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Ibrahim Gambari, PH1 (Public Hypocrite No. 1)
By Okpia Egbe

First, let me express agreement with Professor Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations
Secretary-General’s Special Envoy who has characterized Nigeria’s leaders as
“hypocritical.” As Guest Speaker at the Justice Akanbi Foundation anniversary in Abuja,
Gambari said that Nigeria leaders merely pay lip service to governance.

He is right, and many other Nigerians say the same thing everyday.  The difference is that
they are not in a position to do anything about it.  

Regrettably, there is a category of Nigerians that are in a position to do something, but
never do.  I would say they are worse than hypocritical Nigerian leaders.  I would call
them Champions of Hypocrisy, and among them, nominate Gambari to be the Champion of
Champions.  

Let us remember: in the 1980s and 1990s, Ibrahim Gambari served as Nigeria’s Foreign
Affairs Minister, and as Permanent Representative of Nigeria at the United Nations.  
Leading the governments he served were Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), widely-known as the
man who has nurtured corruption the most in Nigeria, and as one who has vastly benefited
from it.  

Does Gambari want to convince Nigerians he never benefited from IBB?  If not, why has
he never criticized the man?  IBB snuffed out an election that Moshood Abiola had fairly
and clearly won.  What did this professor of Political Science, this “critic” of hypocrisy,
say to IBB?  Nothing.  

But it was during the regime of Sani Abacha that Gambari really established his
credentials.  As an opportunist, he joined an elite team that provided intellectual and
international nourishment for Abacha.  They did everything to convince Abacha that his
brutal and duplicitous regime was on the right course.  Indeed, Gambari told the world:
“Nigerians don’t need democracy because democracy is not food.  It is not their priority.”

As Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations—even as Nigeria became an
international pariah and that organization sought an answer to the situation—Gambari
defended Abacha smoothly and eloquently.  The more we were ostracized, the more he
appeared on powerful international television stations, notably CNN, to offer justifications
for the indefensible actions of Abacha.  Are we to assume that Abacha is now one of those
leaders he describes as hypocritical?

Let us also remember that even after Abacha murdered Ken Saro-Wiwa and other
environmental champions, Gambari did not identify any hypocrisy.  In fact, he stated that
Saro-Wiwa was a “common criminal.”  In other words, that Abacha’s trial had been fair
and within the rule of law.  It is this same Gambari that says Nigerian leaders are
hypocritical.  

Beyond IBB and Abacha, he has not criticized Olusegun Obasanjo, either.  Obasanjo is
known to have violated Nigeria’s hopes and dreams for eight years, but Gambari has not
criticized him.  He cannot join the chorus of those who say the man should be probed.  Do
you wonder why?

If you wonder, I have an answer: in his eyes Obasanjo could not have been bad because
Gambari is a major beneficiary of Obasanjo’s farce.  Remember the scandal over the sale
of highbrow Ikoyi homes that led to the fall of the Minister of Housing and Urban
Development, Mobolaji Osomo?  Ibrahim Gambari was one of the two big winners.  

In the statement by which Obasanjo hoped to be mistaken for a corruption fighter,
Obasanjo said: “I have a document sent to me anonymously…where 207 people had been
allocated or offered land/property for sale surreptitiously; some with full payment, some
with deposit and some without payment at all. I also feel personally embarrassed that
almost all members of my wife's family are on that list. As it is, the entire list will now be
cancelled without fail, the money collected should be refunded and all the property will be
advertised for sale, except those allocated to Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari and Chief
Emeka Anyaoku which had been approved long before this exercise…”

What this story means is that for most of 22 years, from 1983 to 2007, Nigeria’s most
infamous and vile leaders are people Gambari was pleased to serve, and glad to take from.  
He shamelessly seized his opportunities and never said ‘No’, to any of them.  

In public, Gambari is known for his charming, ingratiating style.  He likes to make people
feel that he is open and humble.  But he is as personally hypocritical as he is politically
fake, and this is what makes him such a sad and dangerous study.  He has no principles.  

Think about it: he spent his years under Abacha strongly justifying that dictatorship and its
odious policies.  Today, following his service of a Ghanaian democrat, Gambari is in the
service of a Korean democrat.  That Gambari lacks principles is obvious in the fact that he
is trying to convince a military regime in Myanmar that democracy is the right thing to do.  
At the UN, they really have a weird sense of humor, don’t they?   But Gambari does not
mind being laughed at; last year, he wanted to become president of Nigeria, using his UN
gig as a platform.  

It is clear that Gambari’s an unscrupulous, egotistical man.  He will say anything at any
time, depending on the audience and his personal goals.  He is a serial salesman who, for
the right price, would sell the UN just as easily as he betrayed Nigerians to IBB, Abacha
and Obasanjo.

Thus, at the Justice Akanbi foundation lecture, he was simply playing his normal game: the
game of convenience.  He spoke of the hypocrisy of Nigerian leaders—no names and
specifics, please!—because he thought it would make him sound good before Nigerians,
without offending anyone.  No names—after all, who knows who might invite him to
another powerful office tomorrow?

Yes, Nigerian leaders are hypocritical, but the most hypocritical Nigerians are people like
Ibrahim Gambari who have spent most of their careers propping them up, and serving and
praising them.  They share in all the spoils only to find a whisper in which to offer self-
serving criticism.  If political prostitution were banned, Gambari would never accept to
speak before a Nigerian audience.

I am not close to Gambari, but I know his type well.  When it matters, they do nothing to
help Nigerians.  In public, they will smile and shake hands broadly, hoping nobody can see
through them.  All hypocrites are the same, Gambari, but some are more hypocritical than
others.  For the championship, you have no competition.  Please step forward and accept
your prize.