Reports that some top aides of President Muhammadu Buhari have been denied access into the Presidential Villa in Abuja, after returning from the burial of the late Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, is certainly no complimentary news. The burial at Gudu Cemetery, Abuja, was attended by hundreds of mourners, who failed to observe social distancing, with most of them not wearing face masks. This violated the social distancing rule put in place by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and exposed attendees, including the Presidential aides to the risk of contracting the highly contagious and deadly coronavirus, which claimed Kyari’s life. The charade of Kyari’s burial was a demonstration of the historical impunity of the ruling elite. The breach of protocol was a monumental blunder and a sad commentary for the nation’s current leadership. Such a tragic error and familiar display of hypocrisy amid a nation in lockdown pains was most shocking and unconscionable. President Buhari must therefore hold his close aides and collaborators accountable for the avoidable gaffe and insulting disrespect for extant laws and standards of public decorum by those who should know better.
The affected aides include State House Chief Protocol Officer, Ambassador Lawal Kazaure, Special Assistant to the President, Yusuf Sabiu, a nephew to the President, Musa Haro Daura, and Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, who had announced that the burial would be solemn and strictly private. Others are National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, Director-General of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmad Rufai, and Personal Assistant on New Media to President Buhari, Bashir Ahmed, among others. Curiously, among the attendees were cabinet ministers and members of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, including Boss Mustapha; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), who chairs the Covid-19 task force.
In utter shock and disbelief, Nigerians lockdown in their homes, watched on live television, how the remains of Kyari were buried, and the carnival-like atmosphere of the burial. It was in complete and total disregard of Covid-19 prevention directives and the NCDC laid down guidelines for dealing with coronavirus corpses, titled: “Interim Guidelines for the Safe Management of a Dead Body.” To begin with, Kyari’s evacuation from the government-owned Gwagalada isolation center in Abuja for treatment in a private hospital in Lagos was a violation of extant rules. Besides, the airlift of his coronavirus-laden corpse back to Abuja; the hundreds of mourners at the funeral without social distancing; the use of unprofessional undertakers who didn’t even know what they were dealing with; and the failure of all attendees to self-isolate after the shameful and dismal outing, all violated NCDC guidelines and Buhari’s own directives locking down Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states which went into effect just three days earlier.
At a time when strict compliance was most cogent and being preached worldwide, it was wrong to convey the impression to the Nigerian public that the laws and regulations, including presidential directives on a public health emergency do not apply to members of the ruling class or affiliates of those in the corridors of power. Such unacceptable recalcitrance cannot but raise certain important posers: What was so particular about the case of Kyari to warrant a state funeral three days after the President had in a national broadcast announced the lockdown of Abuja, Lagos and contiguous Ogun state, to underscore the severity of the public health emergency? How could all the president’s men, led by Boss Mustapha be so ignorant of the standard practices of Covid-19 pandemic? Was it that they didn’t believe in the threat or the containment measures which they preach daily on national television or they just didn’t care about the potential risks to the entire nation? Most importantly, why should Nigerians continue to trust their directives on this coronavirus pandemic?
It is just as well that the funeral spectacle has been condemned by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), which called on the NCDC to trace and place on 14-day quarantine; every one of the mammoth crowd at Kyari’s funeral and all those who have come in contact with them.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, singled out Boss Mustapha for strong condemnation. The group said: “Whilst we join the rest of the country in sending our condolences to the bereaved family members of the late Chief of Staff and also send our sincerest condolences to President Muhammadu Buhari on the loss of his able lieutenant, we wish to remind government that good governance standards ought to be complied with totally and unreservedly at all times by all and sundry in Nigeria…
“For the sake of public safety and public good, we urge the Presidential task force chairman, who is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, to self-isolate for 14 days and for the NCDC to trace and send to the isolation center; hundreds of persons who attended the burial of the Chief of Staff in clear violation of the extant laws regulating conduct of funerals during the health emergency, brought upon us by the rampaging Coronavirus… Government must be seen to follow to the letter all the well thought out regulations mapped out for public good at this time, pending relaxation of the lockdown order by the Federal Government…,” the rights group added.
Amid a hailstorm of public condemnation, the SGF, Boss Mustapha has since apologized for the recklessness. The Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 also tendered an apology for its members’ indiscretion and poor handling of Kyari’s funeral. But expressing remorse without being contrite cannot atone for the unforced errors from people to whom much has been given; and from whom much is expected. It is also not enough to ostracize and bar the presidential aides from the Presidential Villa. Those who violated NCDC guidelines and presidential directives on public health emergency committed crimes that have attendant punishments. The 1926 Quarantine Act that Buhari used to declare the lockdown carries a penalty of N200 or six months jail term. Since the law has not be repealed or amended, all presidential aides and government officials who violated the Act should face trial and jailed to serve as deterrence.
The expeditious trial of popular Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele and her husband Abdul Rasheed Bello, known as JJC Skillz, by the Lagos State government for holding a party in their Lagos mansion during the Covid-19 lockdown is a good precedent. As well as a fine of $260, the couple was ordered to do 14 days of community service stipulating that they should both visit 10 important public places within Lagos state to educate the public on the consequences of violating the Covid-19 restrictions. They were also told to submit the names and contact details of everyone who attended the event. The video of the event, posted online was widely condemned for setting the wrong example, especially as Akindele had appeared in an NCDC video to raise awareness about Covid-19. Similar violations by the president’s men should not be treated differently. They deserve to be punished. Buhari must read the riot act to all the president’s men. Indeed, that is the only way to reclaim the moral authority to order the lockdown of Nigeria that has been diminished by the Kyari funeral debacle. Only that way, can Mr. President at least demonstrate to Nigerians, especially public office holders that Nigeria in 2020 is not George Orwell’s Animal Farm where “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.”
