By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday expressed what he called ‘heartfelt commiserations’ with the family, friends and associates of Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Justice Sylvanus Adiewere Nsofor, over his demise.
Nsofor who the presidency described as “outgoing ambassador” died Thursday night at the age of 85.
A statement by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, said Buhari in a telephone call to Jane, the widow of the retired justice in New York on Friday, described Ambassador Nsofor as “an outstanding judge of rare courage and truth who is not afraid to give justice to whom justice is due.”
The statement further said: “Apparently referring to the 2003 presidential election during which Justice Nsofor delivered a minority judgment as a member of the Election Appeal Panel in favour of Gen. Buhari as candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the President said the country will miss people with such exemplary pedigree.”
Meanwhile, President Buhari has directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with Justice Nsofor’s family on the burial arrangements and prayed God to comfort all who mourn the departed jurist and grant his soul eternal rest.
Nsofor will be the second consecutive Nigeria’s ambassador to the U.S. to die in office.
A retired justice of Nigeria’s Court of Appeal, Nsofor assumed office as Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States on November 13, 2017.
He succeeded Prof. Adebowale Adefuye who also died towards the end of his tenure as Nigeria’s ambassador to the U.S.
Born on March 17, 1935, in Oguta, Imo State, Nsofor graduated from London’s now-defunct Holborn College of Law in 1962. He also bagged an LL.M from the London School of Economics in 1964.
