Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, has recalled that he sat beside deceased Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, for four days even when he (Kyari) had caught coronavirus.

Mustapha said they were in the Villa working together four of the five working days a week, when Kyyari had contracted it, unknown to both of them.

He added that some of their other colleagues were even with Kyari up till the weekend when they travelled together to Kogi State where they attended the funeral of mother of Governor Yayaha Bello.

Mustapha recalled this on Thursday when speaking on the reality and enormity of the burden that coronavirus represents.

He said although some might still be looking at the pandemic as being remote in terms of its impact, many people who had experienced its effects or lost close ones knew otherwise.

Apart from Kyari, he also recalled that he had lost a classmate, just as he noted that over 100,000 people contracted the disease globally on Wednesday alone.

Mustapha, who is the leader of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, thus warned Nigerians to remain steadfast in observing precautionary measures.

“Coronavirus is ravaging our land,” he said.

Amina, a daughter of the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kari, has revealed how lovely he was to her mother.

According to her, he was a remarkable husband and father to her and other children.

She noted this in a tribute she composed for Kyari, as published in ‘ThisDay’:

On 17th April, 2020, my world came crashing down and my heart shattered into a billion pieces. Upon receiving the news of my father’s passing, I immediately felt the most excruciating pain – a pain I would not wish on my worst enemy. My biggest fear in the world had materialised.

Most people knew my dad as the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari. As it is with many public servants, there was much more to him than the signature white kaftan and red cap by which he came to be recognised. He was a most remarkable husband to my mother (HauwaKulu), and father to myself and my three younger siblings (Nurudeen, Ibrahim, and Zainab). Completely irreplaceable.

He was always working. My dad reminded us he worked hard so that he could give us all that we needed to excel at whatever we chose to do. And as far as I remember, my siblings and I lacked nothing; we had all we asked and more. That said, the asking part was hard! It often would come with a lecture and many questions as to why we would even ask for things. In the end, we would get what we wanted as long as a compelling case could be made for it.

He had a hard exterior but a heart of gold and a quirky sense of humour. He had zero tolerance for mediocrity: A no-nonsense man in every sense of the word. He expected excellence at all times and when it came to time, my father was Swiss-German – for him, arriving on time was arriving late. To this day, my friends always tease me about how and why I get to airport hours before a flight. It is what my daddy instilled in me.

Daddy’s biggest obsession was education. He truly invested in us the best education. In 1996, I recall as a nine-year-old when he told me that he and I would be leaving for London the next day. He didn’t say why we were going. For the first three days, he took me to three different schools to take entrance exams. I remember being so lost as to why anyone would have to go all the way to England just to take exams. I passed all three and he picked his favourite school of the three. The day my dad dropped me off at the school dormitory, all the other students and their parents were hugging, smiling, and getting settled in.

My case was different, in true daddy style, he said: “Well Ammi, you are here to study and not play. The rules in this country are different, if you fail a single class test or school exam, they will revoke your visa and send you back to Nigeria and as you know, I don’t have space for failures in my house.”
He then patted me on the back and left.

As a little girl in a foreign country, I panicked but also believed him. My mum called the school the next day to check up on me and I cried and told her what he said. It didn’t help matters that I hadn’t understood what they taught me in class that day because I couldn’t understand my teachers’ accents. She reassured me that what he said was not true. Thank God for mothers!

My dad never missed a single parent-teacher meeting. Even when he had daunting schedules as chief executive of a bank, he would take the first flight out of Lagos to arrive in London for those meetings. Upon arrival, he would go to the hall to meet with my teachers. Typical of kids, we would peep into the hall to see which teachers our parents were talking to at the time and whether they looked angry or not.

Special Adviser on Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Femi Adesina, has reacted to a rumour that he was in the group that accompanied the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, to Kogi State for the burial ceremony of the mother of Governor Yahaya Bello.
In an article entitled ‘Breaking News from Aso Villa’, Adesina said the yogi trip tale was one of the series of fake news that had been woven around the Presidency in recent days.
The article below:

Quite a challenging week it has been for Nigeria, and, indeed, the rest of the world. Except perhaps in China only, where the affliction started from, figures of Coronavirus infections continue to mount in other parts of the world. Italy and Spain have been particularly badly hit.

