Abba Kyari Was A Patriot – Fashola

Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola has come out to describe the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mallam Abba Kyari as a single-minded patriot.

Fashola revealed that Kyari was very misunderstood and often maligned as he discharged his duties but he was a feisty patriot.

According to him, the deceased executed President Buhari’s vision with his own single-mindedness and he took a lot of comfort from the things he said when his actions were seen in another light.

He added like a lot of us, Abba was flawed but he was never conceited and even if they had their disagreement, he never found Abba disagreeable.

His words, “As the inks flow in tributes to Abba Kyari by those who loved and despised him, let us not forget that Abba was much misunderstood and often maligned. Wherever you stood then and stand now, let us not forget that Abba was a patriot.

He executed President Buhari’s vision with his own single mindedness. One of his favourite quotes was credited to Jeff Immelt, to the effect that ‘The job looks easy when you are not the one doing it.’ He seemed to take a lot of comfort from these words when his actions were misunderstood.

I bear testimony to his dedicated execution of the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, PIDE, Initiative, which guaranteed funding to cash strapped projects like the Second Niger Bridge, the Abuja-Kano Highway, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Mambilla Hydro Project and the East–West Road, at monthly meetings we held to review progress with contractors.

“Like all of us, Abba was flawed but he was not conceited. He was driven by conviction and never shied from an intellectual argument, because his intellect was vast. We disagreed but I never found Abba disagreeable. Now that he has paid the supreme price in the service of the fatherland, one good way we can honour Abba’s service and memory is to continue where he stopped.”