Former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, Passes Away.

Former US Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, passed away on Wednesday. This was confirmed in a statement signed by his wife, Arese Carrington.

Who was Walter Carrington? 

Ambassador Walter Charles Carrington was born on July 24, 1930, in New York City to Marjorie Irene Hayes and Walter R. Carrington. He attended Harvard Law School where he was one of the four Black students present there, at the time. At 27, he was the youngest person to serve as the Commissioner of Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. In 1980, he served President Jimmy Carter’s administration as Ambassador to Senegal. In 1981, he was named director of the Department of International Affairs at Howard University. In 1993, President Clinton appointed him Ambassador to Nigeria where he opposed the abuses of President Sani Abacha and in 2010 published A Duty to Speak: Refusing to Remain Silent in a time of Tyranny.

Why does this matter? 

Young Nigerians might associate his name with the road in Lagos’ Victoria Island on which the U.S. embassy and Stanbic IBTC’s head office is located. That honor marked the conclusion of a diplomatic row between Nigeria and the U.S which started after a street corner in New York City close to the Nigerian U.N mission was named after Kudirat Abiola- the assassinated activist and wife of the then imprisoned M.K.O Abiola. In petty fashion, the Nigerian government retaliated by renaming the Lagos street hosting the US Embassy after the African American anti-establishment activist Louis Farrakhan who was sympathetic to the Abacha dictatorship. Subsequently, upon the return to democracy, the street was named after the most recent US ambassador- Walter Carrington. It is a reflection of the reverence with which Carrington was viewed in Nigeria after living across three cities in the country since the 60s.

He passionately opposed military rule in the country and advocate for human rights and the return of civilian rule after Babaginda handed power over to a civilian interim President, Ernest Shonekan, who was later removed in a coup led by General Sani Abacha. As a result of this, he was named, ‘Adewale‘ which translates to “a child has returned home” in Yoruba. After the successful return of Nigeria to civilian rule, he continued to fight for democracy after his tour of duty to the country came to an end. In 2011, the United Nations established the Carrington Youth Fellowship Initiative (CYFI) to bring together young Nigerians with ideas and projects that could have a positive impact on the country. Former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, hosted a banquet in his honor to commemorate his 80th birthday.

Carrington published A Duty to Speak: Refusing to Remain Silent in a time of Tyranny, a collection of speeches made during his time as Ambassador to Nigeria documenting his opposition to the abuses of General Sani Abacha in 2010.

The late American diplomat who passed away at 90 was also married to a Nigerian- Arese, an accomplished medical doctor and international public health consultant.