Nigerian Ambassador To US, Prof Adefuye Is Dead

Foremost diplomat and Nigerian Ambassador to the United States of
America, Prof. Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye is dead. He died on Thursday
after suffering a seizure while being driven by his chauffeur in
Washington D.C., the U.S. capital.

Sources said before he could get to the hospital, he gave up the ghost.

Last month, Adefuye, among several other Nigerian envoys, had been
recalled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was expected to
handover to the Consular General this month, pending the appointment
of a new ambassador.

One of his last major assignments was to receive President Muhammadu
Buhari and his delegation during the president's three-day official
visit to the U.S. last month.

Embassy officials, who confirmed his demise, said a send off reception
was planned for him next Wednesday, but this will now be turned to a
memorial service.

A former professor of History, Prof. Adefuye has been Nigeria's
ambassador to the U.S since March 2010.

Born in Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, circa 1947, Adefuye received his first
degree in History at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 1969, and in
1973 earned a Ph.D. in History there, with a dissertation on "The
Political History of the Palwo, 1400-1911."

As a Fulbright scholar he studied at Columbia University, the
University of North Florida and the University of Florida in
Gainesville.

Adefuye started his academic career as a lecturer at the University of
Lagos, where he rose to the position of professor, published books and
articles, and served as Head of the History Department from 1985 to
1987.

Among the books he has written are "History of the Peoples of Lagos
State" (1987) and "Culture and Foreign Policy: The Nigerian Example"
(1993).

He received his first diplomatic posting as High Commissioner to
Jamaica, with concurrent accreditation to Haiti and Belize, a job he
kept from 1987 to 1991.

From 1991 to 1994, he served as Deputy High Commissioner at the
Nigerian Embassy in London, U.K., from where he was hired by the
Commonwealth (formerly the British Commonwealth of Nations) as Deputy
Director of Strategic Planning.

After fourteen years with the Commonwealth, Adefuye took a job with
the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), where he
served as an Advisor for two years, from 2008 to 2010.
As U.S. ambassador, Adefuye helped to persuade the U.S. to remove
Nigeria from its "country of interest" terrorism watch list. Nigeria
was placed on the list following the December 25, 2009 failed attempt
by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight
headed from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Describing relations between Nigeria and the U.S., Adefuye once told
the New African, "Historically, we've had a love-hate relationship
with the United States. We are of strategic importance to America;
that no one can deny. They want us to be a bastion of democracy, a
peaceful nation. If we're not, they get very angry."

-THISDAY LIVE