Abba Kyari Dies From COVID-19 Infection

• Abba Kyari Dies From COVID-19 Infection

President Muhammadu Buhari Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, died on Friday after contracting COVID-19 about a month ago.

Kyari had returned from Germany on March 14th following a meeting with officials of Siemens in Munich regarding the Nigerian electricity expansion programme deal signed between Siemens and Nigeria.

The chief of staff, who was in his 70s and reported to have contracted the virus last month, had underlying health issues including diabetes.

On Friday, Garba Shehu, a spokesman to the presidency tweeted that “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,” he said in a second post on Twitter.

President Buhari appointed the former Chief Executive Officer of United Bank for Africa Plc. in August 2015 and renewed his appointment after winning a second term in office.

Kyari, regarded by many Nigerians as the most powerful figure of president Buhari’s administration, graduated from the University of Cambridge and Warwick where he studied law and sociology, respectively.

He worked with Unilever Nigeria Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Nigerian unit, and other high profile companies before his appointment as chief of staff.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the total number of infected people rose by 51 to 493 on Friday with deaths rising by about 42 per cent in two days.