Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Abba Kyari, who tested positive for coronavirus, is dead.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media, Mr Femi Adesina, in the early hours of Saturday said Kyari died on Friday.
The terse statement issued at about 12.48AM on Saturday read:
“The Presidency regrets to announce the passage of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari.
“The deceased had tested positive to the ravaging COVID-19, and had been receiving treatment. But he died on Friday, April 17, 2020.
“May God accept his soul.
“Funeral arrangements will be announced shortly.”
Kyari, who tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after his trip to Germany, went into self-isolation in Abuja where he began treatment for the virus.
He was flown to Lagos from Abuja in an air ambulance on March 30 for further treatment.
In a statement he issued on Sunday March 29 where he said he had followed all the protocols government had announced to self-isolate and quarantine., Kyari announced his movement to Lagos for further tests and observation, on the advice of his doctors as a precautionary measure.
In that statement, he said he had made his own care arrangements to avoid further burdening the public health system, “which faces so many pressures.’
The late Chief of Staff was undergoing treatment at an undisclosed location until his death.