Abba Kyari: Speaking ill of the Dead by Remi Oyeyemi.

"The evil that men do live after them." -- William Shakespeare.
I am aware that this is breaking with the conventional wisdom. I am conscious that this is a rebuke of tradition. I am not oblivious to the fact that it is against the norm. I am not unaware that this is not in tune with the mainstream. I am aware some would loath me for it. Some would deride me. Others would call me names. Those who really never liked my guts, would have this reinforced it for them. But those who have the objective ability to see things the way they are and are able to call them as exactly as they should, would see some sense in this.

The idea of not speaking ill of the dead is not a good idea, especially if the dead person did nothing deserving of praise. The idea of praising the dead, regardless if the dead, during his or her life was mean spirited, greedy, selfish, inconsiderate, odiously acquisitive, ruthless and disdainful, is totally unacceptable. It is wrong and should be done away with. We should be able to say exactly what kind of person someone was during his or her life. I have been reading in the media unbelievable eulogies about the late Chief of Staff to President Mohammadu Buhari, Mr. Abba Kyari. I have been reading some hypocritical praise - singing of this man who, to many Nigerians who celebrated his infliction a couple of weeks back, was no less a monster, because he has become the casualty of the Coronavirus 19. I have read from those who hated him saying embarrassingly 'nice' things about him. What a fraud. What a dishonesty.

It is a sad day when people cascade into casual casuistry with unbridled audacity. It is an act of deliberate undermining of the societal values to heap praises on someone whose remains ought to be used to cast away evils from the entire society. To project a mean - spirited public office holder as a saint when he is not, is a sin in itself.

I take serious objection to the rain of praise that has been raining down on the corpse of the late Abba Kyari. Though, this is a matter of choice to which we are all entitled depending on the way we see it. In my own view, Kyari is not deserving of any praise whatsoever. It is alright for President Buhari to cry himself hoarse. Kyari was his Chief of Staff and his relative. It is okay for his goons in Aso Rock, his partners in crime to weep without end. It is okay for those who are beneficiaries of his corrupt practices, his impunities to gnash their teeth to numb. It is their loss. His immediate and extended family members reserve the inalienable rights to mourn him infinitely and indefinitely.

I also believe that it is alright for the rest of us who are victims of the first family and their collaborators in Aso Rock, to acknowledge the loss of a soul, not because of any other reason other than the fact that we are all human beings. And this is where it ought to end. No more, no less.
For those who are Buhari's sycophants and who still hope to benefit from the misery he is visiting on Nigeria, it might be acceptable to them to shed their crocodile tears even if they really did not like the man when he was alive. They are welcome to do so.

Here is a man, who never got a single vote, whether rigged or not, from the Nigerian people, but who hijacked the executive powers of the Presidency. He held Nigeria and Nigerians to ransom since 2015. He rode roughshod over the people of this country. He appropriated all the appurtenances of power for his personal idiosyncrasies.

Abba Kyari never cared. He never gave a damn. Yes, he did not give a damn how many Nigerians died. He did not care how many Nigerians went hungry. He did not care how much injustice was perpetrated. He did not give a damn how many innocent Nigerians were murdered. He did not give a damn how many Nigerians were chased off their ancestral lands. He did not care how many of our daughters were raped. He did not give a damn how many were maimed by his tribesmen.
He was a perniciously greedy soul. He was remorseless in his ways. The 500 million naira bribe he took from the MTN was emblematic of his innate rapacity. It was emblematic of his bloated edacity. He appointed himself to the Board of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). It was the first time in the History of Nigeria for an incumbent Chief of Staff. It was against the norm of decency and restraint. It was impunity at its worst.

Kyari relentlessly harassed the Vice President, licentiously anchoring Professor Osinbajo's deliberate disempowerment.  He unabashedly intimidated the Ministers and prevented them from meaningful collaboration with the man who appointed them, or whom he helped appointed. With a mien akin to that of a dove, he was a heinous hawk, a vicious vulture that is egregious and atrocious in its debauchery and cupidity.

He was mindless and mean. He was cruel and cold. He was crude and callous. His greed was congenital. His insouciance encrypted his guiled mendacity. He was hung up on power hunkering. He had disdain for the rules. Like his principal, Buhari, he believed and acted above the law. His arrogance was horrifying. His condescension, sardonically sickening in the way and manner he exercised unmerited power.

