Baba Gana Kingibe

In 1958, he was admitted into the Borno Provincial Secondary School. In 1960, he left for the United Kingdom on a government scholarship to complete his O'Level and A-level at Bishop's Stortford College.

In 1968, he received his bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Sussex (alongside Thabo Mbeki), before proceeding to the BBC Television Training School in London. Kingibe later attended the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.[3]

In 1969, he returned to Nigeria and was employed by the Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria. At the university, he became acquainted with the Kaduna Mafia, a group of young western-educated intellectuals, civil servants and military officers from Northern Nigeria.[4] Kingibe left the university towards the end of the Nigerian Civil War, and became head of the current affairs department at the Broadcasting Corporation of Northern Nigeria (BCNN).[5]

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 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.[10] The front later joined with the Social Democratic Party 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.

In September 2006, Kingibe returned to Nigeria and joined the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2007 presidential election[11], won by Umaru Yar'Adua, it was widely believed that Kingibe considered running for president, before later joining the Yar'Adua administration.[12]

In 1993, after the cancellations of presidential elections in which Shehu Yar'Adua was a candidate, Kingibe put himself forward as a presidential candidate. He made a split from his initial camp, the PFN group and used his relationships with SDP state party chairmen to build his campaign. He lost the keenly contested primary conducted in Jos but after much prodding from SDP governors, he was selected by the primary winner, MKO Abiola as Vice-presidential running mate, creating a Muslim-Muslim ticket which was initially thought to be a deal breaker in the general elections. The pair won the electoral majority although the result was annulled by abdicating president General Ibrahim Babangida.[13]

Kingibe later joined the Abacha administration 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.[14]

In June 2007, he was appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation.[15] He was unceremoniously removed from office on September 8, 2008 by the President Umaru Yar'Adua,[16] after spreading rumors about the President's ill-health while believed to be contending for the presidency.[17]

Kingibe has been a powerful behind the scenes decision-maker in the Buhari administration, alongside chief of staff Abba Kyari.[18]