Joseph Bakare
The Presidency has explained why social distancing rule was evidently absent at the burial ceremony of former Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Abba Kyari.
This was in the wake of the outcry by Nigerians who confronted the Federal Government for defying social distance rules in order to cushion the effect of Coronavirus.
In a statement, spokesperson of the Presidency; Garba Shehu revealed the crowd that attended the ceremony were not invited.
He noted that the burial was delayed in their attempt to maintain social distancing; but had to begin as more people kept coming into the cemetery
The Presidency added that the federal government could not have invited security agents to chase the crowd away.
“Was there any invitation for the public to come for the burial? Go back to my Twitter handle and read what I posted. From 10 am, when we picked up the body at the airport; we sent a message out that the funeral will be private and that the public should please go and pray for Abba Kyari.
“We also said no condolence visits to the President and family. What can we do? Are we going to invite soldiers to flog people who came to pay their last respect to the man?
“We were trying to move people back and observe social distancing and it was delaying the funeral. We just have to do it because people are not ready to leave. What are we going to do?” he asked.