|
DEATH TOLL RISES TO
215
IN LATEST RELIGIOUS AND ETHNIC VIOLENCE
IN KADUNA, AND ABUJA IN NORTHERN
NIGERIA...
 Churches
burned, cars vandalized and stores looted since Wednesday
Nov 21, 2002, when Muslims started a riot over World beauty
pageant in Nigeria. Mosques have been added to the bonfire
in bloody killings further sparked by ThisDay
newspaper article which suggested Prophet Mohammad would
have "probably" taken one of the contestants as a wife.
Conservative Muslim leaders in Nigeria have sharply
criticized the December 7, 2002 beauty pageant, saying it
promotes sexual promiscuity. Nigerian officials said they
fear the violence could spread to other cities
in
Nigeria's mostly Muslim north, especially the region's
largest city, Kano, which has been a center of unrest in the
past. Nigeria's president, retired
Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (in
picture, right) has been criticized for the way he has
handled the Sharia issue, and for not halting the violence.
ThisDay has since apologized on its front page,
twice, for publishing the article. Muslim protesters burned
the newspaper's office in Kaduna because of the commentary
by a writer. "Some churches have been burned and people have
also been killed, but I have no figures," a senior police
officer who asked not to be named said."I have counted no
less than 10 churches burned," said one resident who toured
the city on Thursday. "I
have seen and filmed two dead bodies on the
streets."
Implications of Obasanjo's
late wake up to the challenges of Sharia
in Nigeria. By Ken
Okorie
Osama
bin-Laden's goons
threaten Nigeria and Africa's stability. By Chido Nwangwu
SAFIYA GETS REPRIEVE
FROM ISLAMIC COURT:
Safiya Husaini, a Nigerian Muslim woman who had been
convicted of adultery under Islamic law and sentenced to
death by stoning has achieved a reprieve from a Sharia court
in the country. The lady who was divorced in Sokoto when she
had her young baby has drawn international interest from
civil rights activists and the media. She said what seems a
well-known point in northern Nigeria "Others have committed
worse crimes, but because they are men and because they have
influence in high places, they are not punished."Another
Muslim woman, Amina Lawal, has been sentenced to die by a
Sharia court at Bakori in Katsina State. She she confessed
to having had a child while divorced.
Sex and hypocrisy of Gendered
Justice
And the Rocks
Cried
Out (For Safiyatu).
By Effenus Henderson
Why Chinua
Achebe,
the Eagle on the Iroko,
is Africa's writer of the
century.
By Chido Nwangwu
 DEMOCRACY'S
WARRIOR Out
of Africa.
…The
cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but
his voice is the property of the neighborhood. -- Chinua
Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah. An editor carries on
his crusade against public corruption and press
censorship
in his native Nigeria and other African countries. By
John Suval.
Pope John Paul, Abacha and Nigeria's
Christians
DIPLOMACY
Walter
Carrington:
An African-American diplomat puts principles above self for
Nigeria 
USAfricaonline.com
Founder Chido Nwangwu with the U.S. former Ambassador
Carrington (right) at the U.S. embassy in Lagos during a
courtesy visit.
APPRECIATION
A young
father writes his One
year old son:
"If only my
heart had a voice...."
COUNTERPOINT
Tiger Woods is no Nelson
Mandela!
By Chido Nwangwu
SPORTS: Tiger
Woods makes more history with another golf Masters
win.
He shot 12-under-par 276
and a final round 71 at Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club
event and collected $1,008,000, on Sunday April 14, 2002.
With it, the world's golf phenom added another green jacket
to his array of championships and titles, placing him, in
this instance, in the same respected Masters' league as
Nicklaus (winner 1965 and 1966) and Nick Faldo (1989 and
1990). The three are the only men to win back-to-back
Masters. At 26, Woods has since become the youngest golfer
to win his seventh professional major championship. He was
joined by his parents and his 22 year-old Swedish model
girlfriend, Elin Nordegren.
Biafra-Nigeria
war
and history
get fresh, critical look from a
survivor.
By Alverna
Johnson and Vivian Okeke.
'Biafra: History
Without Mercy' - a preliminary note.
By Chido Nwangwu
ODUMEGWU EMEKA OJUKWU:"It
was simply a choice between Biafra and enslavement! And,
here's why we chose Biafra"
Biafra:
From Boys to Men. By Dr. M.O. Ene
African
Union: Old
wine in new skin?
Sharia, Sex and
hypocrisy of Gendered
Justice.
By Chika Unigwe,
columnist for
USAfricaonline.com
And the Rocks
Cried
Out (For Safiyatu).
By Effenus Henderson
OIL
in NIGERIA: Liquid
Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse?
NEWS
INVESTIGATION:
The
Marc
Rich Oil Deals in Nigeria
Should Africa debates begin and end
at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
AFRICA
AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS Beyond
U.S. electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a
democratic republic hold
lessons
for
African politics.
Osama
bin-Laden's goons threaten Nigeria and
 Africa's
stability
What
has Africa
to do with September 11
terror?
Africans
reported
dead
in terrorist
attack at
WTC
September
11
terror and
the ghost of things to come....
