Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Hassan Salihu has reacted to the trending piece written by Ambassador Dapo Fafowora, a former diplomat against Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the new Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Following the appointment of Gambari, Fafowora had shared a part of his memoir where he accused the new Chief of Staff of stabbing him in the back and facilitating his premature retirement in the diplomatic circle, claiming he facilitated Gambari’s entry into the United Nations in 1981.
Daily Trust reports that Fafowora detailed the circumstances of his retirement in the memoir but Gambari had since replied him denying all the allegations and saying he had no hand in his “premature retirement.”
In his intervention, the International Relations expert said while Fafowora is entitled to his opinion just like Gambari has the right of reply, Foreign policy matters are the exclusive preserve of the President.
He said except in a Democracy where the legislature has some inputs, decisions taken were those decreed by the President and not the Foreign Minister.
Salihu, a onetime Dean of Faculty of Business and Social Sciences, University of Ilorin, in a statement said, “The ambassador is entitled to his opinion on the case he has referenced.”
He added: “However, as a student of foreign relations, I know that there may be more to the issue he has described than he is willing to accept.
“Foreign policy is essentially the exclusive preserve of a President though with some input from the legislature under a democracy. There are many issues in public domain that may have little to do with a foreign minister.
“For instance, Tom Ikimi was in 1995 at a Commonwealth Summit arguing that Saro Wiwa and his Ogoni brothers had not been killed whereas they had been shot without him knowing.
“Our nation has not yet developed to a point that a minister would resign on the basis of not being carried along on policy matters. One may want to know if the anti- ECOWAS policy of expelling illegal aliens taken under Buhari in 1985 was also at the instance of Professor Gambari as the minister incharge of Nigeria’s external relations?
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
