Ambassador Babagana Kingibe was born on the 25th June, 1945. Ambassador Kingibe hails from Borno State. He is a Nigerian politician who, in the course of his public service, held many high-level Nigerian governmental positions and undertaken a number of international assignments.
Ambassador Babagana Kingibe served from October 2002 to
September 2006 as African Union Special Envoy to Sudan and subsequently Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission and head of the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and Darfur. Before that he was the Rapporteur of the Committee on Defence and Security of the Inter Congolese Dialogue which restored peace to the DRC following the Sun City Accords of 2011.
Ambassador Kingibe has a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from the University of Sussex and attended a post graduate course at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
He started his working career as a Research and Planning Officer and taught International Relations at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
In 1970, he was invited to set up and head a new Department of Features and Current Affairs at the Broadcasting Corporation of Northern Nigeria. Having accomplished that task, he joined the Nigerian Foreign Service in 1972, and was seconded to the Cabinet Office as Principal Secretary in 1976. He was involved in the implementation of the Government’s program to return to civil rule, including states creation, boundary adjustments, and local government reforms.
In 1981, the Civilian Government of President Shehu Shagari appointed Ambassador Kingibe as the Nigerian Ambassador to Greece and later Pakistan. It was from Pakistan that Ambassador Kingibe was recalled and appointed Permanent Secretary in the Presidency. In this capacity, he served as the Secretary of the Constituent Assembly which drafted the Constitution of the aborted Third Republic.
In 1989, Ambassador Kingibe resigned from Government service and entered the Nigerian political scene at the beginning of the Third Republic. He became the Director of Organisation of the People’s Front of Nigeria (PFN) which metamorphosed into the Social Democratic Party in 1989, and emerged as its National Chairman.
In 1993, he contested and lost the keenly contested Presidential Primaries to Chief MKO Abiola who nevertheless picked him as Vice-Presidential running mate. This ticket overwhelmingly won the Presidential Elections in June 1993 which was ultimately annulled by the Military Government of President Ibrahim Babangida. Following the widespread demonstrations and civil disruptions which the hastily put together Interim National Government was unable to control, Ambassador Kingibe, together with other prominent politicians of the time, joined the Abacha Government first as Foreign Minister and later Minister of Internal Affairs, and Minister of Power and Steel. His last formal Government service was as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation under the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s Administration between July 2007 and September 2008. However, President Mohammadu Buhari bought him out of retirement and appointed him the Special Envoy to the Lake Chad Basin Commission to Chad in May 2021 to assist the country’s return to Democratic Rule.
In recognition of his immense contributions to nation building, he had been awarded the National Honours of the Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) in 2008 and the Grand Commander of the Order of Niger (GCON)
in 2019.
Ambassador Kingibe is married with children and grandchildren.
