Foremost diplomat and Nigerian Ambassador to the United States of America, Prof. Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye died yesterday Thursday August 27, 2015 after suffering a seizure while being driven by his chauffeur in Washington D.C., the U.S. capital.

He was said to have given up the ghost before they could get to the hospital.

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, before the appointment of a new ambassador.


Embassy officials, who confirmed his deatg, 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.

The Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State-born, Ambassador, obtained 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.”

He studied at Columbia University, the University of North Florida and the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Amb. 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.


Some of 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.

This is rather unfortunate. May he rest in peace.

rip

He was murdered by the US.

He was supposed to grant an interview in a major news outlet on ISWAP.

Adefuye never stopped to ciritisize the US govt deliberate and open attempts at frustrating the war against boko haram.

Adefuye was set to be relieved of his ambassadorial post by Buhari any time soon. So Adefuye wanted to use the world stage to air his own views about US complicity in supporting terror groups.

He was also expected to comment on the visa scandal granted by the Nigerian Consulate in Lebanon to a wanted terrorist fugitive.