BrandiQ Report
Walter Carrington, former United States Ambassador to Nigeria is dead. He died on Tuesday in the United States. He was aged 90.
His wife Dr. Arese Carrington confirmed the news in a short statement on Wednesday.
She wrote: “It is with a heavy and broken heart but with gratitude to God for his life of selfless humanity that I announce the passing of my beloved husband Walter Carrington, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and Senegal. He passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones at the age of 90yrs old on Tuesday, August 11th, 2020. Further announcements will be made shortly. Walter was a loving husband, father, grandfather, cousin, uncle, friend and in-law”.
Carrington, who was appointed as US ambassador to Nigeria in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, played a major role in helping to enthrone democracy in Nigeria. He was a fearless diplomat as he played his role with courage and boldness at a time in Nigeria political history described as the dark days of the country.
Carrington was brave, outspoken, and a champion of human rights. He advocated for Nigeria’s return to democratic rule. Even though he faced threats from the established government he continued to call for the end of military rule throughout his tour in Nigeria and after returning to the United States.
Carrington started his diplomatic carrier in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter appointed him as Ambassador to Senegal. At the end of his meritorious service, President Abdou Diouf conferred on him the national award of Commander in the Order of the Lion.
Born in 1931, the retired diplomat was a civil rights activist during his university days at Harvard University. Carrington was the first student elected to the National Board of Directors of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). A graduate of Harvard College (1952) and Harvard Law School (1955), Carrington practiced law in Massachusetts and served on the three-member Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination becoming, at the age of 27, the youngest person to be appointed a commissioner in the state’s history. While there, he was in charge of the case which led to the Boston Red Sox, the last remaining all-white Major League Baseball Team, hiring their first black player.
He returned to Africa in 1961 as one of the first overseas Directors of the Peace Corps. In 1967 he had the responsibility of evacuating the young Americans as Biafran troops were advancing towards Benin.
After the Peace Corps, Carrington’s professional career continued to revolve around Africa. He became a highly respected American specialist on Africa and America’s policy toward the Continent.
In the 1970s, as Executive Vice President of the African-American Institute in New York, he oversaw programs that provided scholarships to hundreds of Nigerians for study in the United States. He served as publisher of the Institute’s magazine, Africa Report, which was then the leading publication on African affairs in the United States. He reported on Nigeria’s post-war efforts of reconstruction and rehabilitation.
Walter Carrington was married to Nigerian-born Arese, a medical doctor, international public health consultant, and human rights activist. They met in Nigeria and got married during his tour of duty as a US envoy in 1995.
