Who hasn’t anticipated who the new chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari would be?
Today, Buhari has appointed a Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the new Chief of Staff (Cos). With his appointment, he replaces Mallam Abba Kyari, who died last month of COVID-19.
Ekohotblog have collated 10 amazing things you never knew about the new CoS. Enjoy!
- Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, CFR, OCORT, is a Nigerian scholar-diplomat and a former minister for External Affairs between 1984 and 1985 and was also an Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations (1990-1999).
- Gambari was born on 24 November 1944 (age 75 years), in Ilorin, Kwara State.
- He is a PHD Holder. He attended the popular King’s College, Lago and Johns Hopkins University. He also attended the London School of Economics where he obtained his B. Sc. (Economics) degree (1968) with specialisation in International Relations. He later obtained his M.A. (1970) and Ph. D. (1974) degrees from Columbia University, New York, USA in Political Science /International Relations.
- He is the Founder/Chairman of the Board of Directors of Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development (SCD), a non-governmental think-tank on research and policy studies on conflict prevention and resolution as well as democratization and development in Africa.
- He has served as the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (USG) for the Department of Political Affairs (DPA). He was appointed on June 10, 2005, and assumed the post on July 1 of that year.
- He is currently the Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Issues for the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
- Presently, he also co-chairs the Commission on Global Security, Justice and Governance at the Hague Institute for Global Justice and the Stimson Centre at Washington D.C.
- On March 4, 2013, Ibrahim Gambari was named by the Kwara State Governor, Abdul Fatah Ahmad, as the pioneer Chancellor of the Kwara State University, making him the ceremonial head of the university who presides over convocations to award degrees and diplomas.
- He is a member of the Johns Hopkins University’s Society of Scholars.
- He was decorated with the title of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) by the Government of Nigeria. He has received several academic and national honours, including the “Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” (CFR), and the “Order of the Companion of the Oliver R. Tambo” (OCORT) of South Africa.
- Ibrahim Gambari former foreign minister and ambassador to the UN: a unifier with good international network.
- In 2016, he was appointed in 2016 by Patricia Scotland, QC, the Commonwealth Secretary-General as the Special Envoy to Zambia on Elections and reappointed in 2017 as the Special Envoy for Democratic Stability and Elections 2020. In addition, he is a member of the Senior Working Group (SWG) of the United States Institute for Peace (USIP). Also in May 2017, he was honoured with the Global Leadership Award by the University of South Florida, USA.
- He has taught at Universities in the United States, Nigeria, and Singapore and has to his credit the authorship of a number of books.
- He is the Pioneer Chancellor of Kwara State University (KWASU), Ilorin, Nigeria and as well as the current Pro-chancellor and Chairman of the Board of Governing Council of Bayero University, Kano (BUK).
- He is married with children and grandchildren.
However, Gambari is to resume work on Wednesday.