President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly tested negative for the coronavirus disease despite claims his Chief of Staff (COS), Abba Kyari, was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Monday.
Buhari reportedly subjected himself to screening after Kyari’s test, conducted on Sunday, came back positive on Monday.
It was gathered that Kyari, who’s also a close relative of the President, had developed a severe cough, one of the symptoms of COVID-19, which he exhibited during a meeting on containing the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria all through Sunday.
According to reports, Kyari travelled to Germany via Egypt on Saturday, March 7, to meet with Siemens officials in Munich on the Nigerian electricity expansion programme and returned with no symptoms.
Executive Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Prof. James Momoh, reportedly accompanied Kyari on the trip to both countries.
According to statistics, Germany has 29,056 infections and 123 deaths, while Egypt has recorded 14 fatalities from 327 cases.
Kyari remained asymptomatic and held several meetings with Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, ministers and other members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) until the cough manifested during the meeting on Sunday.
He was said to have voluntarily submitted himself for testing and was informed of his status on Monday, which prompted President Buhari to undergo screening for the virus.
The latest development comes hours after a leaked memo showed Kyari telling Nigerian legislators, who recently returned from foreign trips, to submit themselves for a coronavirus test.
It also comes after Aisha Buhari, wife of Nigeria’s President, disclosed that one of her daughters was in self-isolation after returning from the United Kingdom (UK), a high-risk country.
