Atiku Abubakar mourns death of Abba Kyari

Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has taken to the popular microblogging site, Twitter, to mourn the passing of Abba Kyari.

The news of the death of the former Nigerian Chief of Staff to Buhari(until death), was disclosed in a tweet by the President's media aide, Garba Shehu.

MyNigeria.com gathered that he died Friday, April 17, 2020, after a long battle with coronavirus.

The former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, tweeted "Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un. I am saddened by the death of Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari. May Allah SWT comfort his family, forgive his sins and grant him AlJannah Firdaus. Ameen."

Kyari was diagnosed with the deadly coronavirus on March 24th and has been in Lagos further treatment after his health situation got worse.

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.

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.