POLITICS Gambari: Buhari’s new Chief of Staff

Finally , the President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd . ) , unveiled a new Chief of Staff on Wednesday , May 13 .
He is Prof Ibrahim Agboola Gambari . His name rings a bell , having served Nigeria in various positions, both local and international .
A scholar and diplomat , Gambari was born on November 24 , 1944 , in Ilorin , Kwara State.
Not being a new person to Buhari, the new CoS was Nigeria’ s Minister for External Affairs from 1984 to 1985 .
He is also the Founder/ Chairman of the Board of Directors of Savannah Centre for Diplomacy , Democracy and Development. This is 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 ) . Gambari was also the Chairman of the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid ( 1990 -1994 ) and on Peace -Keeping Operations ( 1990 -1999 )
Similarly , the new CoS was Head of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs ( 2005 -2007 ) and also operated as UN Secretary - General’s Special Envoy on Cyprus , Zimbabwe and Myanmar and Special Representative in Angola .
Beginning from 1990 -1999 , Gambari was Ambassador / Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations . Other positions were serving as Joint AU / UN Special Representative in Darfur and Head of UNAMID ( 2010 -2012 ) . Until his appointment by Buhari, Gambari was a Chairperson of the Panel of Eminent Persons of the African Peer Review Mechanism .
On his academic journey , the CoS went to the Provincial Secondary School , Ilorin , and later proceeded to the Floreat Collegium Kings College , Lagos .
In 1968 , he received his BSc ( Econs ) degree from the London School of Economics and his Master ’s and PhD in Political Science / International Relations ( 1970 , 1974 ) from Columbia University , USA. He has been a teacher at universities in the Unites States , Nigeria and Singapore and “ has to his credit the authorship of a number of books .”
A holder of several honours , the list includes “ Commander of Federal Republic of Nigeria ” ( CFR ) , and the “ Order of the Champion of the Oliver R . Tambo ” ( OCORT ) of South Africa . Gambari had also served as the pioneer Chancellor of the Kwara State University ( KWASU ) , Ilorin and was the servvivng Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Bayero University , Kano ( BUK ) .
The new CoS is married man with children and grandchildren .
On Wednesday , he replaced the late Abba Kyari , who died on April 7 due to COVID - 19 complications