“A public officer should have both the grounding and the compassion to carry the common sense and the goodwill of the people into the political arena” – Amy Klobuchar
The office of Chief of Staff to the President is part of our military carry over which was strengthened further by United States from where we copied the Presidential system of government. The immensity of the office is usually determined by two variables, the occupant of the position and the kind of Principal he works with.
Harvard business Review in a recent publication summed up the role of a Chief of Staff as “serving as an air traffic controller for the leader and the senior team; as an integrator connecting work streams that would otherwise remain siloed; as a communicator linking the leadership team and the broader organization; as an honest broker and truth teller when the leader needs a wide-ranging view without turf considerations; and as a confidant without an organizational agenda.
In our clime it means exactly what its name says, the chief of all the staff, or the number one staff in the Presidency.
Mallam Abba Kyari dying in office has not really made his position so unique, what has created the entire buzz on him since his demise is more or less how he ran the office for five years. He was so powerful that nobody ever contemplated death for somebody like that. The enigma in him was further underscored when the President after four years added to his portfolios by directing all Ministers to submit their memos or documents meant for him to the chief of staff.
This addition automatically conferred on him the status of a coordinating Minister. He was even seen by many as the de facto President, an invincible man with all powers and the nation felt it. For him therefore to die of the Coronavirus further raises the bar of the weirdness of living and dying.
Christians and Muslims in this country are unanimous that when death comes to a person it must have been as God designed it. But as humans we still go putting our own innuendoes. Kyari’s death has come with a lot of such oblique remarks regarding why he died. Was it pressure from the office? Was it karma like consequences arising from his call of duty?
Some critical watchers say that if COVID-19 contributed to his death, corruption should not be excluded also because he superintendent over a clinic that had budget allocation of over N12b in three years but lacked the basic medics to treat him resulting in his being flown to Lagos where he eventually died. But all these idiosyncrasies did not mean much to those who were close to Kyari in his life time. The President said he was the best of them all, what an overwhelming testimonial from a boss. The Minister of Foreign Affairs a long-time friend of him, Geoffrey Onyeama says he was everything a good man could be and that he detested corruption. Onyeama tried hard to paint him as patriotic and detribalized. One Barrister Mustapha said in his Facebook page that he was an uncommon philanthropist who was catering for over 150 orphans. Even the loquacious Fani Kayode a known enemy of the regime although a classmate and bar mate of Kyari described him in some ornate words. But if you are holding a conspicuous office as the Chief of Staff to the President the real take home testimonial is not from friends and other beneficiaries from you but from those directly affected by your actions and inactions while in the service.
Governor Babangana Zulmun of Borno state mournfully and expectedly described Kyari the son of the soil as a good man who was thoroughly misunderstood. But the question is, should public officers be misunderstood by the public they are serving. Why should a public officer wait for death before their good deeds are rolled out or before they can be understood by the people they served?
But why should Kyari not be misunderstood, at death he had three birthdates in public domain. Even the almighty Wikipedia didn’t have the correct age. Wikipedia said he was born in 1938, most media picked this especially coming from the authoritative Internet profiler to say he was 81 years, others said he was 71 years and President Buhari who should know said 67 years, a position his family and friends have adopted.
For a man with such enviable educational background and with such accomplishments in life, various executive positions, director in various blue chip firms, why should his date of birth be controversial? Is he not the one who caused this mix-up?
Even yours sincerely who shared an alumnus with him in THISDAY Newspapers where he worked briefly as director in non-editorial capacity, still I could not find this information in his profile anywhere.
If the extrovert Kano state Commissioner of Works, Muaz Magaji who celebrated his death and lost his job as a result understood Kyari the way his friends and associates want us to do today would he have reacted the way he did?
The truth which most people are shying away from is that Kyari was an overwhelming personality who did his job well to the satisfaction of his boss who has landed him as the best. His style, and interest tallied well with that of his Principal and they congealed well. Adding to his portfolio after four years amid protests even from within was a clear endorsement of his style. If President’s administration is accused of nepotism in his regime with empirical instances, if a government is seen as not being responsive to the challenges of the populace and a strategic staff is being fingered as key to these unpopular decisions and rather than drop him, he got promoted, need we deny his obvious influence? If a man is a cherished chief servant to a President and the wife of the President boldly and publicly labels him as number one problem of the government, is that man not a conundrum to be able swerve the President from his heartthrob?
The prayer has always been for bad leaders to outlive their job and have the opportunity of seeing their errors and making corrections. Kyari certainly was not misunderstood by Nigerians. They found him the man who was strategic and critical to every decisions of this government. They saw him as he was the door you must learn to open to have access to the President. They associated him fittingly with the President in everything positive or negative, if the negatives overwhelmed the positives so were Kyari’s lots.
Three leaked memos to the President, from Governor Nasir El rufai of Kaduna state, from the former Minister of state for Petroleum Ibe Kachikwu and the latest from the National Security Adviser, General Babagana Munguno says it all the overwhelming personality of Kyari in the corridor of power. Nobody who crossed his way had his or her way, the case of the former Head of Service of the Federation Winifred Oyo-Ita is fresh, and how she got entangled for refusing to facilitate Kyari’s agenda of smuggling in a corrupt fugitive Abdulhareem Maina into office. Can we even in assessing the huge influence of Kyari ignore his battle with the First Lady for which he still had his way?. The recipient of the most bizarre and unacceptable Supreme Court Judgement, the Imo state governorship case, Hope Uzodinma just declared openly that late Kyari contributed in making him Governor, need we say more. Service rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served especially when a servant is associated with all unpopular decisions of government.
But in all these one fact must be established and that is that Kyari was merely a servant carrying directives of his principal. The bulk does not stop on his table. If his principal out of laziness or finding his servant doing exactly what he desired and gives him the freedom, should he be crucified after all he did not ask for our votes, the principal did and ‘got’ it. Even if it was clear that he stepped beyond his bounds, as was the case with the NSA and Kachikwu, what did the principal do?
However, something good must be said of this man who was well lettered, Kyari was an epitome of loyalty and dedication to duty. Even if he was corrupt he was not loud with his loot as many do to have endangered the society. He may not have been a good integrator in a diverse environment like ours, but he was not careless with words. That is why with all his education he has no recorded quotable quotes anywhere.
At this moment however what is important really for Kyari is what he is before his creator as humans are not qualified to judge his trespasses. He ran and finished his race, may his soul be granted mercy in paradise-Amen.