Arafat's
duplicity, terrorism at the heart of
Israeli-Palestinian crises. By Barry
Rubin
Will
religious conflicts be the time-bomb
for Nigeria's latest transition to civilian
rule?
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido Nwangwu
Should Africa debates begin
and end at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's
burden
mounts with murder charges, trials
Conflicting
emotions, feeling of disappointment, timing of revelation
that Rev. Jackson fathered a child with former aide lead to
charges of "right-wing
orchestration."
Nigeria's
Presidential Election: Is it just for the Highest
Bidder?
Nigeria at 40: punish financial thuggery,
build
domestic infrastructure
Is Obasanjo really up to
Nigeria's challenge and crises?
By USAfricaonline.com
contributing editor Ken Okorie. Commentary
appears from NigeriaCentral.com
Wong is wrong on Blacks in
Houston city jobs
Why is 4-year old Onyedika
carrying a placard against killings
in Nigeria?
How Nigeria's Islamic
Sharia crises
will affect the U.S.
USAfrica
INTERVIEW "Why
African
Catholics are
concerned about crises,
sex abuse issues in our
church" - a frank
chat with ICCO's Mike Umeorah
Why Bush should focus on
dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slipperyslide
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido Nwangwu
The Economics of Elections
in Nigeria
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY How far, how deep will
Nigeria's human rights commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as
emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity,
questions about what next in power
play?
COUNTERPOINT
'Why is
Bill Maher spreading racist nonsense about
HIV/AIDS
and Africa
on ABC?
USAfricaonline
LITERATURE As
Chinua Achebe
turned 70, Africa's preeeminent statesman Nelson
Mandela, Toni Morrison, Wole Soyinka, Ali Mazrui, Leon
Botstein (president of Bard College), Ojo Maduekwe, Emmanuel
Obiechina, Ngugi wa Thinong'o, Micere Mugo, Michael
Thelwell, Niyi Osundare, and an army of some of the world's
leading writers and arts scholars joined to pay tribute to
him at Bard College in New York. (Achebe is in pix
with Morrison). Meanwhile, the Nobel committee has,
again, chosen a relatively less known (globally-speaking)
Chinese novelist, Gao Xingjian, rather than Achebe for the
Literature prize. Achebe was seen as a top favorite for the
2000 award. What the Swedish  Nobel
committee will not give, Achebe has, for well over 30 years,
won in the hearts of millions in 53 languages. By Chido
Nwangwu
Literary giant Chinua
Achebe
returns "home" from
U.S., to love and adulation of community
Hate
groups' spin
by Lamar Alexander
benefits anti-Blacks, anti-Semites, and racists
Annan,
power and burden of the U.N
The
Civilianizing of African soldiers
into
Presidents
At
39,
Nigerians
still face dishonest
stereotypes such as Buckley's, and other self-inflicted
wounds.
JFK
Jr.: Death of a Good
Son
'Why is Bill
Maher spreading racist nonsense about HIV/AIDS
and Africa
on ABC?
National Summit
on Africa, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee hold policy forum in
Houston
'100 Black Men are solutions-oriented' says Thomas Dortch,
Jr., Richard Johnson and Nick Clayton II as they share
perspectives with USAfrica's founder on the national
organization.
ARTS
The Life
and Irreverent times of Afrobeat
superstar,
FELA
TRIBUTE
Tanzania's founding
president Julius Nyerere
|
Nnamdi
Azikiwe:
Statesman, Intellectual and Titan of African
politics
|
Community Service Awards bring African-American, American
policy
and business leaders together with African
community at Texas Southern University
110 minutes
with Hakeem Olajuwon
Cheryl
Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors'
game
Nigeria,
Cry My Beloved Country
BULLET
Versus BALLOT The bloody stain
of military coup, on Friday December 24, 1999, sullied the
once unique history of democratic rule in the beautiful and
historically democratic, French-speaking west African
country of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) by General Robert
Guei (inset). USAfricaonline
report
and
commentary.
COMMUNITY
INTEREST Why the
revisionist forces of racist oppression in South Africa
should not
be allowed to
intimidate Ron and Charlayne Gault.
|
Index of other Viewpoints
USAfricaonline contributors and columnists on the
issues
|
Will the rash of Ethnic
Violence
disrupt
Nigeria's effort at Democracy?
Nigerian
stabbed
to death
in his bathroom in Houston.
BUSINESS
Dr. Anaebonam's
strategic vision for BREEJ
is a model for business excellence and
empowerment.
|
INSIGHT: How
Obasanjo's
self-succession
charade
at his Ota Farm has
turned Nigeria to an
'Animal
Farm.'
By Prof. Mobolaji
Aluko
Is
Obasanjo ordained by God to rule
Nigeria?
And, other fallacies.
