Life is a mystery, a bewilderment. From unconsciousness to unconsciousness, from the womb to the grave, one did not know when his own life started, when he entered into the womb; nor when his life will end, when he will enter into the grave.
The person you see today, full of life, full of energy and vitality, bubbling with life, commanding and issuing orders, wielding power and authority, you will not see that person tomorrow. He is gone. He is dead. Such is life.
I shed tears when I watched on television, the all powerful Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, being buried, going the way of other mortals, in just a tiny portion of land, not more than seven feet length, and four feet wide.
I stretched my head to see if I could see any of his Rolls Royce, his other fleet of cars, his many mansions, his fat bank accounts both in Nigeria and overseas, his many other possessions. being buried along with him. I did not see any. He was just there alone, inside the grave.
Naked came I into the world, and naked shall I return. What a world! What is the need for all the labours of man in the world, his acquisitive tendencies? Vanity of vanity, all is vanity, so says the Holy Book.
Abba Kyari, the most powerful Chief of Staff Nigeria has ever had, was brought down by a tiny, but dreaded disease called coronavirus (COVID-19). When he was alive, he was ubiquitous, everywhere. He wielded enormous influence and authority. He was very powerful. His thoughts and his words were law. Nobody could challenge it.
To know Abba Kyari was more important than to know President Muhammadu Buhari himself, because the man held the key to everything in government. He was the defacto President of Nigeria. He was the head of the “Aso Rock Cabal”, who decided what happens in country. He was the one who called the shots, who decided what happens in government.
Abba Kyari had a very large heart, a benevolent and generous heart. If he liked you or you were in his good books, you had everything at your beck and call. Many of the people who now serve in the Buhari government are there, courtesy of Abba Kyari, even if all these people were to come from one particular section of the country.
For Abba Kyari, the so-called principle of federal character did not make sense. What mattered was the religion you profess, and where you came from. He did not see anything wrong if all those appointed in government ministries and parastatals were Muslims or came from either Borno, his home state, or from Katsina, President Buhari’s home state.
That was why it was so easy for Abba Kyari to faithfully implement President Buhari’s sharing of government appointments and infrastructural developments to the 97% – 5% formula for people who voted for him during the Presidential election.
On the other hand, if Abba Kyari did not like your face? If he loathed you and saw you as a threat or stumbling block to his desired end, you would be blacklisted by the administration. You would be frustrated. If you doubt it, go and ask Aisha Buhari, wife President Muhammadu Buhari. She would tell you how Abba Kyari had made her life so miserable in Aso Rock.
Abba Kyari was a skillful negotiator, a conscientious worker, an astute administrator and a patriot. He had used his position to appoint himself to the board of NNPC, and even his daughter to another government parastatal.
When the MTN mobile network was in trouble for flouting the law of the country and was consequently fined N500 million, they ran to Abba Kyari, and their sins were instantly forgiven!
It was on the line of duty, to negotiate for electricity supply to the country, that Abba Kyari travelled to Germany and Egypt, where he contracted coronavirus that killed him. He thereby had bypassed the Minister of Power.
In 2015, when some people were contesting to be President of Nigeria and asked us to vote for them, we did not see Abba Kyari. But as soon as Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner and later sworn in as President, Abba Kyari surfaced from nowhere and assumed a larger than life position. He was everywhere and enveloped the entire landscape.
They told us that for us to get anything in government we must go through Abba Kyari. Even the Vice President, the Ministers, everybody, must kowtow, adore and worship the man, because he had the key to all our needs, and all our problems.
Now that Abba Kyari is six feet down the earth, who do we run to? Who will be his successor? Will the person be as powerful as Abba Kyari? We keep our fingers crossed.
