President Bola Tinubu has dispatched a five-man delegation to represent Nigeria at the burial of American civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, conveying condolences and honoring his legacy.
President Bola Tinubu has sent a five-man delegation to represent him and Nigeria at the final burial rites of Rev. Jesse Jackson, the American civil rights leader, activist, and former presidential candidate who passed away at age 84 on February 17, 2026, in Chicago. Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, will lead the delegation, which also includes 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 on Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaye.
The delegation is tasked with delivering President Tinubu’s message of condolences to the Jackson family. In an earlier tribute, the President described Rev. Jackson as “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.”
Rev. Jackson’s burial programme began on February 26 with a lying-in-state at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago, followed by services in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., and a lying-in-state at the South Carolina Statehouse from March 1-5. A “People’s Celebration” will take place at the House of Hope in Chicago on March 6, culminating in a private homegoing ceremony on March 7 at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.