President Buhari appoints 75-year-old former External Affairs minister, Ibrahim Gambari, as new Chief Of Staff

President Buhari has appointed former Minister of External Affairs, Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, as his Chief of Staff.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation Mr. Boss Mustapha announced the appointment before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council meeting this morning, May 13th.

Gambari takes over from late Abba Kyari who died on April 17, following complications from COVID-19 infection.

The new Chief of Staff was born on November 24, 1944 in Ilorin, Kwara State, and served as Minister for External Affairs when President Buhari was military Head of State between 1984 and 1985. He holds the record of being the longest-serving Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations (January 1990 to October 1999), and altogether served under five Heads of State and President. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari

He was subsequently appointed by the former Secretary-General of United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, and the chairperson of the African Union Commission as Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur in January 2010.

On March 4, 2013, he was named by the Kwara State governor, AbdulFatah Ahmad, as the pioneer Chancellor of the Kwara State University.

Gambari attended King’s College, Lagos. He subsequently attended the London School of Economics where he obtained his B.Sc. (Economics) degree (1968) with a specialization 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 married with children and grandchildren.