Abba Kyari, chief of staff to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and an ardent supporter of state intervention in the economy, has died. He was 67. “The Presidency regrets to announce the passage of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu said Friday on Twitter.
Kyari had been hospitalized in the commercial capital, Lagos, after testing positive for the coronavirus upon his return from a trip to Germany on March 15.
Buhari, 77, tested negative for the coronavirus last month after Kyari’s symptons emerged. The number of infections in Nigeria have doubled to 493, with April 17 recording the highest number of confirmed cases in a day following an increase in testing.
Kyari, who was appointed to the position in 2015, was widely regarded as Buhari’s most trusted adviser and flew to London last year to get Buhari to sign new oil legislation into law, bypassing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and acting as de facto prime minister of Africa’s biggest oil producer.
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news