By Emeka Alex Duru
The appointment of ace diplomat, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, as President Buhari’s Chief of Staff, 25 days after the death of the former occupant of the post, Abba Kyari, draws the curtain on intrigues and permutations on who would eventually click the job. Before the Wednesday, May 13 announcement, many names had been dropped on occasions as being favoured for the office. Penultimate week for instance, social media space was agog with erstwhile Secretary to the government of the Federation, Babagana Kingibe being fronted as the man for the job. Some other politicians especially from the core North were also mentioned. But with the eventual announcement of Gambari, the speculations have come to an end.
His emergence may not however be the end to the intrigues and tendencies in the presidency. It may rather widen them, especially as permutations for 2023 politics gradually gather steam.
To be sure, the Chief of Staff is a personal staff of the President. The office is not constitutional. But in practice, the occupant is the engine room of the administration and ensures harmonious working relationship among other Presidential aides. It is the officer, depending on the disposition of the President that accords clout to the position. He can appropriate the powers that come with it and exercise the necessary influences, depending on his person.
On account of intellect and capacity, Gambari fits squarely into the office. His robust education, various engagements in the academia, bureaucracy and diplomacy, are good equipment for him to do the work exceedingly.
Born in 1944, Gambari had his secondary education at the Provincial Secondary School (now Government Secondary School), Ilorin before proceeding to Kings College, Lagos.
He attended the London School of Economics where he obtained Bachelor of Science in Economics in 1968. In 1970, he obtained MA in Political Science and PhD in International Relations in 1974 from Columbia University, United States.
He is the Founder/Chairman of the Board of Directors of Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development – a non-governmental organisation that focuses on “research, policy studies, advocacy and training on the nexus between conflict prevention and resolution, democratisation and development in Africa.
At the international level, he held many key diplomatic positions such as the first United Nations Under-Secretary General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Africa (1999-2005); Chairman of the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid (1990-1994) and on Peace-Keeping Operations (1990-1999)
Between 2005 and 2007, Gambari was Head of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs and also operated as UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Cyprus, Zimbabwe and Myanmar and Special Representative in Angola.
He served as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1990 to 1999. Other positions held by Gambari included serving as Joint AU/UN Special Representative in Darfur and Head of UNAMID (2010-2012). Until his appointment as CoS, Gambari was a Chairperson of the Panel of Eminent Persons of the African Peer Review Mechanism.
With such antecedents, he cannot be considered a green horn on the job. He is also fortunate to have been close to Buhari before now, having served as Minister for External Affairs from1984 to 1985, when he was Military Head of State. These are attributes that should make him succeed on the job.
How the environment in which he would function, and his personal attitude will affect him in going about his brief is however another thing. Expectations are on the Professor to steer the office from the controversies that had characterized it while Kyari was on board. For a system that has been massively unsettled by the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic and a bleak future on account of the uncertain prices of oil – its main foreign exchange earner – in the international market, everything humanly possible should be made to bring back Nigeria to its feet. Gambari, playing the role of a mid-fielder in the presidency, is expected to engineer and harmonise the efforts of other aides in shaping a coherent agenda for the Buhari administration that currently lacks any precise definition.
In this case, there will be great demand on him to bring his wealth of experience and presumed contacts to bear on the government especially in driving strategic engagements with the citizens whose expectations on the Buhari administration, have not been met substantially. This may require him be less diplomatic and more practical.
The snag however, is that Gambari, from his past, may not have the push to say it as it is, particularly if it may hurt. He is a conservative to the core. At 76, he may not be in a hurry to make a change from his constitution. His training as a diplomat, does not allow him come straight on knotty issues. He may prefer skirting around them. To complicate matters, he is also an establishment man who may not want to ruffle feathers in Aso Rock. This may explain his taking up appointment as external affairs minister under the Buhari military regime.
It can also account for why, even with global condemnation of the poor human rights record of the General Sani Abacha, he went ahead to burnish its image at international forums. He may not therefore be of the urge and temperament to effect the change Nigerians expect from the office. But hopes are not entirely lost.
Gambari’s contemporaries score him in various shades and grades. Accomplished scholar and former Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Prof George Obiozor, acknowledges him as a fantastic choice for the job. Another international relations expert and erstwhile Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof Bola Akinterinwa, says he is a thorough-bred diplomat fit for the office. Yet, according to Ambassador Dapo Fafowora, another egghead in a well-circulated piece, Gambari the Chief of Staff, is cunning, subtle and may not even be patriotic.
