Nigeria’s Ambassador and Head of Missions in the United States of America, Prof. Ade Adefuye is dead. He died on Thursday in a hospital in Washington, DC according to reports.
Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye a former history professor was appointed Ambassador of Nigeria to the United States in March 2010.
A former professor of history, Mr. Adefuye was in 2010 appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria’s ambassador in the US. An outspoken person and fierce defender of Nigeria, the deceased diplomat tackled critics of Nigeria in the US. He played an instrumental role in persuading the U.S. to remove Nigeria country from the government’s “country of interest” terrorism watch list.
Nigeria was placed on the list following the December 25, 2009, terrorist incident where Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight headed from Amsterdam to Detroit.
Mr. Adefuye hailed from Ijebu-Igbo in 1947, and studied at the University of Ibadan where he earned his first degree in 1969 as well as a PhD in history in 1973. He also received a Fulbright Fellowship that enabled him to do research work at Columbia University, the University of North Florida, and the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Ambassador Adefuye, who wrote several history texts, taught at the University of Lagos, earning a professorship and heading the History Department 1985 to 1987.
Prior to his appointment to Nigeria’s Embassy in Washington, DC, Mr. Adefuye served as his country’s ambassador to Jamaica (where he was concurrently accredited to Haiti and Belize) from 1987 to 1991. In 1991, he was appointed Nigeria’s Deputy High Commissioner in the U.K., leaving to work for fourteen years as a Deputy Director at the Commonwealth. On leaving the Commonwealth, the former professor accepted a position as an advisor at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
(Hattip: The Guardian, Sahara Reporters)
