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By Goli Innocent
President Bola Tinubu has appointed Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, to head a five-man delegation to the funeral of American civil rights icon Jesse Jackson.
Jackson, who died on February 17 at the age of 84, will be laid to rest after a series of memorial events across the United States.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency said the delegation would formally deliver Tinubu’s message of condolence to the Jackson family.
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Other members of the delegation include Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Minister of Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Hannatu Musawa, Special Presidential Envoy for Global and Pan-African Affairs Brian Browne, and Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and International Relations, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaye.
Tinubu had earlier paid tribute to Jackson, describing him as “a great friend of Nigeria and Africa” and “a moral voice” who stood firmly against apartheid in South Africa. The President noted that Jackson played a prominent role in global advocacy for the release of Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the African National Congress.
Jackson’s burial rites began on February 26 with a lying-in-state at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition headquarters in Chicago. Additional services were held in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., including a lying-in-state at the South Carolina Statehouse.
Born in the segregated American South, Jackson rose to national prominence as a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr. and later ran twice for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017 and remained active in public life for decades.
