Since the announcement of his sudden demise, the media has been awash with beautiful citations highlighting the positivity of the taciturn and thoroughly bashed late Abba Kyari. Mostly scripted in beautiful grammar and intense conviction, I couldn’t help but ask myself where were these authors of these belated appreciations when late Kyari was left to the dogs to feast on? To say late Kyari was the most maligned and unjustly dealt with in present day Nigeria is to say the least. However, it’s a consolation that he took it all with a rare and dignified silence down to the end. Now that he’s no more, I’m sure history will review his case and do justice to him.
Let me start by reviewing how late Kyari got on the radar of many Nigerians where he was kept until he answered the call of his creator. He would have passed most Nigerians unnoticed but for providence which had him crossed path with President Buhari and in the process earned the respect and trust of the equally taciturn and reclusive retired General. The two built a solid relationship spanning 40 years within which a mutual friendship grew into brotherhood. It’s quite logical that when Buhari was elected President his choice for the enviable and influential office of the Chief of Staff fell on late Malam Abba Kyari.
Let me explain a bit about the office of the Chief of Staff to the President for better understanding of late Malam Kyari’s trip from a saint to a devil, perhaps, the world’s fastest trip. This is an office deliberately designed to insulate the office of the President from the public and take the heat off the occupant while lessening the rigors of power management. More than college certificates, it requires astuteness and unshakable quality of character. The office also requires unflinching loyalty, trustworthiness and reliability. To President Buhari, late Kyari had these qualities in abundance to be a natural choice as the “fuel filter” that will keep the engine of the presidency free from contamination. Late Kyari did this excellently. Actually, if this “filter” was dissected, the result would have been dirty and full of dangerous dregs. Yet, Malam Kyari kept the engine running smoothly without hiccups up to the moment he breathed his last. Let’s review the prominent dirts he had to defy to keep the engine running.
The biggest allegation against Malam Kyari was perhaps, the biggest proof of his innocence. Nigeria was awarded a $5.2 billion (N1.560 trillion@1$/N300)fine against MTN. After series of negotiations and renegotiations, Nigeria and MTN settled out of court and MTN agreed to pay a reduced fine of N300 billion (just about $1 billion).
The social media went berserk with unfounded allegations that late Kyari was paid N500 million by MTN to get it off the hook. Late Kyari denied the allegations. MTN denied the allegations. Notwithstanding, members of the social and print media group making the allegations, among them professors and very enlightened citizens, failed to provide a single verifiable evidence of the crime to prove their case. That’s even with the 5% whistle blowing policy of Buhari which made it a win-win for the group. Head or tail, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to resolve their mortal hatred against both Buhari and Kyari.
Head, they will take out of the picture a man they hate and throw him straight into jail. Tail, they will expose him as the resident fighting a selective war against corruption as they preached to the level of making it either a career or a tool to resuscitate a dead one. What more, they would also smile to the bank with a 50% of the amount under scrutiny. However, dumb as they appeared while it lasted, they were smart to know putting their silly allegations on paper is a one way ticket to Kuje prison for them because the tables would surely turn against them. They knew Kyari was innocent and the allegations were nothing but a synchronized mischief to smear him for no sin but his loyalty to a man they love to hate, Buhari!
Above is not enough to prove Kyari’s innocence but it will make a lot of sense when juxtaposed with Kyari’s antecedents and impeccable record in different sectors viz-a-viz the N500 million allegation against him. For instance, late Kyari was lawyer and a seasoned banker, trained in the UK and very qualified to translate and put $5.2 billion on a decent scale for the purpose of negotiating cuts if a bribe for the colossal sum to be waived is the subject.
Yet, Kyari, a former Managing Director of a Bank, only asked for a meager N500 million to have a fine of N1.560 trillion waived for MTN. Who’s the idiot here? Was it the authors of the mischief or their gullible followers that swallowed the lies skin, flesh and bone without chewing? Why should Kyari allow MTN go home with Naira one trillion, five hundred and fifty nine billion, five hundred million while he go home with a meager Naira five hundred million in a mutual deal? Only an idiot would do that and among Kyari’s deficits as Nigerians were daily fed throughout his tenure by this group, idiocy was not one of them. Actually there’s a consensus between his friends and enemies that he was extremely intelligent!
Secondly, late Kyari was a successful banker. From 1990 to 1995, he was the secretary to the board of African International Bank Limited, a subsidiary of Bank of Credit and Commerce International. He also served as executive director in charge of management services at the United Bank for Africa, and was later appointed the chief executive officer in 2002. This was a period when Nigeria’s banking sector was under the grips of bandits like Cecilia Ibru. Yet, Kyari was never mentioned in any fraudulent case even as a witness much less, a suspect. Is it possible that late Kyari could hide a soiled past from the prying eyes of the legion of angry PDP looters who were working day and night to discredit Buhari’s war against corruption just to have an escape window and run away from their thieving pasts? Is it possible that late Kyari was so invisible to the prying of Lagos/Ibadan axis press who were very angry with him for the silly assumption that he was at war with VP Osinbajo?
Second on Malam Kyari’s “table of sins” was his “sneaky intrusion into the board of the NNPC.” The gang were unanimous in their opinion that Kyari maneuvered himself into the board to help himself from the milk of what’s indisputably Nigeria’s cash cow. But just like his appointment as Chief of Staff was natural, so was his appointment into the board of the NNPC. Malam Kyari was a big player in the oil sector who once served on the board of Exxon Mobil, one of the world largest companies by revenue. This made him a natural choice to serve as the eyes and ears of the President on the board of the NNPC through which billions of dollars were stolen — a situation that must be stopped for Buhari’s agenda to have a reasonable chance of impacting Nigeria.
Interestingly, while he was maligned for this, nobody was there to tell Nigerians that he was on the board of NNPC to represent and enforce prudence and accountability in as best way as could be beneficial to millions of Nigerians. Actually somebody should have told Nigerians that by his Chief of Staff, he could get as much from the NNPC as could the GMD NNPC and the Minister of Petroleum given his experience in the sector and his political position in the administration, of course, if that was his objective.
Late Malam Abba Kyari was a man greatly misunderstood mostly, deliberately. His office put at his disposal enormous power to attract envy and anger. He was the President’s clearing house and if the President is too big a bone to swallow by ambitious politicians, shrewd businessmen and cunning government officials, there has to be a fall guy and the choice fell on late Malam Kyari. Bravely he took that heat stoically in dignified silence and carried all the missing dots to his grave.
May Allah SWT in HIS infinite mercy forgive his sins and reward his good deeds with Jannatil Firdaus.
