The Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Mr Bashir Ahmad has once again, taken to his social media page to give some clarification on his tweet about Abba Kyari’s age, saying the late Chief of Staff to the President was actually 67 and not 80.
Bashir Ahmad who has been mourning late Abba Kyari’s death, took to his Twitter handle to say that Abba Kyari was actually 67, as there was another and older Abba Kyari who was a military officer and Nigerians have mistaken him for the late Chief of Staff.
Speaking about Abba Kyari’s age, to put an end to all the controversy surrounding his age, Bashir Ahmad said:
“CLARIFICATION: Mallam Abba Kyari, the late Chief of Staff to President Buhari was 67, he was born on Sept. 23rd, 1952, the other Abba Kyari a Nigerian military officer, who some mixed/mistaken for CoS, died at the age of 80, he was born on Nov. 17, 1938 and died on Nov. 25, 2018,” he said.
Abba Kyari died on Friday night at First Cardiology Consultant in Lagos, becoming the most senior Nigerian government official and public figure to fall victim to coronavirus. The presidency announced his death shortly after midnight on Saturday 26 days after testing positive to the coronavirus.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr.Femi Adesina, broke the news on his Twitter handle at 12.44am.
He followed this up with a statement, saying: “The Presidency regrets to announce the passage of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari.
“The deceased had tested positive to the ravaging COVID-19, and had been receiving treatment. But he died on Friday, April 17, 2020.
“May God accept his soul.
“Funeral arrangements will be announced shortly.”
Mallam Kyari had tested positive for COVID-19 on March 23,2020 following an official trip to Germany nine days earlier.
There were, however, no immediate details about where he died.
According to Wikipedia, Kyari graduated from the University of Warwick, UK, with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology in 1980.
He also received a bachelor’s degree in Law from the University of Cambridge and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1983 after attending the Nigerian Law School.
In 1984, he obtained a master’s degree in Law from the University of Cambridge. He later attended the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland and participated in the Programme for Management Development at the Harvard Business School, in 1992 and 1994, respectively.
He was at various times Commissioner for Forestry and Animal Resources in Borno State, secretary to the board of African International Bank Limited, a subsidiary of Bank of Credit and Commerce International, executive director in charge of management services at the United Bank for Africa, and later appointed the bank’s chief executive officer.
In 2002, he was appointed a board director of Unilever Nigeria, and later served on the board of Exxon Mobil Nigeria.
He was named Chief of Staff to the President in 2015 and was reappointed to the position after Buhari’s re-election for a second term in 2019.