Abba Kyari, a single-minded patriot -Fashola

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


In a statement, last night in Abuja, Fashola said:  ‘’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.”