Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, has been appointed the new Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari. With his appointment, he replaces Mallam Abba Kyari, who died last month of COVID-19.


THISDAY gathered that Gambari, who was Buhari’s Foreign Minister and confidant as military Head of State in the 1980s, met with the President at about 8am on Tuesday at the State House, Abuja.

The new Chief of Staff will resume work at the Presidential Villa on Wednesday.

Gambari, as foreign minister, played a key role in quelling the diplomatic uproar generated by the failed attempt to kidnap Mallam Umaru Dikko from UK by the Buhari military government.


A scholar and seasoned diplomat, Gambari served as minister of External Affairs between 1984 and 1985. He was appointed by former United Nations Secretary Ban Ki-moon and the chairperson of the African Union Commission as Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur in 2010.

He also served as Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Issues for the UN Secretary General. Prior to that, he served as Under-Secretary Generay of the United Nation for the Department of Political Affairs (DPA).

The new chief of Staff, an Ilorin prince, was born on November 24, 1944.