Yes, the idea of not speaking ill of the dead is a VERY WRONG one, especially if that dead person never did anything to deserve it. If this practice was to continue, it means every criminal in our midst should look forward to being praised after he/she was dead regardless of the crimes committed. This would also mean a genuine disincentive for those who strive to do positive things and improve their communities.

It is very important to ensure that dead people's memories be imbued with their acts of omissions and commissions when they were alive. It is an act of injustice to arrogate false achievements, fake qualities to monstrous figures more notorious for their kleptomania as they gallivant through the inner rooms of power.

Hopefully, when I die, people would have the unburnished courage to say exactly what they feel about me and not deodorize my omissions and imperfections. Hopefully, those who would feel the need to mourn me would not see the need to be hypocritical and dishonest in their elegies. In all this, what became clearer is the vanity of vanity itself. It brought to the fore the cliché popularized by the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State in the early 1980s, "...vanity upon vanity, all is vanity." It underscores the ephemeralness of not just power, but of all things that are human, except our deeds. This probably informed William Shakespeare's ageless rumination captured in the   phrase, " The evil that men do live after them."

We should not praise villains when they are dead. It is a great disincentive to those who labored to be above board and did the right thing. You don't have to agree   with me. You don't have to like me. Please, don't like me, just respect the truth.

“The world tells us to seek success, power and money; God tells us  to seek humility, service and love.”  -  Pope Francis.

Nigerians in the Diasporas that have Died of COVID-19.

May their gentle souls rest in perfect peace. And may God, in his infinite mercies, console the loved ones they left behind.

African Elites who Seek Treatment Abroad are now Grounded.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic could narrow one gaping inequality in Africa, where some heads of state and other elite jet off to Europe or Asia for health care unavailable in their nations. As countries including their own impose dramatic travel restrictions, they might have to take their chances at home.

For years, leaders from Benin to Zimbabwe have received medical care abroad while their own poorly funded health systems limp from crisis to crisis. Several presidents, including ones from Nigeria, Malawi and Zambia, have died overseas.

The practice is so notorious that a South African health minister, Aaron Motsoaledi, a few years ago scolded, “We are the only continent that has its leaders seeking medical services outside the continent, outside our territory. We must be ashamed.”

Now a wave of global travel restrictions threatens to block that option for a cadre of aging African leaders. More than 30 of Africa's 57 international airports have closed or severely limited flights, the U.S. State Department says. At times, flight trackers have shown the continent's skies nearly empty.

Perhaps “COVID-19 is an opportunity for our leaders to reexamine their priorities,” said Livingstone Sewanyana of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, which has long urged African countries to increase health care spending.

But that plea has not led to action, even as the continent wrestles with major crises including deadly outbreaks of Ebola and the scourges of malaria and HIV.

Spending on health care in Africa is roughly 5% of gross domestic product, about half the global average. That's despite a pledge by African Union members in 2001 to spend much more. Money is sometimes diverted to security or simply pilfered, and shortages are common.

Ethiopia had just three hospital beds per 10,000 people in 2015, according to World Health Organization data, compared to two dozen or more in the U.S. and Europe. Central African Republic has just three ventilators in the entire country. In Zimbabwe, doctors have reported doing bare-handed surgeries for lack of gloves.

Health experts warn that many countries will be overwhelmed if the coronavirus spreads, and it is already uncomfortably close. Several ministers in Burkina Faso have been infected, as has a top aide to Nigeria’s president. An aide to Congo's leader died.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and lead to death.

“If you test positive in a country, you should seek care in that country,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. John Nkengasong, told reporters Thursday. "It’s not a death sentence."

In Nigeria, some worried their president might be among the victims. Long skittish about President Muhammadu Buhari's absences from public view, including weeks in London for treatment for unspecified health problems, they took to Twitter to ask why he hadn’t addressed the nation as virus cases rose.

Buhari's office dismissed speculation about his whereabouts as unfounded rumor. When he did emerge Sunday night, he announced that all private jet flights were suspended. The international airports were already closed.

While the travel restrictions have grounded the merely wealthy, political analyst Alex Rusero said a determined African leader probably could still find a way to go abroad for care.

“They are scared of death so much they will do everything within their disposal, even if it's a private jet to a private hospital in a foreign land,” said Rusero, who is based in Zimbabwe, whose late President Robert Mugabe often sought treatment in Asia.

