Carrington: Lifelong civil rights advocate takes a bow

Former United States Ambassador to Nigeria Walter Carrington, who passed away last week, had a long-lasting relationship with Nigeria, which he first visited in 1959. In this article, Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI pays tribute to a man who had an illustrious career in the academia and the diplomatic service, as well as a lifetime work in the service humanity, especially the black race

The death of former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Omowale Carrington last week at the ripe age of 90 has brought back memories of the role he played in the struggle for the restoration of civilian rule in Nigeria. Carrington etched his name in the annals of Nigerian history, as an envoy who defied diplomatic niceties to support the struggle for the restoration of civil rule during the dark days of the military junta led by the late General Sani Abacha.

Carrington was appointed ambassador to Nigeria in 1993 by former President Bill Clinton. He assumed duty a few months after the annulment of June 12, 1993, presidential election won by the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. He was the last envoy to present his letter of credence to the head of the then Interim National Government (ING), Chief Ernest Shonekan in October 1993. He told Shonekan at the occasion that he was happy to return to Nigeria, which he first visited in 1959.

He also expressed the dismay of the United States’ government about the turn of events in Nigeria at the time, which he said came as a disappointment to Nigerians and friends of Nigeria in the international community. His words: “We, like you, had great hopes that the elections of June 12 would lead to a permanent restoration of elected civilian government. Like you, our hopes were dashed by the annulment of those elections. How you will go forward from here to accommodate the sovereign will of your people is, of course, a decision only Nigerians can make.”

Thus, he maintained the usual diplomatic attitude of being aloof, at least openly about unfolding political events in the country. Even after Abacha overthrew Shonekan in a “palace coup” and took over the reins of government Carrington still maintained that the situation in Nigeria was purely an internal affair of the country. In this regard, he was quoted as saying that he thought the tenure of the Abacha military regime would be brief.

But, the turning point came with the arrest of Abiola. His words: “It was fair to say that not until May or June 1994, there had really been no significant human rights violations in spite of everything else. They hadn’t begun to jail people — aside from arrests and release of people generally. I think the turning point came with the arrest of Abiola. I remember that I was back in the (United) States and was ready to attend the World Cup matches, and was in my hometown of Boston to see the matches. I got a phone call which summoned me to Lagos immediately. That started the series of human rights abuses and which resulted in the people in the United States losing their tolerance.”

Against this background, Carrington subsequently emerged as one of the severest critics of the Abacha-led military regime and became a rallying point for the campaign to restore the civil rule in Nigeria. He provided the necessary moral support that empowered human rights and pro-democracy activists to continue the fight for the restoration of civilian rule. In his tribute to the late diplomat, Governor Kayode Fayemi, who was also an activist at the time, said Carrington diligently served humanity in his life using the instrumentalities of law, academia and diplomacy in his home country and other parts of the world where he worked. Fayemi credited Carrington with solving some problems encountered by the pro-democracy movement in the course of freeing Nigerians from the jackboots of the then ruling military junta. He said Carrington was on the side of Nigerians and stood by the truth and that he did so at the risk of his life.

As ambassador to Nigeria, Carrington was a patriotic American who represented his country very well. But, it was also obvious that he loved Nigeria and the black race in general. Indeed, the late diplomat had a life-long relationship with Africa. On the eve of Nigeria’s Independence, in 1959, he led a group of students on a programme called ‘The Experiment in International Living’, where they spent a summer living with Nigerian families in Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Kano and Kaduna. The then young Carrington fell in love with the country the moment he stepped on her shores.

Born on July 24, 1931, in New York, the late Carrington is not a stranger to activism. He was a civil rights activist during his university days at Harvard University. He was the first student elected to the National Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Thus, he was part of the civil rights movement in the US in the ’60s led by the legendary Martin Luther King Jnr.  He was a director of the US Peace Corp in Sierra Leone in 1961. He has also served in Tunisia and Senegal. In 1967 he had the responsibility of evacuating the young Americans as Biafran troops were advancing towards Benin City.

When he came back to Nigeria in 1993, it was like the return of the native. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo aptly captured the essence of that homecoming when he named him “Omowale”, meaning “our child has come home”. To crown it all, he married a Nigerian, Arese Ukpoma, a medical doctor from Edo State during his sojourn as US ambassador in 1995.

Carrington may not have compromised his duties as a US envoy, but he went beyond his brief as a diplomat. As a result, he was called all sorts of names by the Abacha-led junta, such as “NADECO ambassador” because he risked his life to support those fighting for the restoration of civil rule. This was why the Abacha regime was openly hostile to the late Carrington and the US government. At the end of his tour of duty in Nigeria, members of the regime were jubilating that Carrington was leaving the country.

In recognition of his contribution to the birth of the current political dispensation, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu renamed former Eleke Crescent in Victoria Island,  Lagos, after him during his tenure as Lagos State governor. The street houses over a dozen diplomatic missions, including the United States Consulate. To spite Carrington, the late General Abacha had changed the name of the street to Louis Farrakhan Crescent, after the American religious leader, Rev. Louis Farrakhan, who was an ally of the regime.