So much has been said about Mr Abba Kyari, the fallen Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari. He has been painted as hero and patriot who died on active service and, therefore, deserves to be lionised. Many people in government, including Buhari himself, belong to this school of thought. It will, therefore, not be surprising if, even before we have seen the end of Coronavirus, government announces what it will do to immortalise Kyari.
Nigerians are wont to always call on government to lionise or immortalise just about anybody. I have read calls for the immortalisation of Mr Richard Akinjide aka Mr. Twelve Two-thirds, who died recently. Immortalisation in Nigeria appears a class thing; where the dead belonged to the ruling class, more so the government in power, immortalisation not only comes easy, it also becomes a matter of national urgency. But where the dead is not (or did not belong), like the hapless Ayodele Awojobi, world class professor of engineering, Samuel Okwaraji, Grace Adadevoh and many others, it becomes a tug of war to wriggle out a modicum of respect and recognition from the stingy fingers of the powers-that-be for a patriot’s selfless and patriotic sacrifice. But I dare to say that the most enduring immortalisation is that etched in the heart of the ordinary people. Others are farcical and counterfeit.
The other side of the coin is that there are many who see Kyari not only as the architect of his own destruction but also as the man responsible for Nigeria’s inability to robustly respond to the Coronavirus pandemic. This is not about his overseas trip to Germany and Egypt where he unknowingly imported the virus to Nigeria. This is also not about his breaching the Covid-19 protocols of submitting himself to testing on return and of self-isolation for 14 days. It must be stated that Kyari was not the only “Big Man” who neglected to observe these protocols; others such as senators, governors, honourables, Ministers did similarly. The scourge of community transmission, which threatens to turn the virus into a pandemic on our shores, must be situated in such irresponsible behaviour of the elite.
“Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend” says the Chinese revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong. Scripture posits in Proverbs 11:14 that in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. Chinua Achebe in “Things Fall Apart” agrees with both when he echoes a proverb of his people: Let the kite perch and let the egret perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break.” There are always two sides to a story (as there is to a coin) and the elder who hears from only one side of a quarrel or argument is given as a wicked elder.
So today I publish another side of the argument on Kyari. We have heard from Buhari, Mamman Daura, Femi Adesina, Femi Fani-Kayode, Simon Kolawole, Geoffrey Onyeama, Issa Aremu, etc. and others who eulogised Kyari. Now, read the following post titled “Wickedness is the worst vice any man can have”
"Two years ago, there was a misunderstanding between the then Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, and Abba Kyari. The Chief of Staff wanted to control activities of the Health Ministry but the Minister would not allow him, so Kyari as the de facto president decided to teach the Minister a bitter lesson. He stripped the health ministry of its powers to purchase anything; bear in mind that the ministry of health is responsible for purchasing and distributing medical equipment, hospital supplies and drugs amongst Government-owned hospitals such as General Hospitals and University teaching hospitals. Abba Kyari also immediately mandated Federal Ministry of Health to henceforth approach Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development should they need to ever buy anything or procure anything for all the hospitals and government-owned health centres in Nigeria. SACRILEGE!
What this means is that should the Minister of Health need to procure anything in his domain, he would have to first write to his counterpart in Agriculture for clearance, which the Agriculture Minister may or may not give. By this single action the Chief of Staff literally rendered the health ministry useless as they could not function. Just imagine how many lives might have been lost in both the city centres and rural communities because the hospitals did not have the resources to attend to their failing health! Imagine how many pregnant women might have died because of this satanic and diabolic martial order imposed on the Health Ministry!
For ministry staff, it was incomprehensible as they all tried to come to terms with one man’s raging power drunkenness. It was beyond humiliation for Isaac Adewole! So when Adewole was replaced after Buhari’s second coming in 2019, staff of the Health Ministry heaved a sigh of relief that it was now a fresh start as they were sure the absurd injunction would be revoked by Abba Kyari. Unfortunately for them, even in the abundance of their wildest imaginations, they under-estimated Kyari! The new minister on resuming office realized he had no powers whatsoever and proceeded to ask the Chief of Staff to reverse things to what they used to be but Kyari REFUSED! He said it would remain like that until he so pleased!
Things continued to deteriorate for the health sector in Nigeria and by February 2020, it all came out in the open. Following the Coronavirus outbreak, the Federal Government had asked Central Bank of Nigeria to provide the health Ministry with all the necessary funds it needed to buy whatever they needed to keep Nigerians safe. But Kyari BLOCKED all that money and REFUSED to allow the new Minister and his team commence work in earnest for things to have a smooth run! They could not buy Ventilators and many other things they had requested. Out of frustration, the new Minister told the press in a well-publicized press conference that the Presidency was blocking it from accessing funds for Covid-19. But he did not go into explicit narration of who, actually, was blocking what.
Is it not the same sickness that you withheld the funding for its curtailment that eventually took you out? In Nigeria, a lot of us acquire degrees and intellect strictly for bragging rights. So many people do not go to school in this clime to come back and eventually change the society for the better. You graduated from Warwick University! You read law at Cambridge! You are also Harvard alumni! You were a successful banker! Yet, your best opportunity to fix your country, you dragged it further into the mud! How do you explain to your Harvard and Cambridge community that you transferred the procurement rights of the Health ministry to the Agriculture ministry even in the face of the most deadly virus ever seen by man?
The culture of praising the dead with white lies even when they have deliberately caused us so much pain is primitive, medieval, atrocious, and imbecilic; above all, it mirrors the inherent falsehood in our culture. Whatever position you find yourself in this life, be humble!"
Above is another view of Kyari; and such vitriolic are what I expect friends and lovers of Kyari to rise up and debunk with facts and figures. I remember reading stories of the Kyari/Adewole tango, with the latter eventually losing out. I remember reading about the very embarrassing subjugation of the Health ministry under the Agriculture ministry and had even wondered why Adewole remained in office rather than take the honourable step of bowing out. I remember Adewole’s suspension of Usman Yusuf, Executive Secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) over allegations of financial misappropriation of humongous amounts of money, and lack of proper management of the scheme. In addition, Yusuf reportedly was accused of undermining the Board of NHIS “feeling no one could touch him due to his relationship with the cabal in government.” According to reports, an administrative panel found Yusuf “guilty of gross misconduct, nepotism, financial recklessness and theft of public funds to the tune of N919 million” as a result of which Adewole, as the supervising Minister, suspended Yusuf in June 2017. In October, Adewole made the suspension indefinite pending action from the president. In February 2018, Buhari re-instated Yusuf in a letter signed by Kyari making no mention of the allegations against him but directing him to “work harmoniously with the Minister.” Two panels after, the first in October 2018 and another in December same year headed by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yusuf was again reportedly found guilty and his appointment finally terminated seven months after in July 2019!
Well, all that is now history and the ball is in the public domain for Nigerians to make whatever they deem fit of it. True, then, are the words of Williams Shakespeare that the evil that men do...
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