Perhaps nowhere is the situation bleaker than in Zimbabwe, where the health system has collapsed. Even before the pandemic, patients’ families were often asked to provide essentials like gloves and clean water. Doctors last year reported using bread bags to collect patients' urine.

Zimbabwe’s vice president, Constantino Chiwenga, departed last month for unrelated medical treatment in China, as the outbreak eased in that country. Zimbabwe closed its borders days later after its first virus death.

Chiwenga has since returned — to lead the country's coronavirus task force.

But some in a new generation of African leaders have been eager to show sensitivity to virus-prevention measures.

The president of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, initially defied his country’s restrictions on travel by government employees to visit neighboring Namibia for its leader’s inauguration. But he entered self-quarantine and now reminds others to stay home, calling it "literally a matter of life and death.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced he had tested negative, just ahead of a three-week lockdown in Africa's most developed country. Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has as well.

Other leaders, including Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, have tweeted images of themselves working via video conference as countries encourage people to keep their distance.

While African leaders are more tied to home than ever, their access to medical care is still far better than most of their citizens'.

In Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, medical student Franck Bienvenu Zida was self-isolating and worried after having contact with someone who tested positive.

The 26-year-old feared infecting people where he lives, but his efforts to get tested were going nowhere. In three days of calling an emergency number to request a test, he could not get through.

Associated Press writers Sam Mednick in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, contributed to this report.

May God Save us from the Corona virus Pandemic in Africa.

Rome is shut. Mecca is shut to outsiders. Israel doesn’t want pilgrims too. The devil is here.

Churches and Mosques in Nigeria are closing. Big churches have been told to shut their doors and save their members. The devil has arrived. And this devil is not fooling around. The prophets are humble. The anointing oil and holy water are perhaps not effective against the virus. The world is running helter-skelter. No one has issued a Fatwa lately. One would have thought that this virus which has decimated Iran has blasphemed against God too much.

And talking about Iran, the supreme leader has become a dove. The virus struck close the seat of power. Iran is no longer ashamed to beg for an IMF loan. If the reports are correct then this single virus has set 50,000 prisoners in Iran free. Once the virus steps into any prison, the government will fret and throw prison doors open.

Now can you imagine Kirikiri prisoners told to go on leave, just like that?

Donald Trump now says it’s a war. A few weeks ago he said it was a hoax. America has guns but it doesn’t have enough test kits and it’s running out of hospital beds. So some patients in the United States who have tested positive to the deadly virus have been asked to go home to their families and come back only when they are critically ill. They will stay in their homes until they experience more severe symptoms.

So you see this thing we are doing in Yaba is monkey post stuff. When the match begins, Yaba will cave in.

In Italy, hospitals are filled to the brim. Hospital laundries and garages have been converted towards. Italy lacked the muscle, couldn’t pull the stunt of China and build a 1000 bed hospital in a week. Thousands have died. Thousands are dying. The streets are ghostly.

Spain and France and Germany are united that deathly miserableness. Cities and their magnificence have been abandoned. The devil is around. Europe is falling apart.

The virus has upended the economy of the world. Stock markets have fallen off cliffs. No one can see the bottom. Saudi Arabia and Russia are playing with fire. Oil prices have tumbled to 20 dollars a barrel. And experts say they could go lower than 15. In other words, Nigeria could soon be paying people to take her oil.

Nigeria has 50 crude oil cargoes loitering the seas. No one is buying. Airlines are drowning. No one is flying. Hotels are shutting down. Cars are off the road. People no longer need crude oil.

Soon there might just be no FAAC. Governors will come to Abuja and go back empty-handed. Ekiti and Yobe could have nothing at the end of May or June. Don’t ask me what will happen.

Don’t even ask me what will happen if the virus chooses to spread in Nigeria.

This virus, like a true demon, is poorly understood. America doesn’t have enough test kits and gowns, so we can’t have enough. Without gowns and masks, our doctors will abscond once they are overwhelmed. Italy said it ran short of Oxygen. And Italy has one of the best medical expertise in Europe. So let’s not try to imagine a worst-case scenario in Nigeria. Our situation is better not imagined.

No one can tell why our president is shy of addressing the nation. This president doesn’t use marabouts. And he watches television. So why can’t he see he has to rally a nervous nation.

