As burial programmes for the late civil rights leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson get to the hilt this Saturday, President Bola Tinubu is honouring the distinguished American he had described as a great friend of Nigeria with a high-powered federal delegation.
Nigeria will be represented in the lying-in-state at the South Carolina Statehouse as well as the “People’s Celebration” holding at House of Hope in Chicago on Friday by a five-person delegation led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume will lead 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.
This was contained in a statement issued yesterday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, who added that the delegation will deliver President Tinubu’s message of condolences to the Jackson family.
Jackson passed away at age 84 on February 17, 2026, in Chicago, United States.
Jesse Jackson Wasn’t Just Nigeria’s Friend But A NADECO Member
In an earlier tribute, President Tinubu described Jackson as a great friend of Nigeria and Africa who “was a moral voice and a formidable resistance to apartheid in South Africa.”
But a former Minister of External Affairs, Bolaji Akinyemi, would disclose that the late US civil rights leader was in the trenches with pro-democracy activists during Nigeria’s June 12 struggle under the maximum ruler, General Sani Abacha.
Speaking shortly after the death of Jackson, Akinyemi said on Channels Television, “He (Jackson) was part of us in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). Yes, the President of the United States had appointed him a Special Envoy for Democracy.
“But that was just a cover for him to be involved in the June 12 struggle in Nigeria. To show you he paid particular attention to me, whenever we were in the United States demonstrating, he would ask me to please stand aside and not be arrested by the Washington Police. He took that particular interest, not only in me but on other Nigerians in the struggle,” he said.
Alo360 reports that President Tinubu was one of the leaders of NADECO, helping to fund their operations.
