ABUJA, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Abba Kyari, one of the closest advisers to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, died Friday after contracting the novel coronavirus, becoming the highest-profile casualty of the virus in Africa’s biggest economy.
Buhari named Kyari, a former chief executive officer of United Bank for Africa Plc, as his chief of staff in August 2015, and renewed his appointment after winning a second term in office.
Behind the scenes, he was regarded as one of the powerful politicians in the country of more than 200 million people.
Kyari tested positive for the virus after returning from an official trip to Germany, the presidency said in a statement. He was transferred from the capital Abuja to Lagos for medical care.
Hailing from the northeastern state of Borno, Kyari had worked at companies including Unilever Nigeria Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Nigerian unit, and held degrees from the University of Cambridge and University of Warwick in law and sociology.
“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,” a statement from spokesman Garba Shehu read in part.
The national tally as at 10:00 pm 17th April stood at 493 confirmed cases. Out of which fifty-one were new cases: the breakdown of which were as follows – 32 in Lagos, 6 in Kano, 5 in Kwara, two each in Oyo, FCT and Katsina, one each in Ogun and Ekiti.
There are 159 discharges and death toll stands at 17. Kano with today’s figures consolidates its third spot. The number of affected states still stands at 20 out of 36.
Separately, security forces enforcing the lockdown in parts of Nigeria have killed more people than coronavirus itself, a local rights group says.
Evidence of the killings comes from members of the public who rang their hotline or sent in videos, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) adds.
It says law enforcers have killed 18 people in Nigeria since lockdowns began on March 30.
Coronavirus has killed 17 people, according to health ministry data.
In its report about Nigeria’s coronavirus lockdown period, the NHRC, a government agency, said it had found “8 separate incidents of extrajudicial killings leading to 18 deaths”.
Nigerian security forces have not responded to the NHRC’s report.
But earlier this month, Nigeria’s police force encouraged citizens to report officers who violate rules on conduct adding “the rights of Nigerians are not infringed upon under any pretext”.
