President Muhammadu Buhari has described the former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington, as Nigeria’s ‘Long Time Friend’ who was courageous.
The president said he openly supported the people of this country when they fought for the return of democracy, after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 elections won by Moshood Abiola.
According to him, the story of Nigeria’s democracy under the Fourth Republic will not be complete without mentioning the heroic roles of the likes of Ambassador Carrington.
Mr. Carrington served as the US Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal from 1980 to 1981.
In 1993, he assumed office in Nigeria as ambassador and remained in the country till 1997.
His connection with Nigeria grew beyond diplomacy as he married an Edo state born medical doctor.
He will be remembered for his anti-dictatorship stance exhibited during the reign of General Sani Abacha.
Mr Carrington was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Senegal and Nigeria.
He served as the US Ambassador to Senegal from 1980 to 1981. He was appointed by U.S President Bill Clinton in 1993 as the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, where he remained until 1997. His ties to Nigeria were deep; he had married into a Nigerian family[6] and had lived in three Nigerian cities since the late 1960s.
Mr Carrington graduated from the Harvard Law School (AB 1952; JD 1955). Upon graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, where one of his assignments was as an enlisted man with the Judge Advocate General Corps (Germany, 1955–57).
Upon separation from the military, he entered a private law practice in Boston, Massachusetts; during that time, he also served as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the youngest person to serve until that date.
He held various positions in the Peace Corps from 1961 to 1971, serving as Country Director in Sierra Leone, Senegal, and Tunisia and then as Regional Director for Africa (1969–71). From 1971 to 1980, he was Executive Vice President of the African-American Institute.
