Abba Kyari: A litany of controversies

Even in death, the name of Abba Kyari, the late Chief of Staff (CSO) to President Muhammadu Buhari, elicits controversy. Indeed, his death from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic ravaging the nation, nay the world, brought from memory the reactions that trailed the sudden demise of former military head of state, General Sani Abacha in 1998. Many Nigerians then took to the streets, jubilating that the country had been freed from the grip of that held it hostage. In the case of Kyari, while there was no jubilation on the streets, many Nigerians have visited various social media platforms to express their feelings about his death in the last 24 hours. While some paid glowing tributes to him, others feel that the country would be freed from the stranglehold of a ‘cabal’ in the Buhari Presidency.

Kyari was perceived as the strongest man in Buhari’s Presidency and a member of the ‘cabal’. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, announced his death via tweets. And with that came an outpouring of emotions from members of the public about the life and personality of a man who had remained in the consciousness of Nigerians since 2015.
 
The Kanuri indigene from Borno State was well educated. He was an aristocrat by Nigerian standards.cIn 1980; he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Warwick, and also received a bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Cambridge. In 1983, he was called to the Nigerian Bar after attending the Nigerian Law School.

Spat With Buhari’s Wife 
This assumption curiously extended to the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, who fought bitter battles with the late Kyari and his benefactor, Mamman Daura. For Aisha, the late CoS represented the worst about her husband’s administration. She accused him of hijacking the government, especially in the first tenure of the administration.
  
Aisha’s allegation then was that a cabal had hijacked the government, and that her husband did not know most of those he appointed into his cabinet. Apart from Aisha, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, wife of a the national leader of APC, Bola Tinubu, who played outstanding roles in Buhari’s emergence as president, at a point cried out about the ill-treatment being meted out to her husband at Aso villa. Kyari’s name was not exempted in the perceived presidential coup against the national leader, because he was seen as the face behind the mask. 

El-Rufai’s Versus Kyari, Lawal others
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State was one of the first persons to take Kyari to the cleaners and set the tone for what continued as a dogged time in office.
 
In a memo reportedly written in September 2016 by el-Rufai to President Buhari, the Kaduna State governor accused the sacked Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal and Kyari of being clueless and inexperienced.
  
El-Rufai had written: “You appear to have neither a political adviser nor a minder of your politics. The two officials whose titles may enable them function as such generally alienate those that contributed to our success.
  
“The SGF is not only inexperienced in public service but is lacking in humility, insensitive and rude to virtually most of the party leaders, ministers and governors. The Chief of Staff is totally clueless about the APC and its internal politics at best as he was neither part of its formation nor a participant in the primaries, campaigns and elections.

The Nigerian Government, through the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), had fined the company $5 billion for a security related infraction. Words, however, soon came out that the Chief of Staff to the President had been paid N500 million in bribe to help cut down the fine and make the Nigerian Government more pliant.

Though Kyari tried strenuously to deny the allegation, until his death no concrete investigation is believed to have been carried out on the matter. And the accusation stuck like an open sore to his personality.

NSA’s Memo
Early this year, in a memo that was leaked, the National Security Adviser (NSA), General Babagana Monguno, disclosed to Service Chiefs in the country that Kyari was meddling in matters of national security. In the memo, Monguno warned all Service Chiefs to desist from taking further directives from the President’s Chief of Staff. Dated December 9, 2019, the NSA’s memo accused Kyari of issuing directives to the Service Chiefs without the knowledge or approval of President Muhmmadu Buhari.

Shadowing The President
Many Nigerians also berated Buhari and his late CSO when the President, during his closing remarks at the two-day Presidential Retreat for the incoming Ministers at the Presidential Villa, last year, directed that ministers should submit any request meant for him to Kyari. Buhari also directed the incoming ministers to direct all executive matters to the SGF, Boss Mustapha.  Some Nigerians, who took to their Twitter handles to react, condemned the directive while others said Buhari was only ensuring that Kyari carried out his responsibilities.