The Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, says shutting him out of the Aso Rock presidential villa after attending the funeral of the late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, is no big deal.
Kyari was laid to rest at the Gudu cemetery in Abuja on Saturday, April 18, 2020, Nigerians were left fuming at the number of dignitaries who showed up at the cemetery to bid Kyari farewell.
Top presidential aides have been barred from the villa after flouting NCDC guidelines
There was little regard for social distancing at the funeral, a scenario that was not lost on social media users who wondered why there was even a crowd at the cemetery.
Among the crowd that thronged the cemetery to pay last respects to Kyari was presidency spokesperson Shehu.
Shehu would go on to ironically deliver a lecture on obeying health protocols like ‘social distancing’ during a contagious pandemic–at the funeral.
“The burial at Gudu cemetery was attended by a large crowd – most of whom had no nose masks or hand gloves on them for protection against coronavirus.”
Online news platform Sahara Reporters had reported that “some top aides” of the president were denied access to the presidential villa in Abuja “after returning from the burial of late Chief of Staff to Buhari, Abba Kyari, on Saturday.
The report would go on to list the top aides who were shut out of the nation’s number one address for attending the funeral as “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 Garba Shehu.”
