Baba Gana Kingibe

Kingibe entered party politics in the build-up to the transition of the Third Nigerian Republic. In 1988, he was made director of organization of the People's Front of Nigeria (PFN) which consisted of politicians such as Atiku Abubakar, Bola Tinubu, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila and Rabiu Kwankwaso, which was then led by Shehu Musa Yar'Adua.[15] The front later joined with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1989.

During the conduct of elections for national executive positions in the party, Kingibe was sponsored by the People's Front faction of SDP as the party's chairman, a position he went on to clinch. As party chairman, Kingibe was involved in the organization of party's gubernatorial and presidential primaries in 1991 and 1992 respectively. After the cancellations of the 1992 presidential primaries in which Shehu Yar'Adua emerged as a candidate, Kingibe put himself forward as presidential candidate.

Utilizing his chairmanship over the party, Kingibe made a split from the Shehu Yar'Adua led People's Front group, using his relationship with SDP governors and state party chairmen to build his presidential campaign. The results after the first ballot of the presidential primaries held in Jos was: Moshood Abiola with 3,617 votes, Kingibe with 3,255 votes and Atiku Abubakar with 2,066 votes.[16] Coming in second, Kingibe considered joining forces with Atiku Abubakar combining 5,231 votes to challenge Abiola. However, after much prodding Shehu Yar'Adua asked Atiku Abubakar to withdraw from the campaign, with Abiola promising to make him his running mate.[16] Unable to join with Atiku Abubakar, Abiola was later pressured by SDP governors to select Kinigbe as his Vice-presidential running mate, creating a Muslim-Muslim ticket which was initially thought to be a deal breaker in the elections.

The results though not officially declared by the National Electoral Commission – showed the duo 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 over 2.3 million votes in the 1993 presidential election. The elections were later annulled by military head of state General Ibrahim Babangida, citing electoral irregularities.[17] The annulment led to widespread protests and political unrest in Abiola's stronghold of the South West, which led to the resignation of General Babangida and the emergence of the weak Interim National Government led by Ernest Shonekan. As interim president, Shonekan initially appointed Abiola as his Vice President, who refused to recognize the interim government, the crisis lingered on culminating in the seizure of power of General Sani Abacha.

Since June 12, Kingibe has served in successive military and civilian governments. In 1993, Kingibe joined the military regime of General Sani Abacha serving as: Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1995, Minister of Internal Affairs from 1995 to 1997, and Minister of Power and Steel from 1997 to 1998.[18][19] Following the death of Abacha, his successor General Abdulsalami Abubakar dissolved the cabinet and Kingibe left the government to undergo postgraduate studies at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, before later leaving his studies to return to diplomatic service.[20]

Kingibe served from October 2002 to September 2006 as the Special Envoy of the African Union to Sudan and subsequently Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and head of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS).[21] In September 2006, Kingibe returned to Nigeria and joined the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2007 presidential election,[22] won by Umaru Yar'Adua, it was widely believed that Kingibe considered running for the presidency, before later joining the Yar'Adua administration.[23]

In June 2007, he was appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation.[24] In September 2008,[25] with the onset of Yar'Adua's subsequent illness and first hospitalization in Saudi Arabia, Kingibe was unceremoniously removed from office for allegedly plotting with General Abdullahi Mohammed to remove Yar'Adua from power due to his poor health.[26][27] Following his removal from office, Kingibe maintained a low profile and later became critical of President Goodluck Jonathan's ability to suppress the insurgency in the North-East.[28][29]

After the 2015 presidential election won by Muhammadu Buhari,[30] Kingibe was appointed a member of Buhari's inauguration committee.[31] Since then,[32] he has gone on to feature prominently alongside Abba Kyari as a powerful behind the scenes decision-maker[33] – shaping the administrations intelligence and foreign policy.[34] In February 2018, Kingibe denied campaigning for the 2019 presidential election.[35][36] In June 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari recognized June 12 as Democracy Day and awarded Kingibe the second highest national honour.[37]