By Chidi Ugwu
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a five-person delegation to represent him and the country at the final burial rites of Rev. Jesse Jackson, the American civil rights leader, activist and former presidential candidate.
Jackson passed away at age 84 on February 17, 2026, in Chicago.
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Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President, (Information and Strategy), in a statement, noted that Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, is the leader of the delegation.
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.
The delegation will deliver President Tinubu’s message of condolences to the Jackson family.
In an earlier tribute, President Tinubu described Reverend Jackson as a great friend of Nigeria and Africa.
“He was a moral voice and a formidable resistance to apartheid in South Africa. He played a leading role in the campaign for the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and other African National Congress leaders. He won critical support for sanctions against the then apartheid government”, President Tinubu wrote.
The burial programme for the civil rights leader began 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 1-5.
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.