But as the world reels under the impact of a most pernicious pandemic, a suicide bomber wreaking deadly havocs, merchants of fake, hateful news remain fully at work. Aso Villa, the seat of presidential authority, has been their focus for most of the week.

They have kept churning out spurious reports after the other about President Muhammadu Buhari, and some other people who work with him. If you choose to believe them, the President by now has even been evacuated, and is receiving medical attention at an undisclosed location somewhere in the wide world.

Breaking news from Aso Villa. That is what you have had day after day. And each time I am contacted to authenticate one story or the other, I tell the enquirers that the Presidential Villa is part of the world, part of humanity, and the people there are not immune from what is happening in the rest of the world.

But the outright fake, hateful news, I have ignored all week. Not a word in response. How do you begin to give wings to concocted stories through responses that will make the falsehood fly faster? No, purveyors of wickedness should not have the satisfaction of drawing us out all the time, and getting some tacit endorsement for their flight of fancy.

A top aide of the President tested positive early in the week. He is receiving adequate care, and he has our best wishes. But for the sinister minds, it was floodgate to all sorts of malediction.

All sorts of Breaking News followed:
‘Intensive care machines brought into Aso Rock.’ ‘President Buhari coughing ceaselessly.’ ‘PMB under intensive care.’ ‘Adesina among those who accompanied Abba Kyari to Kogi.’ (I never did). ‘Garba Shehu under self-isolation.’ ‘Buhari may be smuggled out of the country, as condition worsens.’ And by yesterday, a recorded message started circulating on WhatsApp, saying President Buhari had been sneaked out of the country. To where? By who? Their fecund imaginations did not say.

And more Breaking News: ‘Buhari bans journalists from covering Aso Villa.’ (A man supposedly in intensive care was still banning reporters. Lol). ‘Buhari in self-isolation’ (Yet he was in the office on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, even receiving visitors). ‘Aso Villa shut down.’ And the vile beat goes on…

Why do some people conjure nothing but evil? Why do they imagine vain things? In 2017, while President Buhari had his medical challenge, they were on orgy of negative wishes, misinformation, and disinformation. But God pulled a fast one on them.

He brought the President back, as right as rain. Haven’t they learned their lessons?
With the good people, however, positive things are happening. Tony Elumelu’s UBA is giving N5 billion to help Nigeria and Africa. Abdusamad Rabiu (BUA) has donated one billion Naira in cash. .

Folorunsho Alakija has imported test kits and other materials for Nigerians, worth hundreds of millions of Naira.

Aliko Dangote, after an initial donation of N200 million to combat Coronavirus, is leading top bankers and the private sector generally to raise aid. GTBank has donated a 100 beds care center.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God has provided ventilators. And many more.

These are the people and organizations that should define us as a people, not the conjurers of wickedness and doomsday. God is surely greater than them. And Nigeria too.

Femi Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity

Hours after Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State denied having contact with two prominent politicians who have tested positive for coronavirus, photos of his testing for the pandemic have emerged online.
Diri had, on Wednesday, declared that he had no contact with Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kari; and Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, who have the virus.
It is not clear what those who released the photo want to achieve, but there is one among the images in which Diri is seen communing with Mohammed.

Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, had close contact with two prominent Nigerians who have tested positive for coronavirus.
These are the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari; and and Bauchi State Governor, Bala Muhammed.
As a result, Obaseki has gone into self-isolation.

A statement released by the Special Adviser to the governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie, said the governor has sent his samples for testing.

“The governor has gone into self-isolation after the governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed and Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, tested positive for coronavirus.

“The governor had met Senator Mohammed at the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and National Economic Council (NEC) meetings. He also visited Mr Kyari,” the statement in part read

As Nigerians still await official statements on the status of President Muhammadu Bihari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari’s status, three of his (Kyari’s) aides have reportedly tested positive to coronavirus.
News that Kyari has caught the pandemic broke earlier on Tuesday.

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, who members visited Also Rock in the afternoon, is expected to react soon.