- Safiu Kehinde
The United States Mission has announced the closure of its Embassy in Abuja and the Consulate General in Lagos for the celebration of the U.S Independence Day on Friday.
This was announced in a post on the Mission’s official X handle on Friday.
According to the post, both the Embassy and the Consulate General Office will be closed on Friday, July 4, 2025, in observance of U.S. Independence Day.
The annual Independence Day celebration is held in commemoration of the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
According to Britannica, the Continental Congress had voted in favor of independence from Great Britain on July 2 but did not actually complete the process of revising the Declaration of Independence—originally drafted by Thomas Jefferson in consultation with fellow committee members John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and William Livingston—until two days later.
The celebration of the declaration’s completion was initially modeled on that of the British king’s birthday, which had been marked annually by bell ringing, bonfires, solemn processions, and oratory.
Such festivals had long played a significant role in the Anglo-American political tradition. Especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, when dynastic and religious controversies racked the British Empire (and much of the rest of Europe), the choice of which anniversaries of historic events were celebrated and which were lamented had clear political meanings.
The ritual of toasting the king and other patriot-heroes—or of criticizing them—became an informal kind of political speech. This was formalized in the mid-18th century, when the toasts given at taverns and banquets began to be printed in newspapers.
Recent celebrations had however seen a shift in the mode with performances by military bands and events held at important sites.