President Bola 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 died at the age of 84 on February 17, 2026.
In a statement on Wednesday, signed by his media aide, Bayo Onanuga, the President confirmed that “Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, would lead the delegation.”
Other members 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.”
The statement said the delegation will “deliver President Tinubu’s message of condolences to the Jackson family.”
Tinubu had earlier described 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.”
The statement further revealed Jackson’s burial programme, which began on February 26, 2026, with a lying-in-state at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago.
Services were also held in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., including a lying-in-state at the South Carolina Statehouse from March 1–5.
A “People’s Celebration” was scheduled for March 6 at the House of Hope, Chicago, followed by a private homegoing on March 7 at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Born and raised in the segregated South, Jesse Jackson became a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr. and twice pursued the Democratic presidential nomination.
He was a longtime resident of Chicago and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017.
