How NNPC Kyari Dodged Guests At His Children’s Wedding In Maiduguri
Malam Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) appeared to have mastered the art of dodging, and he demonstrated this at the wedding of his son and daughter in Maiduguri, Borno State Capital on December 28, 2019.
Kyari must have been hugely surprised by the large attendance at the wedding reception of his kids at the banquet hall of the Borno Government House, and after a brief appearance he announced to the audience that he would step out for a few minutes and come back to continue the reception ceremony.
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But the self-effacing NNPC chief never returned to the venue, and instead went on private visits around the city with a small circle of friends, his aides later told THE WHISTLER.
The NNPC GMD’s personal guests list was said to be 20, having advised staff and many others who had indicated interests in attendance not to bother as he wanted a low-key event.
The wedding fathia which took place the previous day at the palace of the Shehu of Borno had a sizeable crowd of well-wishers, but it was nothing compared to the number at the reception the following day.
The gathering had in attendance state governors, ministers, lawmakers and other government officials who were hosted by the Borno State government.
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Trust Nigerians, especially businessmen and politicians not to miss any opportunity for a one-on-one with prominent state officials expected to be at the event, including Kyari.But most would be disappointed since Kyari played the dodger.
The GMD must have looked into his crystal ball three months ago when he announced on his twitter handle that he was not seeking any form of support for the weddings and that NO marketer should donate any money to any person for the said event.
THE WHISTLER gathered Kyari had taken the wedding to far away Maiduguri to avoid turning it into the Who-Is-Who in the country, and to help boost the economy of the city, but even Maiduguri was not far enough for marketers and businessmen hoping to pin down the evasive GMD for some business deals.
And luckily for them, the military had helped restore peace to the state and people could move freely. Many of these people came in chartered planes on a day the sky in Maiduguri was “raining planes”, apologies to Reno Omokri.
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Most NNPC staff who attended came in commercial aircrafts and some top guns of the Corporation could not attend because the Max Air aircraft that was coming from Lagos to Abuja developed a fault.
An aide of the GMD said: “The GMD tactically dodged most of the people that came to the event that wanted to see him. He disappeared from the reception venue not more that 20mins when the event started. That was the only public place people could have met him.”
His aides described him as a man with a loathing for extravagance and unbridled favour-seeking, stressing that the GMD was focused on making the petroleum industry better than he met it.
Since his appointment as GMD in July last year, he had set out to improve transparency and efficiency of NNPC operations and blocking leakages in the subsidiaries of the Corporation.
