Born on June 25, 1945, Babagana Kingibe OV GCON is a Nigerian diplomat, politician, and civil servant. He has held several high ranking government offices, culminating in his appointment as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation from 2007 to 2008. Kingibe was awarded the Order of the Vulture (OV) in 1995. Since the 1970s, he has been active in politics and has served in various capacities for six different presidents of state, most recently as a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s inner circle. He served in the Foreign Service cadre for more than a decade.
Before joining the government in service of military dictator General Sani Abacha and becoming a member of his politico-military caucus as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1995, Minister of Internal Affairs from 1995 to 1997, and later Minister of Power and Steel from 1997 to 1998, he was the vice-presidential running mate of Chief Moshood Abiola in the annulled 1993 presidential election. This election took place in 1993.
On June 25th, 1945, Kingibe Kanuri was born in Borno, Nigeria, to a family of Kanuri descent. When he was only four years old, his mother, Ya Kingi Mallam, passed away from cancer. Shoemaker Mustafa Shuwa, the man’s father, worked his way up through the ranks of the Borno Native Authority to become the pay clerk.
Kingibe spent his childhood in Maiduguri and received his primary education there. In 1958, he enrolled at the Borno Provincial Secondary School after being accepted there. In 1960, he took advantage of a government grant to travel to the United Kingdom, where he attended Bishop’s Stortford College to earn his O-Level and A-Level degrees.
After graduating from the University of Sussex in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in international relations (where he studied with Thabo Mbeki), he went on to complete his education at the BBC Television Training School. Later on, Kingibe attended the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Switzerland in order to earn his PhD; however, he left the school before completing his degree.
In 1969, he relocated his family back to Nigeria and took a position as a professor of political science at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.
While he was attending the university, he made friends with members of the Kaduna Mafia, which is comprised of young intellectuals, government servants, and military commanders from Northern Nigeria who have been educated in the west.
Kingibe left the university toward the end of the Nigerian Civil War and was hired by the Broadcasting Company of Northern Nigeria, which is now known as the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, to serve as the head of the department that was responsible for current events and features.
in 1972, he became a member of the Nigerian Foreign Service, serving as an officer in charge of external relations. [8] His initial position was as a senior political counsellor at the Nigerian High Commission in London, and he later rose through the ranks to become the head of the political desk there. Kingibe was seconded to the Supreme Military Headquarters (SMHQ) as the Principal Political Secretary serving under military triumvir General Shehu Yar’Adua from 1976 to 1979.
During the run-up to the changeover to the Third Nigerian Republic, Kingibe became involved in the party political system. In 1988, he was given the position of director of organization for the People’s Front of Nigeria (PFN). At the time, the PFN was led by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and included politicians such as Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, and Rabiu Kwankwaso. Rabiu Kwankwaso was also a member of the PFN. After that, in 1989, the front eventually merged with the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
During the process of holding elections for national executive positions within the party, Kingibe was proposed as a candidate for the position of party chairman by the People’s Front faction of the SDP. He ultimately won the election for this position. Kingibe was the party chairman for the years 1991 and 1992, and he participated in the organization of the party’s gubernatorial and presidential primaries during those years. During the postponement of the presidential primaries that took place in 1992 and during which Shehu Yar’Adua emerged as a contender, Kingibe presented himself as a potential candidate for president.
More information regarding the Third Nigerian Republic and the presidential election of 1993 in Nigeria
Kingibe broke away from the People’s Front group, which was led by Shehu Yar’Adua, and began building his presidential campaign by utilizing his relationship with SDP governors and state party chairmen. Kingibe did this by use his position as chairman of the party. Following the first round of voting in the presidential primaries that were held in Jos, the results were as follows: Moshood Abiola received 3,617 votes, Kingibe received 3,255 votes, and Atiku Abubakar received 2,066 votes. [16] As the candidate that finished in second place, Kingibe pondered teaming up with Atiku Abubakar to form a combined vote total of 5,231 to oppose Abiola. However, after much prodding, Shehu Yar’Adua urged Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the campaign, and Abiola promised to make him his running mate. Atiku Abubakar complied with Shehu Yar’Adua’s request. Abiola was eventually forced by SDP governors to select Kinigbe as his Vice-presidential running mate, producing a Muslim-Muslim ticket that was first regarded to be a deal breaker in the elections. Abiola was unable to join forces with Atiku Abubakar, who was running for president at the time.
