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Abba Kyari: Why we barred attendees at burial from State House — Presidency

Per Second NewsApril 19, 20201 Mins read894

…orders them to proceed on self-isolation

The Presidency says it barred officials and journalists including the presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, who attended the burial of the late Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari, from entering the State House for them to proceed on self-isolation.

It said on Sunday that barring them by security officials was the standard protocol.

PerSecondnews recalls that Kyari died on Saturday morning while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Lagos after he tested positive for Coronavirus after his return from Germany on an official assignment.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, gave the explanation on his verified Twitter account @GarShehu.

“There is nothing extraordinary about those of us who attend Abba Kyari’s funeral being advised to distance ourselves from the Villa.

“This is in line with the standard rules put in place by the National Center for Disease Control, @NCDCgov and the Federal Ministry of Health. You do these things to stop the spread of #Coronavirus.

“For the most part, the Villa has operated digitally in the last few weeks so there is really nothing new to this.”

According to him, those who attended the event were supposed to proceed on self-isolation immediately after the ceremonies.

Shehu, also responding to journalists’ question, said: “It is true. It’s nothing that anyone should be angry about. They were just obeying rules.

“We have all attended the burial of a close friend in this season, anyone will know that after such occasion, you are meant to proceed on self-isolation. So what happened was standard protocol.

“If you observed, we have mostly been working digitally, most of our works have been done digitally, in observance of the social distance advice.”