Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Foreign Affairs
I first met Abba Kyari in 1977 at Warwick University in England. I had gone there to do law as a second first degree. He had come to do a degree in sociology. I had a pending application to do Law at Cambridge and when the result of that application came and it was positive, I left Warwick during the second semester. But my five months at Warwick was enough to build a strong friendship with Abba that lasted till his passing. Almost 43 years!
There was a small group of Nigerians at Warwick then, which included former President Yakubu Gowon (who was doing a PhD in Political Science) ; Senator Osereihmi Osunbor (former Senator and Governor); Sitonye Roy Wakama (former Deputy Inspector General of Police) and the lawyer, Desmond Guobadia.
There were a few other Nigerians.
Abba was quite skinny in those days! We became friends very quickly and a life-long bond was formed.
Abba was very simple and humble. He was also very friendly with everyone. He had very litte interest in material things. We had a common interest in politics and I believe it was our socialist political values that cemented our friendship because we were always discussing politics and how to salvage Nigeria right up to his passing.
Abba was also surprisingly sociable for someone who was so self-effacing and we
had a lot of enjoyable and memorable experiences at parties and discotheques! Abba also had a very good sense of humour belied by his often stern visage.
When I left Warwick University for Cambridge, Abba came to Cambridge to introduce me to his friends there as he had studied in the city for his Advanced levels. After graduating from Warwick University, Abba went up to Cambridge to study law. We kept in touch throughout the last 43 years. We ended up together in Lagos in 1982 to attend Law School for a year. When I left Nigeria in 1985 to work in Geneva for 30 years Abba came to Geneva often to stay with me and whenever I was in Nigeria, he made it a point of coming to see me wherever I was.
When I got married in Owo to my wife from Idoani, Ondo State, Abba was my Best-Man. The officiating Vicar was somewhat perplexed because I was a Roman Catholic Igbo, marrying an Anglican Yoruba in an Anglican church with a Muslim Kanuri/Shuwa Arab Best-Man from Borno State!
The officiating Catholic priest in Geneva, Switzerland, two years later, during the baptism of our first son, was equally perplexed when a muslim Abba Kyari and a muslim Muni Attah-Sonibare were the Godfather and Godmother respectively! Abba was a Pan-Nigerian, global citizen, who recognized no boundaries between peoples, be they racial, ethnic, religious, class or political. He made friends with everyone.
Abba was a man of unimpeachable integrity. Absolutely incorruptible! I remember after he got married to his wonderful wife, Kulu, he told me how he showed her his first paycheck so she would know that he was not wealthy and would not steal!
It broke my heart to see all the false allegations against him on issues of corruption. He showed me the safe in his office where he put any unsolicited gift .
I remember asking him about the rumours making the rounds that he was making money from the fine imposed on MTN. He immediately showed me the memorandum setting up the Committee to deal with the issue and he was not even a member. He also showed me how he had been able to block attempts by many influential and powerful persons to make a lot of money at the expense of the country. He knew that fighting corruption with such single mindedness and fearlessness would see him at the receiving end of the venom of very powerful forces but was undeterred and preferred to ignore all the defamation against him.
Abba was loyal to a fault. He decided he was going to protect his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, at all costs and would take any number of bullets for him. And he did!
Since he became Chief of Staff to the President, Abba never rested. He worked day and night, seven days a week. He was a hard taskmaster who did not suffer fools gladly. A very demanding boss. He gave a lot of himself and expected his subordinates and colleagues to do the same.
He was very intelligent, very well-read and had a wide and varied professional experience. He held strong opinions and did not yield position easily. But once he believed in someone or a cause, he would fight with everything he had.
Abba believed completely in the Nigerian project and believed completely in President Muhammadu Buhari. During the last five years he gave every second of his life for the success of both. His health suffered as a result but it was a sacrifice and investment he was happy to make. Nigerians will look back in years to come and see that he was truly the Best Man.
Rest In Peace my brother.
Responses -1
Onyeama is plainly naive, devoid of strategic focus on the larger good of the Igbos that he was supposed to cater for. Obviously, Abba Kyari brought Onyeama to come and eat crumbs?
No creation of God is entirely worthless. Even Satan has its values. Abba Kyari was instrumental to the bastardisation of governance and the structure of the Nigerian State.
Intellectual corruption and clannishness is the most vile form of pervasive influence. Absolute power that Abba Kyari amassed corrupted and polluted absolutely. Good luck to Abba Kyari and his cohorts
Response – 2
“May we have friends who would speak up for us and defend us whilst we still walk this Earth.”
Don Korleone 2020.
In 1994 I got on a bus to go to Ife, the conductor took our fares, I vividly remember I was not just the first to pay but also giving him the full amount in small change. When he had collected all fares, he found he was short by one person’s fare and arguments ensued.
Everyone vehemently defended their honour, I didn’t see the need to put up a robust defense as I was the first to pay and had witnesses. Anyways, since mine was the most feeble of protests the guy concluded I had to be the guilty one.
“Na so the dragging start oh, no name wey the guy no call me.” I tried to remain calm in the face of provocation, after all the Bible had assured me that ‘The Truth would set me free’(plus the guy was itching to beat me senseless and I was determined not to give him that pleasure).
At some point the driver got fed up with the delay and grabbed whatever the conductor had gathered and got in to drive off, the conductor as a parting shot poked his finger in my eye and sneered ‘shameless thief’ at me, and we drove off.
Less than a minute into the journey the guy seated right next to me said to no one in particular that ‘this young man actually paid oh, as a matter of fact he gave the conductor small bills and it was from his fare that the conductor gave me my change.
My eyes welled up with tears and they began to drop as I couldn’t hold them back. Someone from the back retorted ‘yet you watched him being harassed and you did not utter a word in his defense? That was wickedness.’ I was no longer listening, my poked eye was sore and so was my heart.
Abba Kyari Died yesterday, he was said to be 67, he died from complications from COVID-19. Since he did, encomiums and tributes have been pouring in from all quarters. Geoffrey Onyeama, Muhammadu Buhari, Tunde Fashola, Simon Kolawole etc. They all say he was maligned and misunderstood: they now said: he was a man of honor and integrity… he was their best man and best mate… we thank them all.
Where were they when the conductors of Nigeria were poking their fingers in his eyes?? Where were they when he was labeled shameless thief? Where were their voices when he was called the evil de facto President: the head of the cabal? They were there: right there in power with him.
They probably felt then that some of the odium was deserved, after all he was the right hand man of the President, he was effectively their Boss. They read and heard about the relentless attacks on his honour and integrity but they remained silent. Silent so as not to attract the same deluge of attacks. They wanted the safety of anonymity, they didn’t want to be guilty by association.
The Man Died, and everyone have now found their voices. Eloquence has been restored. Everyone who was silent whilst he lived have now become a staunch defender of him dead.
Maybe Abba Kyari indeed paid his fare like I did, maybe he felt secure in the fact that he had witnesses to the fact like I did. May be he believed the truth would set him free like I did. May be he hoped that someone who really knew his person and his motives would defend him and tell the world the truth, but no one did.
His bus has left the park, never to return again, his eyes blinded by the poking fingers. His side of the story never to be heard by the living. I should have defended my honor more vigorously that day on my journey to Ile-Ife. it was stupid to hope others would speak up for me. I know better now, but Kyari knows best.
