{"id":2121,"date":"2020-04-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2121"},"modified":"2020-06-12T15:01:59","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:01:59","slug":"abba-kyari-businessperson-and-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2121","title":{"rendered":"Abba Kyari, businessperson and lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Abba Kyari \u2011 a Nigerian businessperson, lawyer, and government official. He served as Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria from August 2015 to April 2020 \u2011 died on the evening of 17 April 2020 at age 67.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Kyari was born on 23 September 1952, to a Kanuri family from Borno. He was educated in St. Paul's College in Wusasa Zaria, and later considered joining the Nigerian Army following advice from Mamman Daura and Ibrahim Tahir. In 1976, he met General Muhammadu Buhari who was then Governor of Borno State.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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He graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Warwick in 1980, and also obtained a law degree from the University of Cambridge. Kyari was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1983 after attending the Nigerian Law School.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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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 in 1992 and 1994 participated in the Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Kyari worked for the law firm Fani-Kayode and Sowemimo for some time after his return to Nigeria.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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From 1988 to 1990, he was Editor with the New Africa Holdings Limited Kaduna. He also served as a Commissioner for Forestry and Animal Resources in Borno State in the 1990s.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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From 1990 to 1995, Kyari was the secretary to the board of the African International Bank Limited, a subsidiary of Bank of Credit and Commerce International.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Kyari was an executive director in charge of management services at the United Bank for Africa, and was later appointed the chief executive officer. In 2002, he was appointed a board director of Unilever Nigeria, and later served on the board of Exxon Mobil Nigeria.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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In August 2015, Kyari was appointed Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Kyari was an influential figure within the Buhari administration. During the administration's first term, he worked mainly behind the scenes to implement the president's agenda. In 2019 with Buhari's re-election for a second term, he ordered his cabinet to channel all requests through Kyari's office. Further enhancing his influence within government circles, and being labelled as the de facto head of government.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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In 2017, following a leaked memo, Kyari became embroiled in a public argument with the Head of Civil Service, who was later removed from office and arrested. In 2020, in another leaked memo, Babagana Monguno the National Security Adviser accused Kyari of meddling in matters of national security.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Kyari was married to the sister-in-law of Ibrahim Tahir, and had four children.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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On 24 March 2020, it was made public that Kyari tested positive for COVID-19 on 23 March, following an official trip to Germany nine days before. There were reports that he had been flown out of the country for treatment, and Reuters later reported he had "a history of medical complications, including diabetes". On 29 March 2020, in an official statement, Kyari announced he was being moved from isolation in Abuja to Lagos for "preventive treatment".<\/p>\r\n\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n\r\n

Kyari died on the evening of 17 April 2020 at age 67. He was eulogised by The Economist as “a largely honourable man who went to the heart of a thoroughly corrupt and dysfunctional system, aiming to reform it—but who struggled to overcome its inertia amid a series of crises.”<\/p>\r\n<\/p>

<\/p>\n \n \n

<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abba Kyari \u2011 a Nigerian businessperson, lawyer, and government official. He served as Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria from August 2015 to April 2020 \u2011 died on the evening of 17 April 2020 at age 67.   Kyari was born on 23 September 1952, to a Kanuri family from Borno. He was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[47,102,7019],"tags":[4648,1088,969],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/imageholder\/uploads\/Abba_Kyari.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1999,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=1999","url_meta":{"origin":2121,"position":0},"title":"S\u00e9kou Kourouma, politician","date":"April 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"S\u00e9kou Kourouma a Guinean politician, political aide and advisor to Guinean President Alpha Cond\u00e9 \u2013 died on April 18 2020. Kourouma held the position of Chief of Staff to President Cond\u00e9, a high-ranking post officially known as the Secretary General of the Government, until his death from COVID-19 in April\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "High Profilers"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8177,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=8177","url_meta":{"origin":2121,"position":1},"title":"Daniel Foster, radio personality","date":"June 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Daniel Foster aka \"the Big Dawg\" and \"Top Dawg\" was an American radio personality based in Nigeria. He died due to complications from Covid-19 on June 17, 2020 Formerly an Idol series judge \u00a0he also held a similar position with the Got Talent franchise. Foster was brought up with his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nigeria"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1593,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=1593","url_meta":{"origin":2121,"position":2},"title":"Jean-Marc Manducher, sports executive","date":"May 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Jean-Marc Manducher a French businessperson and sports executive died on 30 April 2020 in Bourg-en-Bresse at the age of 71 due to COVID-19. Hospitalized in March 2020, Manducher was placed on a ventilator. 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He was serving as a member of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, representing Nasarawa Central constituency, at the time of his death due to COVID-19 in April\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "High Profilers"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9851,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=9851","url_meta":{"origin":2121,"position":4},"title":"Abiola Ajimobi, politician","date":"June 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Isiaka Abiola Adeyemi Ajimobi \u2013 a Nigerian senator \u2013 died from Covid-19 on June 25, 2020. Born on the 16th of December 1949, he was from Oyo State, south-western Nigeria. He was formerly the Managing Director\/Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil and Chemical Marketing Company, a subsidiary of Shell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "High Profilers"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3359,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3359","url_meta":{"origin":2121,"position":5},"title":"Hilary Dwyer, actress, businessperson & film producer","date":"March 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hilary Dwyer aka Hilary Heath \u2011 an English actress, businessperson, and film producer \u2013 passed\u00a0 away after contracting Covid-19 on 30 March 2020. \u00a0 She was best known for her acting roles in films such as Witchfinder General (1968) and Wuthering Heights (1970). She also performed on the London stage.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Noteworthy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2121"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6096,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2121\/revisions\/6096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}