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Former Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye has been confirmed dead. Mr. Adefuye reportedly died on Thursday at a yet to be disclosed hospital in the United States. Mr. Adefuye who is an historian of repute was recalled to Nigeria after President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as President.
He was yet to be called upon for his proper handing over to the new ambassador which he waited to do before death came calling.
A former professor of history, Mr. Adefuye was in 2010 appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan as Nigeria’s ambassador in the United States.
Born in 1947, Prof. Adefuye hailed from Ijebu-Igbo 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).