It is not every king who wears a crown and kingship is not limited to those chosen by culture and tradition to sit on thrones. Some people become kings because of their positions. Like them or hate them, their invisible crowns make them command respect. To their subjects, no risk is too much to take for them, even when death comes! It is an honour unrivalled to die if need be for the king!
Enter the most popular of the Abba Kyaris Nigerians have heard of.
The coming of President Muhammadu Buhari into power in 2015 brought Abba Kyari, a former editor of ‘The Democrat’ and top banker, back into the limelight. As a top banker, Kyari dealt with men of influence, but nothing like he saw in his time as Chief of Staff.
On behalf of the president, Kyari visited Germany at a time it was beginning to feel COVID-19’s pang to seal a deal with Siemens. He came home via the United Kingdom and days later it turned out he sealed more than he bargained for during the March trip. He passed on eight days ago and was buried a week ago.
So big was Kyari that no one except himself could confirm he had COVID-19. Presidential spokespersons refused every attempt to get them to confirm the news and a minister pointedly threatened a reporter for rightly interpreting his statement on a presidential aide who tested positive to the virus. The minister was practically screaming that he never mentioned Kyari’s name. It was only after his death that we knew the hospital he received treatment and it was only then that the Lagos State government let us in on a secret that some private hospitals were approved to deal with the virus. We had before then been made to believe private hospitals were not equipped to handle the virus that has made us strangers in our world.
“This hospital is a Lagos State designated high care, biosecurity-compliant, COVID-19 facility, accredited by the Health Facility Management and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA) of the Lagos State Ministry of Health. As a basis for accreditation, First Cardiology Consultants established a separate specialist wing with staff dedicated to the treatment of complicated cases of COVID-19, under the supervision of the Lagos State COVID-19 emergency response team,” the state government said.
Those who received favour in Kyari’s sight are singing his praises, those who did not say he was a member of the cabal First Lady Aisha Buhari spoke about, and those who had no dealing with him are not sure of what to believe. His burial had the trappings of the Yoruba kings of yore. In the years gone by, senior Yoruba obas were not allowed to go to the journey of no return alone. Some aides who had been prepared almost all their lives had to die with him. They were called abobaku.
COVID-19, as we all know, is active even in a dead body, though not like Ebola. Elsewhere bodies are buried without fanfare. That was why Minister of Information Lai Mohammed told us no dead patient of COVID-19 would be released to his family for burial. Kyari was buried by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) but more than family members were in attendance. For Kyari’s sake, why should anyone bother about social distancing? Why should protective gears matter? Why shouldn’t a man touch his body with bare hand? Why should it matter that the grave was not as deep as we saw in other parts of the world? Why should it matter that faithful pray for him shoulder to shoulder before he was lowered into the grave?
I have seen some people complain that the lockdown rules were broken by flying his COVID-19 infected body from Abuja to Lagos. There was also the complaint that he was treated privately at First Cardiology in Ikoyi when others were in isolation centres. Some people are also crying that almost 500 people gathered for the burial. This, they claimed, broke the Federal Government rule that not more than 20 people can gather at a point in time. I also saw a complaint about burying him in a shallow grave in the centre of town. Some even clamoured that everyone at the burial must self-isolate for 14 days after the burial.
I have a simple answer for all these. George Orwell answered it all in ‘Animal Farm’ when he opined that “all animals are equal but some are more equal than the others”. These men who broke all rules to give Kyari their last respects in person were only appreciating his pedigree, his class, his clout and the fact that he should not be treated as a commoner. The great man need not ask; they knew their right.
Unknown to us, some of them, especially the ones who did not attempt to protect themselves, and even the ones who, despite wearing protective clothing, still inappropriately touched their faces, might have elected to be abobaku. Kyari was their king and should get his due by being accompanied on his final journey. We have no right to begrudge them. It is a great honour. When I see a worthy king, I shall gladly accept to be buried alive with him! The only problem is that I doubt the existence of such a king!
Let me drop this before I sign off: The world witnessed the deadly plague so far in 1918. In September of that year, there was to be a parade in Philadelphia. Scientists advised against it because influenza had started killing military men in barracks across the United States but the political authorities did not think there was enough reason not to allow the parade to go on. Newspaper editors refused to print the warning. The parade went on. The paraders, according to John M. Barry in his amazing book ‘The Great Influenza’, stretched at least two miles. “Several hundred thousand people jammed the parade route, crushing against each other to get a better look, the ranks behind shouting encouragement over shoulders and past faces to the brave young men,” he wrote. Two days after the parade, the civilian population started falling victims of the plague because people did not take warning and because the political leadership did not take the lead. It took deaths, deaths and more deaths before those who refused to take heed started singing ‘had I known’.
May we not learn the hard way. Adieu, Abba Kyari. You have played your part and alighted at your bus stop. We all will eventually, but we should not out of sheer stupidity.
Quote – The world witnessed the deadly plague so far in 1918. In September of that year, there was to be a parade in Philadelphia. Scientists advised against it because influenza had started killing military men. Two days after the parade, the civilian population started falling victims of the plague… It took deaths, deaths and more deaths before those who refused to take heed started singing ‘had I known.
•Written By Olukorede Yishau