In the 1993 presidential election, the results showed that the combination of Moshood Abiola and Babagana Kingibe of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) defeated Bashir Tofa and Slyvester Ugoh of the National Republican Convention (NRC) by a margin of more than 2.3 million votes. However, the National Electoral Commission did not officially declare the results of the election. Later on, the elections were declared invalid by General Ibrahim Babangida, the head of the military government, who cited electoral irregularities as the reason. [17] The result of the annulment was huge protests and political turmoil in Abiola’s stronghold of the South West, which ultimately led to the resignation of General Babangida and the establishment of the ineffective Interim National Government led by Ernest Shonekan. As Shonekan served as interim president, he first chose Abiola as his Vice President. Nevertheless, Abiola refused to recognize the interim administration. As a result, the crisis continued and eventually culminated in General Sani Abacha seizing control.
From the 12th of June, Kingibe has held positions in several military and civilian regimes in succession. After joining the military administration of General Sani Abacha in 1993, Kingibe held the positions of Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 until 1995, Minister of Internal Affairs from 1995 until 1997, and Minister of Power and Steel from 1997 until 1998. Kingibe resigned from those positions in 1998.
After Abacha’s passing, his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, dissolved the cabinet. During this time, Kingibe stepped down from his position in government in order to pursue postgraduate studies at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. He eventually gave up these studies in order to return to the diplomatic service.
Kingibe served as the Special Envoy of the African Union to Sudan from October 2002 until September 2006, and then as the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and head of the African Union Mission in Sudan after that. His term as Special Envoy ended in September 2006. (AMIS).
Before Kingibe returned to Nigeria in September 2006 and joined the People’s Democratic Party ahead of the 2007 presidential election, which was won by Umaru Yar’Adua, it was widely believed that Kingibe considered running for the presidency, before later joining the Yar’Adua administration.
It was in June of 2007 when he was given the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
In September 2008, with the onset of Yar’Adua’s subsequent illness and first hospitalization in Saudi Arabia, Kingibe was removed from office in an unceremonious manner for allegedly plotting with General Abdullahi Mohammed to remove Yar’Adua from power due to his poor health. Kingibe was accused of conspiring with Abdullahi Mohammed to remove Yar’Adua from power.
After being removed from government, Kingibe chose to keep a quiet profile and later voiced his dissatisfaction with President Goodluck Jonathan’s inability to quell the insurgency in the country’s North-Eastern region.
Following the results of the presidential election that was won by Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, Kingibe was given a position on the inauguration committee for Buhari.
Since then, he has gone on to feature prominently with Abba Kyari as a strong behind-the-scenes decision-maker[33], thereby determining the administration’s intelligence and foreign policies. Kingibe stated in February 2018 that he would not be campaigning for the presidential race in 2019.
On June of 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari designated June 12 as Democracy Day and presented Kingibe with the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, which is the nation’s second-highest honor. Kingibe was given the position of Special Envoy on Chad and the Lake Chad Region by President Muhammadu Buhari on May 31, 2021.This appointment placed Kingibe in the cabinet of the president.
Ireti Kingibe is his wife.
Ireti Kingibe is a well-known figure in Nigeria’s political and civil engineering worlds. She holds a degree in each of those fields. She is running on the Labour party’s ticket to become the senator for Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the upcoming general elections in 2023. These elections will take place in Nigeria.
The politician celebrates her birthday on June 2nd, and the year 1954 was the year she was born. Ireti will have reached the age of 69 by the time the year 2023 rolls around.
Ireti Mohammed is the younger sister of Ajoke Mohammed, who was married to Murtala Mohammed when he was the Head of State of Nigeria. Ireti Mohammed herself is the younger sister of Murtala Mohammed. Moreover, Ireti is known by the name Ireti.
On the 31st of May, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari announced that Kingibe will be joining his cabinet in the role of Special Envoy on Chad and the Lake Chad Region. So therefore I think Kingibe is still alive, hale and healthy.
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