Possible Clues:

• African hugged by drunken Yank
• Knowledge about New York and a person from Nairobi
• Important to welcome leader in Nigeria, an African
• European and North American finally put forward African
• Many a marathon champion
• Obama's father, for one
• From Nairobi, e.g.
• Some had taken Yankee for an East African
• Many a New York City Marathon winner
• African-American mostly pursuing knowledge