Babagana Kingibe says Nigerians should be inspired by the sacrifice of the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 1993 election Moshood Abiola.

Kingibe was Abiola’s running mate in the annulled election which was presumed to have been won by the SDP.

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30 years after the exercise, Kingibe told reporters in Abuja on Monday that Abiola’s commitment to the country should inspire Nigerians.

When asked if the country has done enough to remember Abiola as the country marks the 2023 Democracy Day, he said,” Well, I don’t know when is enough, enough? May his soul rest in peace. The President Abiola is no more. We can’t bring him back. And whatever we do, will never bring him back to life. But we should never forget.

“We should be inspired by his courage. We should be inspired by his steadfast commitment, and we should be inspired by his willingness to sacrifice his life, which he has, and for which I think the country will forever be grateful.”

The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) says Monday’s Democracy Day event evokes nostalgia of sadness as he hailed Tinubu for his speech on the occasion.

“Well, it always brings back very vivid memories of the whole process and sadness at the end of the process with the annulment, but I think today as always, I believe in looking forward and the President in his Democracy Day address has set out the markers as to where we are coming from,” he said.

“ And he has set up beacons as to the direction we should take to make our country great, to strengthen democracy and to defend democracy at all times. And I believe that his speech was really inspiring and I think all right thinking men and women of this country should very carefully go through and be inspired by it and be guided by it. It is a great thing.”