Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has revealed that governors of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) pressured Chief Moshood Abiola into selecting Babagana Kingibe as his running mate instead of him during the historic 1993 presidential election.
Atiku, who was a key figure in the SDP at the time, had stepped down for Abiola in the party’s presidential primaries following an intervention by political leader Shehu Yar’Adua.
However, despite an initial understanding that he would be considered as Abiola’s vice-presidential candidate, party governors reportedly opposed the move and instead insisted that Kingibe be chosen.
In a report by DAILY TRUST, Atiku revealed that these governors had secured their party tickets under Kingibe’s leadership when he was the SDP chairman, and they felt a sense of loyalty toward him. They warned Abiola that if he did not select Kingibe as his running mate, they would withdraw their support for his candidacy.
Faced with this pressure, Abiola eventually decided to abandon the initial agreement and went ahead with Kingibe as his vice-presidential pick.
While Abiola and Kingibe won the election, it was later annulled by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida, plunging Nigeria into political turmoil.
In his words; “I think there have been some misinterpretation or misrepresentation of what actually happened, even though I had in the past addressed the circumstances surrounding that incident. They (SDP Governors) threatened him and said, ‘Look, if you don’t take Kingibe, we are not going to support you.’ And the reason being that, all of them got their tickets when Kingibe was the chairman of SDP and Abiola felt that it was a risk worth taking.”
