Ibrahim Agboola Gambari at 80: rendezvous with greatness

I was vacationing in the United States of America with my family in October of 2024 (in addition to some work on the Harris-Walz Campaign) when I received confirmation about the dates of the upcoming celebrations of Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari’s 80th birthday.

There would first be a public presentation of a festschrift in his honor in Ilorin on November 21, 2024. Then there would be a commemorative event at the Savannah Centre in Abuja (the headquarters of the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development), which Gambari founded and established.

And then there would be the grand finale on November 24, 2024 – the actual 80th anniversary date of his eventful birth.

I made the decision to cut my vacation short and return to Nigeria in November (instead of December) to make sure I would participate in as many of the celebrations as possible.

Anyone could fly to Abuja to join Gambari in the celebrations slated for the Federal Capital Territory, but going to his birth place of Ilorin in his honor was going to be particularly special.

In the late 1980s and 1990s when I was in graduate school in the US, I flirted with the idea of studies and a career in international relations – I was one of Amnesty International USA’s first five Ralph Bunche Fellows in 1987.

At that time, there were three emerging Nigerians who were the North Stars in international relations and diplomacy. One was Gambari, the second was Chief Emeka Anyaoku, and the third was Professor George Obiozor (may his soul rest in honor and peace with Chukwu). I have had the honor of meeting all three of them, but Gambari was the one with whom I became a mentee.

I first came to Gambari’s attention when I wrote a rejoinder to an article that was published in a US newspaper. The piece by a fellow named George was a scatting attack on Gambari that played on what I considered erroneous and/or misplaced ethnic sentiments. I wrote my rejoinder without having met Gambari at the time.

He, Gambari, subsequently sent for me so that he would meet the writer who wrote in his defense. I have remained glad all these years that what was referred to then as my “rose-colored” perception of the man from a distance, turned out to be proven right over and over again as I got to know him better.

He was instrumental in my getting to host Vice President Atiku Abubakar, GCON of Nigeria in 2002, in Trenton, New Jersey, as the Guest of Honor in African Writers Endowment’s Quintessence Conference and Awards of that year. In 1998, Gambari himself was our first honoree in the inaugural event of that conference.

Matters of the intellect and matters of Nigerian nation building brought us together, manifesting severally, including in my having the opportunity and privilege to publish one of his books, “Nigeria at the United Nations Security Council, 1994,” published in 1998.

Yes, Gambari is all that – an accomplished scholar, a global diplomat extraordinary, an international statesman, and a triumphant participant in many of Nigeria’s and the world’s difficulty political intrigues.

But it is his devotion to mentees and the cultivation of younger generations of leaders and scholars that has set him apart. It is his blunt refusal to be compromised that has made the name Gambari a gold standard in public service.

In April of 2020, Gambari was formally reunited in government with his former boss, Major General (now President) Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, as the latter’s Chief of Staff.

Knowledgeable of my long standing desire to return to Nigeria and serve, Gambari encouraged me to come back to Nigeria in the middle of the global Covid-19 pandemic.

He did not yet have any work or position for me, but he was sure something can be found. With the anxiety-laden blessing of my dear wife, and with hope in my heart, I packed my bags and returned to Nigeria.

I returned with hope in my heart and then I ran into the political juggernaut named Hope in Imo State. He, Hope Uzodimma, had emerged as governor in my home state. While waiting for an opportunity in the federal government, I had encounters in Owerri, the aftermath of which was an invitation from Governor Uzodimma to join his government.

I called Gambari to inform him of the generous but unexpected offer. While Gambari wanted me to serve in Abuja, he was elated at my opportunity to serve first at the state level. Uzodimma subsequently made me Special Adviser on Homeland Security and Intelligence, and later appointed me Commissioner for Homeland Security and Vigilante Affairs, a field in which I hold a graduate degree from George Washington University, Washington DC.

But this piece is not about my consequential relationship with Onwa Oyoko (Governor Uzodimma). That story will come too.

So, it was with great pleasure that I traveled to the ancient, historic city of Ilorin to be part of the public presentation of the festschrift in honor of Professor Agboola Gambari, CFR, which took place on November 21, 2024.

Titled “Readings in diplomacy, democracy, peace, and development: A festschrift in honour of Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, CFR,” the book was presented at the Kwara State Government Banquet Hall, with His Excellency Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazag, CON, governor of Kwara State, as the Chief Host.

Professor Tijani Muhammad-Bande, a former Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations, did a splendid job as the reviewer of the book.

The event was organized by the Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows Alumni Association Nigeria (COSFAN), which is currently led by Dr Ekundayo Samuel as President. Dr. Abiola Adimula, the immediate past president of COSFAN, was the Chairperson of the Local Organizing Committee.

I returned from Ilorin to Abuja to participate in the events organized by other groups. A reception was held for Professor Gambari by the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development on Saturday, November 23, 2024.

It was hosted by His Excellency Ambassador Sani Bala, the Executive Director of the Centre. And on Sunday, November 24, 2024, a grand old party was held for the good professor at the A-Class Event Centre in Maitama, Abuja. The keynote speech at the event was authored by former President John Mahamna of Ghana.

Attended by the likes of Aliko Dangote, as well as by ministers who served with him during the second tenure of Buhari, speaker after speaker spoke gloriously about the life, career and person of Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, CFR.

There was music by various artists; there were dances and dramatic presentations, and there was profound gratitude from the birthday guy who thanked his wife, Dr. Fatima Gambari, for sacrificing her own professional career to support him and raise their children.

In 2020, I wrote a poem titled “Laureate of the Savannah” in commemoration of Gambari’s 76th birthday. The piece was published in my first collection of poems titled “She is eternal and other poems.” What more then can I say to a senior brother, a mentor, and an extraordinarily supportive friend on his 80th birthday?

No one else in the Nigerian space (other than Onwa Oyoko and my loving parents) has impacted my yet infant life as much as Gambari.

Thanks, Professor Gambari, for all you’ve been, for all you are, and for all you will continue to be. I often say I want to be like you when I grow up. It is clear, on your 80th year, that I still have a lot of growing up to do.

Happy 80th birthday, Onye Nkuzi.

Udo diri gi!

As-Salaam-Alaikum!

Dr. Ugorji Okechukwu Ugorji is an author of eleven books, publisher, and scholar activist. He resides in and writes from Owerri, Imo State.

313301