Aisha Kyari, eldest daughter of the late Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, has said that her father never had as much political influence as many Nigerians thought.
She stated this in a tribute published on Monday on ThisDay newspaper titled ‘My daddy, my best friend’.
Kyari died on April 17 of complications arising from the coronavirus.
Aisha wrote that her father was a simple man whose needs were basic.
“My dad had almost everything that most people yearned for. Professional success, financial security – his needs were basic – and towards the end, political influence albeit nowhere near as much as many Nigerians think,” she wrote.
“But the true measure of a man particularly in the eyes of God is in his kindness, selflessness, loyalty, generosity, and humility. And with all these virtues as yardsticks, he truly was immeasurable.”
She also wrote: “…My dad as Chief of Staff was an accomplished javelin catcher. But he was also much more than that. He was also a lightning conductor, bomb-proof and bullet-proof vest combined. For many Nigerians, if waves from the Atlantic Ocean claimed an inch of Victoria Island, they were sent by Abba Kyari or if a child fell off his bicycle, it was Abba Kyari!”
Kyari was severally criticised and fingered as a strongman in President Muhammadu Buhari’s inner cycle.
Aisha said she was among several others who unsuccessfully tried to get her father to “respond to the more preposterous and spurious allegations but he never did.”
She also revealed that her father never learnt how to drive.
“This may sound odd but my beloved daddy couldn’t drive a car! He never learnt how to drive for a day in his entire life,” she wrote.
Aisha had recently lashed out at her father’s critics, saying they should allow his family mourn him ‘in peace’.
