...Buhari, Saraki, el-Rufai mourn
The former military governor of North Central State, Brigadier-General Abba Kyari, died Sunday night.
He was buried yesterday at the Apo cemetery in Abuja in accordance with the Islamic rites.
Born in 1938, he was the military governor of the now defunct North Central State -now Kaduna and Kastina States during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon.
The funeral prayer was held at the National Mosque in Abuja after Zuhr prayer. He was buried at the Apo cemetery.
Among those that attended the burial were the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; Governors of Borno and Kaduna, Kashim Shettima and Nasir El-rufai respectively; Senator Danjuma Goje; retired Admiral Murtala Nyako; retired General Abdurahman Danbazau; Colonel Mailmalari and the Minister of Water Resources, Sulaiman Adamu.
The late Brigadier General Abba Kyari attended Borno Middle School andBarewa College, Zaria. In 1959, he enlisted in the Nigerian Army as an Officer Cadet. He attended the 12th Regular Officers’ Training School, Teshie, Accra, Ghana (March 1959 - September 1959) and then the Mons Officer Cadet School, Aldershot, England from October 1959 to March 1960.
He held various appointments in the army, including Platoon Commander and then Transport Offices in the 1 Brigade Transport Company, Secondin-Command and then Commander in the Nigerian Army Artillery, commander of 1 Brigade, Kaduna and Commanding Officer 5th Battalion, Nigerian Army, Kano.
After his retirement, he led the northern delegates to the 1994 National Constitutional Conference, and was appointed Chairman of the National Defence Committee of the conference. He was later appointed to the board of directors of First Bank of Nigeria, Standard Alliance Insurance and Merchant Bank of Commerce. He became chairman of Gamah Flour Mills and of Alif Engineering and Construction.
President Muhammadu Buhari Sunday evening mourned Kyari, saying “we are extremely saddened by the news of General Abba Kyari’s passing away, an officer and a gentleman for whom we have a lot respect.”
Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki described the late Kyari as a wise elder statesman; a fine officer; and a patriotic Nigerian who always put the country first.
Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, in a message of condolence to Kyari’s family, described the late elder statesman as a shining star of his generation.