Four Shockers In Mamman Daura’s Tribute To Kyari

By Chuks Ekpeneru

The taciturn Mamman Daura the purported head of the famed cabal around President Muhammadu Buhari was undoubtedly the godfather of the late chief of staff to the president, Mallam Abba Kyari.

So, when Daura opened up on his beloved protégée it inevitably drew attention as he put forward the life and service of the man who steered the affairs of government as Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari between 2015 and April 2020.

There are four shocking takeaways from the Daura tribute.

1. He was more intelligent than everyone in Buhari’s Cabinet.

In point of intellect, he stood above all Ministers and Special Advisers in this government. But personally he was modest, ever willing to learn, ever willing to help others.

With degrees from Warwick and Cambridge in Sociology and Law and with experiences in journalism, banking, business and law, Kyari has been presented as a cerebral man. That idea had earlier been projected with his voracious appetite for books as sounded out in an earlier tribute by Jalal Arabi, the outgoing permanent secretary in the Presidential Villa.

That Daura presented Kyari as intellectually superior to all members of Buhari’s cabinet is a big echo. But to what extent the late Kyari used his intellect to redefine Nigeria is, however, open to guess.

2. He would have been Vice-President to President Olusegun Obasanjo

These times coincided with the country’s return to democracy and Malam Abba was among those enthusiastically espousing the cause of General Obasanjo. On his selection as PDP candidate, a group of women and youths in the PDP lobbied Obasanjo to pick Malam Abba as his Vice Presidential running mate. After heated debates, Obasanjo eventually picked Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The idea of Kyari being running mate to Obasanjo would have looked politically illogical in the light of the scant political addition he would have brought to a ticket that had a non-politician, (Obasanjo) at the head of the ticket.

Atiku brought money and political suave to the Obasanjo ticket two factors that Kyari in 1999 was not able to pull.

3. He has been through thick and thin with President Muhammadu Buhari

In the 2003 elections, Malam Abba was in opposite camps with President Obasanjo. General Muhammadu Buhari had declared his intention the previous year to contest the presidency and Malam Abba joined his team and worked wholeheartedly in all the campaigns through the drudgery and injustices of the 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections without losing hope or sight of the ultimate goal.

Mamman Daura progresses with the narrative of Kyari having switched from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to an avid Buharist at the time Buhari joined politics in 2002.

The narrative of Kyari being embedded in Buhari political machine has been difficult to sink in.

He was neither a presence or a participant in the affairs of The Buhari Organisation, TBO, the vehicle Buhari used for his campaigns before the synergy with Bola Tinubu and other elements of the APC alliance.

His intellectual prowess was not brought to bear in the campaigns. In fact there are some who had whispered that up till the election that he was a closet member of the PDP.

Those in the know say that the relationship between Buhari and Kyari may have been trafficked at home where Kyari related with Buhari through Mamman Daura. He, however, unlike the likes of

4. He had several people who were benefiting from him.

Few people knew that over ten years ago, he turned his house in Maiduguri (since he no longer resided there) into accommodation for IDPs.

Kyari is projected as being helpful and generous. He would be remembered for his good deeds by those who benefited from him. But as chief of staff those good deeds were almost limited to his old school network from Cambridge and his tongue and creed.

However, among the general public outside his immediate vicinity such assistance was not very visible as he and the government he steered were seen as clannish.

If Buhari is perceived as not cosmopolitan and narrow minded, expectations were that the Cambridge trained lawyer would broaden his outlook. That was an expectation that was not realized in the appointments, policies and positions of the government the late Kyari steered.

Send Us A Press Statement Advertise With Us Contact Us

 And For More Nigerian News Visit GWG.NG