Nigerian newspapers · 20 April 2020
Presidency Bars Attendees of Kyari’s Burial from Villa
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- Attendees to Self Isolate for 14 Days
The Presidency on Sunday insisted on its decision not to allow those who attended the burial of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, access to the Presidential Villa for 14 days.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a series of tweets, said, “This (the directive) is in line with the standard rules put in place by the National Center for Disease Control and the Federal Ministry of Health. You do these things to stop the spread of Coronavirus.
“For the most part, the Villa has operated digitally in the last few weeks, so there is really nothing new to this. There is nothing extraordinary about those of us who attended Abba Kyari’s funeral being advised to distance ourselves from the Villa. This is line with the standard rules put in place by the National Center for Disease Control @NCDCGov and the Federal Ministry of Health... to stop the spread of Coronavirus.” He added.
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The late Chief of Staff, who was buried on Saturday at the Gudu Cemetery in Abuja, died from complications related to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) infection. Despite the Federal Government announcing that the bodies of COVID-19 victims would not be released to their relatives for burial, the late Chief of Staff, who died in a Lagos hospital on Friday, was flown to Abuja on Saturday for his final rites in accordance with Islamic rites. A number of presidency staff including Shehu, were in attendance.
Medical experts had attacked ministers and other dignitaries, who attended Kyari’s burial for not maintaining the social distancing rule. There was outrage particularly on the social media on Saturday, as pictures emerged of mourners thronging Kyari’s prayers and burial site without regard for social distancing to check the spread of coronavirus.
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Those who attended the burial in Abuja on Saturday included National Coordinator COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu; former Governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima; and Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika. Others are the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari; Minister of Communications, Isa Pantami and Garba Shehu.
Others were the Director-General of National Intelligence Agency, Mr. Ahmad Rufai, and Personal Assistant on New Media to President Buhari, Bashir Ahmed, among others. Their presence at the burial ceremonies was said to have violated the strict protocols established by the Nigeria Centre for Diseases Control, NCDC, for interring a COVID-19 victim.
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Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has banned all condolence visits to the residence of the late Chief of Staff and even to the Presidency. The action was to contain the spread of the virus and ensure compliance with the social distancing protocol.
The Deputy Director, Information, State House, Attah Esa, in a statement titled ‘Advisory to State House Correspondents/Media Staff,’ said, “As a precautionary measure, all State House Correspondents and Media Office Staff who covered/attended the funeral prayer/burial ceremony of the late Chief of Staff, at Defence House and Gudu Cemetery Abuja, respectively, are strongly advised to work from home for the next 14 days.”
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There are insinuations linking the alleged internal problems between some highly-placed members of the first family and the late Chief of Staff as the reason behind the action.
However, the presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, debunked this by explaining that stopping those that attended the burial rites from entering the State House was in line with the standard procedures to fight the spread of the dreaded pandemic.