Who is Prof Gambari’s loyalty to: Buhari or Nigerians?

Since Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari the new Chief of Staff in Aso Rock pledged his loyalty to his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, critics have been bashing him. No doubt, these critics of unpatriotic idiosyncrasies were the ones who bashed Mallam Abba Kyari before and after his death. I will not blame Prof. Gambari’s critics as […]

Since Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari the new Chief of Staff in Aso Rock pledged his loyalty to his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, critics have been bashing him. No doubt, these critics of unpatriotic idiosyncrasies were the ones who bashed Mallam Abba Kyari before and after his death.

I will not blame Prof. Gambari’s critics as I will the president. If President Buhari had not made the late Chief of Staff so powerful, Gambari’s critics would have known that the office of the chief of staff to the president is created by the president out ofs discretion. The chief of staff is the chief medium of communication between the government and the president. It is his being an intermediary between the government and the president that gives him the modicum power he has, and not to the extent of acting as a de facto president. For this reason, aside the fact that the office is accountable to the president, whosoever that would head the office must be loyal to the president.

As I said earlier, it was President Buhari who morphed the essence of the creation of the office after he allocated enormous power to Mallam Kyari.

I am not saying Prof. Gambari’s critics should not bash or spank him for other reasons, but it should not be on account of his recent statement.

In fact, he deserves applause for the apt statement. What he said is an assurance that he knows what his new office entails.

Aremu Lukman Umor is a sociologist and writer.