Buhari mourns 85-year-old Nigeria’s ambassador to U.S.

President Muhammadu Buhari has commiserated with the family, friends and associates of Nigeria’s out-going Ambassador to the United States (US), Justice Sylvanus Adiewere Nsofor, over his demise.

In a telephone call to Jane, widow of the retired Justice in New York, yesterday, the President described Nsofor as “an outstanding Judge of rare courage and truth, who is not afraid to give justice to whom justice is due.”

Apparently referring to the 2003 presidential election during which Nsofor delivered a minority judgment as a member of the Election Appeal Panel in his favour as candidate of the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the President said the country would miss people with such exemplary pedigree.

Buhari, who directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with Nsofor’s family on the burial arrangements, prayed to God to comfort all that mourn the departed jurist and grant his soul eternal rest.

Nsofor reportedly died on Thursday night at 85.

A retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Nsofor assumed office as Nigeria’s ambassador to the US on November 13, 2017. He succeeded Professor Adebowale Adefuye, who died towards the end of his tenure.

Born on March 17, 1935 in Oguta, Imo State, Nsofor graduated from London’s now-defunct Holborn College of Law in 1962 and bagged an LL.M from the London School of Economics in 1964.