President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a five-person delegation to represent Nigeria at the final burial rites of Rev. Jesse Jackson, the American civil rights leader, activist, and former presidential candidate, who passed away at the age of 84 on February 17, 2026, in Chicago.
This was disclosed in a statement signed on Wednesday by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy.
Leading the delegation is Senator George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Other members include 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 group will convey President Tinubu’s message of condolences to the Jackson family.
In a tribute following Jackson’s passing, President Tinubu had described the late civil rights leader 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,” the President wrote.
The burial programme began on February 26 with a lying-in-state at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago.
Additional services were held in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., including a lying-in-state at the South Carolina Statehouse from March 1-5.
On March 6, a “People’s Celebration” is scheduled at the House of Hope in Chicago, followed by a private homegoing service on March 7 at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.