Tinubu sends Akume, 4 others to US for Jesse Jackson’s funeral

President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday directed Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation to lead a delegation of Nigerians to the funeral of Reverend Jesse Jackson, the American civil rights leader and activist.

Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy said Akume would be leading a 5-person delegation for the former US presidential candidate’s funeral.

According to Onanuga, the Nigerian delegates are expected to represent President Tinubu at the funeral rites of an activist who died at the age of 84 on February 17, in Chicago.

Other members are the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu; the Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa; the Special Presidential Envoy for Global and Pan-African Affairs, Brian Browne; and the Senior Special Assistant, Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaye.

Onanuga said, “The delegation will deliver President Tinubu’s message of condolences to the Jackson family.”

He added that Tinubu, in an earlier tribute, had described Jackson as a great friend of Nigeria and Africa who served as a moral voice and a formidable resistance to apartheid in South Africa.

Jackson’s funeral rites would begin on February 26, with a lying-in-state at Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago. Services in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., and a lying-in-state at the South Carolina Statehouse were scheduled for March 1 to 5. 

Also, on March 6, a “People’s Celebration” will take place at House of Hope in Chicago, followed by a private homegoing on March 7 at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.