Created in Nigeria in 1999 by the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo Presidency, it was first occupied by former military administrator of Benue/Plateau state and one time National Security Adviser, Major General Abdullahi Muhammed. Not much importance was attached to this office; it was merely to head the domestic staff of the president and take charge of his meetings and appointments.
This was contrary to the requirements and enormous responsibilities it commanded in the United States of America where we copied our democracy and whose idea of the office serves as gatekeeper.
Late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan presidency, respectively, maintained appointed chiefs of staff with distinct roles.President Muhammadu Buhari’s first chief of staff was Mallam Abba Kyari of blessed memory. He was the most visible for the simple reason that he played his roles with greater responsibility, loyalty and commitment.
His job schedules fitted into what is aobtainable in the USA, which included but not limited to the management and flow of information, negotiation with members of parliament, the judiciary arm of the government, ministers and heads of agencies of the government as well as other appointees with the view to implement the agenda of the president untill he died last April.
On Wednesday, President Buhari picked a top diplomat and teacher, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, as his chief of staff. The blue-blooded presidential top-aide has his job well cut out. He is first and foremost, the chief adviser to the president on virtually all matters of governance brought before the president. He must craft a well researched opinion on each issue that requires the president’s attention. And it is so because he sees every mail, letter, proposal, etc before the president and must weave an informed opinion at all times.
While he advises the president on the right steps and policies, the Kwara born diplomat must always, and as usual, make a dispassionate and sentiment-free opinion such that will defy all premodial layers of thoughts.
He is the chief coordinator of the Presidential Villa because each staff of the president owes him an explanation as the clearing house.
Protection of the president as the most loyal, close and trusted aide is non-negotiable and his judgement most be near error-free. He must strive for perfection at all times and develop a thick skin to distractions.
Professor Gambari wears this cap for the simple reason that it fits him as one who arrived early at the time God decided to distribute wisdom and knowledge. He was present .
His deep knowledge of foreign policies, economy, politics are some of the attributes that place him ahead of many and, in my opinion, prepared him for the job of CoS to the president.As the engine room of the presidency, all requests for appointments must pass through him; these include local and international engagements.
Professor Gambari’s job description may not significantly vary from those of late Abba Kyari. What will differ, and everyone will have to learn to adapt to, will be approach and style, while the intended result as he oversees the office of the president will remain the same.
He will play managerial and advisory roles that encompass different important functions.
The cheers and condemnations will be loudest, garbage will be thrown at the new CoS Gambari as he settles down for the job. He will first face the challenge of ensuring absolute control of access to the office of the president, management of all communications and flow, negotiations with all other branches or arms of the government, selection and supervision of key Presidential Villa staff.
He must realise that as chief of staff, he represents the president at both local and international meetings, which underscores the importance the president attaches to those events.
Let me pause here to say, the late Abba Kyari’s trip to Germany was clearly one of those trips the president would have attended personally. It was a two-nation agreement and the appropriate person to lead that delegation was either the president or his chief of staff; so the late Kyari did not exactly take somebody else’s job as was speculated in some quarters.
As a former media aide to a sitting Speaker of the House of Representatives I am conversant with the fact that many times and more often, the chief of staff takes the heat on behalf of his principal as well as on behalf of all staff; he must play the father role.
Today, Professor Gambari will be before every court of public opinion, verdicts of different shapes and kinds would be passed on him genuinely as well as out of mere mischief. He would be the reason that fraudulent proposals could not pull through. He would be blamed for withheld approvals for substandard supplies, sleaze, malfeasance and premature ideas must not go beyond his desk. He will be the punching bag because merchants of deceit and fraud would colour their stories to see him as the worse CoS in Nigerian history.
Gambari is vast in foreign affairs and international diplomacy; he will be condemned by those white-colour fraudsters who would want to mislead Nigeria into slave-deals. Suffice to say, foreign policies of all nations determine their levels of success and this diplomat will take the heat for advising against weak policies coated in shiny packages with the intent to deceive Nigeria. There is also going to be a problem with his style of attention to details, standards and due process; there will be an end to cutting corners and threats of international blacklisting; Gambari was there and he may end up a teacher on diplomatic affairs in the Presidential Villa when cheap blackmail specialists walk in with kindergarten analysis. He will ensure those files are just kept In view.I do not expect more people to cheer Professor Gambari than those who will throw all sorts of garbage at him and even question his origin. The blue-blooded CoS comes across as one who is not in a hurry until everyone fully assimilates. He strives for perfection and bows to superior intellectually driven arguments.The political merchants will want to always have their way, but having their way would also be at the expense of Nigeria and any other interest aside Nigeria .
How the rest of the world would see Nigeria will be of grave importance to the new CoS. He will strive to leave the office better than he met it, no doubt . The president did not make a mistake in appointing one with such vast experience and pedigree as chief of staff. The cap fits Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari and he sits beautiful in this regalia.
Oota, a journalist, writes from Abuja.
