Ibrahim Gambari: 15 Facts About Buhari’s 75-Year-Old New Chief Of Staff

Nearly four weeks after the death of his erstwhile Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Professor Ibrahim Gambari as his new Chief of Staff. 

Kyari had died from Coronavirus (COVID-19) complications on April 17, 2020. Buhari described him as a “loyal friend and compatriot” of over 42 years who “never wavered in his commitment to the betterment of every one of us.”

The president’s announcement of Gambari as replacement would come as a surprise to many who expected him to pick either a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babagana Kingibe, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu or the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service, Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd), who were speculated to replace Kyari, as his new Chief of Staff. 

A native of Ilorin in Kwara State, Gambari served as Nigeria’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative  to the United Nations from 1990 to 1999.

Below are 15 things to know about the president’s new Chief of Staff:

1.  Ambassador Gambari was the first Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Africa (1999-2005).

2. He served concurrently as  the Resident Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission to Angola (2002-2003). 

3. He has been a delegate to the Assembly of the African Union as a national delegate (1984-1985) and as a member of the UN Secretary-General’s delegation (2000-2012).

4. Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari, is currently the Founder/Chairman of Savannah Center External link in Abuja, Nigeria, a think-tank for research, training and public policy debate on the nexus between diplomacy (conflict resolution), democracy and development in Africa. 

5. Gambari served as the Joint Special Representative of the Secretary General and Chairperson of the African Union Commission/Head of the UN and AU Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) from January 2010 to July 2012. During Ambassador Gambari’s tenure, UNAMID was the world’s largest international peacekeeping mission.

6. He was the Chairman of the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid (1990-1994) during which he worked closely with African governments to coordinate UN policy to eradicate apartheid, thereby building trust and confidence with governments and policymakers in member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

7. Ambassador Gambari was Under-Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs (2005-2007). In that period, he also operated as UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Cyprus, Zimbabwe and Myanmar. On May 22, 2007, the Secretary-General entrusted him with the Good Offices Mandate on Myanmar.

8.  He was also appointed in 2007 by the Secretary-General as Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Iraq Compact and Other Issues, positions he held until 2009. Before joining the United Nations, he served his country as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations (1990-1999). 

9. He was also Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria (1984-1985) and worked closely with regional leaders, institutions and governments, particularly within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the economic and political development of the sub-region. 

10. He was the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. 

11.  Gambari has lectureed as Senior Lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, (1977-1980), and rose to become an Associate Professor (Reader), (1980-1983) and subsequently full Professor at the same University (1983 –present–currently on leave of absence). 

12. Ambassador Gambari was a visiting Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University and Howard University in Washington, D.C. from 1986 to 1989.

13.  Ambassador Gambari was also a Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., as well as a Resident Scholar with the Rockefeller Foundation Centre in Bellagio, Italy. He is arecipient of the third highest national honour, Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFR), 

14. Ambassador Gambari has also been awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa) form the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut (2002) and Farleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey (2006), among several other honors. 

15. Professor Gambari was elected to the Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars in 2002 and has since 2005 served as a member of the International Advisory Board of the Institute of Peace, Leadership and Governance at Africa University, Zimbabwe. He was appointed as First Chancellor, Kwara State University in Nigeria, March 2013.