By Adesina Soyooye
Repeating, almost, word for word, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s claim, in Abeokuta, to the Presidential seat of Nigeria in 2023, Ambassador
Babagana Kingibe endorsed him for the top job. “Eyin lo kan (you are the next) Kingibe told Tinubu at a meeting the two of them had in Abuja over the weekend.
A couple of days to the Presidential Primary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on June 7 where Tinubu had a landslide victory, Tinubu had told delegates in Abeokuta that: “It is the turn of the Yoruba, and it is my tenure.”
Kingibe’s endorsement is significant. Aside from being one of the most respected  technocrats and diplomats from the North, he was the running mate to Chief MKO Abiola in the annulled June 12, 2023, Presidential election presumed to have been won by the pair.
Unfortunately, while Kingibe served in the General Sani Abacha regime, Abiola was clamped into detention where he eventually died.
Kingibe said Tinubu would be Nigeria’s next President.
Kingibe, who was also a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation under President Olusegun Obasanjo, said he endorsed Tinubu in appreciation of the APC candidate’s sacrifices for democracy.
Kingibe: “You will move from Jagaban of Borgu to Jagaban of Nigeria; from Asiwaju of Lagos to Asiwaju of Nigeria. For all your sacrifices, for all your effort, God will reward you this time.”
Just before the Presidential Primary, 11 APC Northern Governors endorsed a rotation of the Presidential seat from the North to the South. It is believed that most of them swung victory to Tinubu’s way.
He defeated a strong field which included Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the immediate past Minister for Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi by garnering 1,271 votes.
