Former Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, has revealed how ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1991 lost out in his bid to become the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Gambari said Obasanjo’s military background made him ineligible from being selected by the countries with veto power.
Gambari made this known on Wednesday at the public presentation of the biography of the first African UN Secretary-General, the late Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who assumed office in 1991.
The book, the biography of the Egyptian diplomat was written by Prof. Adekeye Adebajo and titled Boutros Boutros-Ghali: Afro-Arab Prophet, Pharaoh, and Pope.
The book launch, held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs on Victoria Island, had Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi as the reviewer, with NIIA Director General, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae also present at the event.
Gambari said he recalled how some envoy told him:
“Your candidate (Olusegun Obasanjo) has no chance in hell of becoming secretary.”
He said, “I asked: ‘What do you mean? He is the most qualified former head of state, handed over power voluntarily to civilians, and was head of the group that led to the process of the end of apartheid.’
“He said ‘No. Listen carefully, when we, the big ones, are looking for a Sec Gen, the emphasis is on the secretary and not on the general.’ A very profound statement.
“The thing was that the veto ruling power wanted somebody they could dictate to, not a general, who would be giving them orders. Sometimes they think they are getting a secretary but they end up getting a general.
“Ghali, who they thought would be a secretary turned out to be a general and Koffi Annan, who they thought was a secretary turned out to be a general.
“When you turn out to be different from what the big powers want, they do something about it. Boutros-Ghali was not given a second term, and Koffi Annan was nearly forced to retire over frivolous charges.”
Gambari affirmed that his relationship with the late Boutros-Ghali as ‘up close and personal,” noting that apart from being the first UN Secretary-General from the African continent, he was also the first Post-Cold War Secretary General but encountered difficulty organising a security council meeting that had all the heads of states as delegates.
“He hardly had a meeting of the security council where the chief delegates were the heads of states of those member states.”
