Major Kyari was given command of the Nigerian Army's 5th Battalion in September 1966 following the January coup and July counter-coup, which was based in the northern provinces of the country. On 1 October 1966 the men of the battalion, the soldiers primarily being from the north, mutinied whilst on parade and being addressed by Kyari. Kyari's second-in-command Captain Auna, and the regimental sergeant major were murdered despite being themselves from the northern provinces (as was Kyari). Kyari and the surviving officers were forced to flee the base at Kano. Kyari later became commander of 1 Brigade at Kaduna and was subsequently second-in-command and then commander of the Nigerian Army's artillery.