‘Gambari not aligned to any cabal’

A Professor of Political Science, Hassan Salihu, in a chat with Daily Trust said the president’s new Chief of Staff, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari is not known to belong to any ‘cabal’.

“I know him to be a Buharist, but he is not going to the office with that negative tag of being a member of cabal and stuffs like that and that would enable him to operate in a manner to win more friends to the president, not enemies,” he said.

Salihu said Prof. Gambari is also a less controversial figure who would bring his diplomatic and academic experiences to bear in the new office.

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Besides, the University of Ilorin don pointed out that Gambari is not known to be a member of any cabal.

He said: “Prof. Ibrahim Gambari is one of Nigeria’s leaders who has less controversy.

“As somebody who is known to me, he tried as much as possible to avoid controversy and I believe that is a big factor that he will bring to bear in the management of the office he has just been appointed to.

“He is going to unite the people there and make people navigate in one direction.

“Another quality of the new chief of staff is that he is a fair-minded person.

“He is a dogged fighter.

“He holds on to his opinion but where he thinks that he is swimming against the tide, he would not wait for anybody to tell him before he decides to realign.

“Another quality he is bringing to the office is that he has been a consistent friend of the president.

“They have been together for about 40 years now and on each occasion, Prof. Gambari has not broken camp with him.

“The majority of people would not know that they are very close.

“I recall a situation in 2015 when some delegates from Kwara went to congratulate the then president-elect, on getting to see him and after exchanging pleasantries, the man (Buhari) asked where is Prof. Gambari.

“That’s to tell you the closeness between him and the president,” he said.

Salihu also responded to the trending comment by Ambassador Oladipo Fafowora, who accused Gambari of masterminding his premature retirement, asking him to embrace peace.

“I have his book, I have read it where he levelled some allegations against Prof. Gambari and I’ve also had a course to read Prof. Gambari’s reaction. He had said he was not involved; that it was government policy that created the atmosphere that led to his premature retirement.

“But my appeal is that Ambassador Fafowora is our senior colleague on the practical side of diplomacy.

“I think he should just walk up to Prof. Gambari and get the issues sorted out.”