Once the virus begins to spread, doctors become exposed. Many doctors will be quarantined and others will be hospitalized. The morale of the medical workforce will fall. It will take a huge infusion of patriotism to mobilize imperilled health workers and keep them working without sleep.

When whole towns are shut in Europe and China people suffer. In those places, they do online shopping and house deliveries for groceries. In America, shopping malls have run out of basic goods. In Nigeria, our society is still rural. When a town is shut and its markets are closed how would the ordinary people feed? How can you prepare for a shut down in a place where over 180 million live hand-to-mouth, and have no stable electric power to store foods?

Coronavirus please spare Africa. We suffered in the hands of racists and slave traders. We suffered in the hands of colonial masters. We have suffered in the hands of bad leaders. We have had more than our share of suffering in existence. We will bear the brunt of the imminent world economic collapse. Because we feed off crumbs in grants and loans.

We can’t stand the tsunami that visited Wuhan and Italy. If Italy happens in Lagos, people will simply run away. Without masks and gowns, the doctors will disappear. How many hospital beds exist in Lagos of 20 million folks? How many respirators work in Nigeria? Lagos can’t even shut itself down. It can’t.

So what can we do?

We can do scrupulous personal hygiene and aggressive social distancing. Wash hands always and keep them away from the orifices. Shut all schools, churches, weddings, funerals etc in deference to the virus and its virulence. Perhaps if the virus sees us and our good behaviour it might pass us by.

If we are beseeching God and the virus to be merciful, then we must urge all loudmouthed religious clerics to pocket their tongues for a few months. This is March 2020. They didn’t see it. They should leave us with God, our doctors and the virus, please.

By Dr Ugoji Egbujo.

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What to do if the Corona Virus Strikes.

Good Advice from a Nurse:

So what I have seen a lot of, are recommendations for how to try to avoid getting coronavirus in the first place -- good hand washing, personal hygiene and social distancing.

But what I have NOT seen a lot of, is advice for what happens if you actually get it, which many of us will. So as your friendly neighborhood Nurse let me make some suggestions.

You basically just want to prepare as though you know you’re going to get a nasty respiratory bug, like bronchitis or pneumonia. You just have the foresight to know it’s coming!

Things you should actually buy ahead of time (not sure what the obsession with toilet paper is?): Kleenex, Paracetamol Ibuprofen (Advil), whatever your generic mucus thinning cough medicine of choice is (check the label and make sure you're not doubling up on Paracetamol) Honey and lemon can work just as well! Vick vaporub for your chest is also a great suggestion.

If you don’t have a humidifier, that would be a good thing to buy and run in your room when you go to bed overnight. (You can also just turn the shower on hot and sit in the bathroom breathing in the steam). If you have a history of asthma and you have a prescription inhaler, make sure the one you have isn’t expired and refill it/get a new one if it is.

This is also a good time to meal prep: make a big batch of your favorite soup to freeze and have on hand. Stock up on whatever your favorite clear fluids are to drink - though tap water is fine you may appreciate some variety.

For symptom management, use the meds mentioned. For a fever over 101, alternate Paracetamol and Ibuprofen so you’re taking a dose of one then the other every 3 hours.

Hydrate (drink!) hydrate hydrate! Rest lots. You should not be leaving your house! Even if you are feeling better may will still be infectious for fourteen days and older people and those with existing health conditions should be avoided! Ask friends and family to leave supplies outside to avoid contact.

You DO NOT NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL unless you are having trouble breathing or your fever is very high (over 103.5) and unmanaged with meds. 90% of healthy adult cases thus far have been managed at home with basic rest/hydration/over-the-counter meds. If you are worried or in distress or feel your symptoms are getting worse, ring 111 and they will advise if you need to go to hospital. The hospital beds will be used for people who actively need oxygen/breathing treatments/IV fluids.

If you have a pre-existing lung condition (COPD, emphysema, lung cancer) or are on immunosuppressants, now is a great time to talk to your Doctor or specialist about what they would like you to do if you get sick.

One major relief to you parents is that kids do VERY well with coronavirus— they usually bounce back in a few days (but they will still be infectious), NO ONE under 18 has died, and almost no kids have required hospitalization (unless they have a lung disease like CF). Just use pediatric dosing. Be calm and prepare rationally and everything will be fine.