. Leg-shake, instead of handshake.”

Adesina said they had finished from the meeting and while leaving, he looked back “instinctively” to Kyari and others as they walked behind him.

“Why did I do it? I didn’t know, still don’t know. But it turned out to be my last view of Kyari,” he wrote.

“He was laughing as he talked with the two people beside him. That glance I took turned out to be the very final. About 72 hours later, Mallam Abba was diagnosed with the deadly Coronavirus, which sent him sadly on a journey of no return.”