By Prof. Sola Adeyeye
Obasanjo was not sworn in merely to "mean
well" for Nigeria. By Obi Nwakanma
Obasanjo's
'prayers' and the
Abacha path of staying in power. By Nkem
Ekeopara
Sex,
Women and (Hu)Woman
Rights. By Chika Unigwe
 Abati's
Revisionisms
and Distortions of history. By Obi Nwakanma, USAfrica
The Newspaper contributing editor and award-winning poet
Reuben Abati's
fallacies
on Nigeria's
history and secession. By Bayo
Arowolaju
How Abati, Adelaja and others fuel the
campaign
of hatred against Ndigbo. By Jonas Okwara
"Obasanjo, secession and the secessionists":
A response to Reuben Abati's
Igbophobia. By Josh Arinze,
USAfricaonline.com contributing editor.
Abati and other anti-Igbo
bigots in Nigeria. By Chuks
Iloegbunam, USAfricaonline.com contributing editor and
author of Ironsi
DEMOCRACY DEBATE
CNN
International debate on Nigeria's democracy was livecast on
February 19, 2002. It involved Nigeria's Information
Minister Prof. Jerry Gana, Prof. Salih Booker and
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu. Transcripts
are available on the CNN International site.
WILL
ARINZE BE THE
FIRST
POPE of RECENT
AFRICAN
ORIGIN?
To our Brother Cardinal
Arinze: May your pastoral lineage endure!
The
Democratic
Party
stood for nothing in 2002
election cycle.
By Jonathan Elendu
HEALTHWATCH
EVA
champions efforts
to combat
AIDS
among Nigerian youth. By Jessica
Rubin
Pros and cons of the circumcision
debate. By Ngozi
Ezeji, RN
TRIBUTE
Prof.
Chimere
Ikoku: Remembering
the legacy of a pan-Africanist,
scientist and
gentleman. By Prof. Chudi Uwazurike
Can Africa live a future
without war? An
Open Letter to
Mandela. By Fubara
David-West, USAfricaonline.com contributing editor
INSIGHT
Why Martin
Luther King's
legacy
and vision are relevant into 21st century.
COUNTERPOINT
Tiger Woods is no Nelson
Mandela!
By Chido Nwangwu
SPORTS: Tiger
Woods makes more history with another golf Masters
win.
He shot 12-under-par 276
and a final round 71 at Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club
event and collected $1,008,000, on Sunday April 14, 2002.
With it, the world's golf phenom added another green jacket
to his array of championships and titles, placing him, in
this instance, in the same respected Masters' league as
Nicklaus (winner 1965 and 1966) and Nick Faldo (1989 and
1990). The three are the only men to win back-to-back
Masters. At 26, Woods has since become the youngest golfer
to win his seventh professional major championship. He was
joined by his parents and his 22 year-old Swedish model
girlfriend, Elin Nordegren.
Impeachment process shows
Nigerian democracy "is alive... being
tested." Nigeria's president retired Gen.
Olusegun Obasanjo
has said that the impeachment process shows that
"democracy is alive, is being tested, and being tried....
What they (the legislators) have tried to do in the
democratic way, which is not easy, would probably have been
done by taking arms or by -- with bullets. So, but with
democracy, of course, some people feel that this is the way
this should be, and then I have an opportunity to defend
myself. There is discussion. There is dialogue. There is a
decision. There is fairness." He made
these
comments when he
appeared on Tuesday September 17, 2002 on CNN International
to discuss the issues of impeachment facing him, the
allegations of corruption, abuse of the constitution and
deployment of soldiers ina civilian environment which led to
the "massacre of civilians" in Odi (Bayelsa) and Zaki Biam
(Benue). On the charges by
international human rights organizations and Nigerian media
that his government has been involved in actions which have
led to the deaths of thousands of Nigerians, the retired
General gave a surprising answer. He
was asked that "as many as 10,000 people, it's being
reported, have been killed in Nigeria (in) communal
rivalries, and the number is believed to be increasing. And
people are saying that although President Obasanjo has done
a lot of good for Nigeria, you're accused of not -- accused
of failing to halt that spiraling violence."
Obasanjo: Let me say this to you, when you put
the question of 10,000 -- 10,000 people dying in Nigeria, of
course, for a population of over 120 million people...."
But USAfricaonline.com Founder and
recipient of the Journalism Excellence award (1997),
Chido
Nwangwu, who appeared on the same program as as a CNN
International analyst (Africa) pointed out that "when
(President Obasanjo) answered that in a country of 100
million that 10,000 people are said to have died, as if that
was a small number, that in itself reflects a disconnect
with the concerns of Nigerians. The second one is that when
the risk is civil disagreement, the police are required to
intervene in the country. And the deployment of the armed
forces of Nigeria requires at least some consultation,
however modest, with the parliament." Nwangwu,
former member of the editorial board of Nigeria's Daily
Times continued that "the third
factor that is equally important to underscore is that the
armed forces of Nigeria moved in for a punitive action
rather than just containing a civil
disagreement." He noted in USAfricaonline.com
backgrounder "it was revealing and interesting interesting
discussing Nigeria's issues with its leader - under the
current circumstances of an increasingly out-of-schedule
elections and the gathering storm of an impeachment process
by a majority of the members of the National Assembly,
predominantly by Obasanjo's party members." See
rush
transcript of the CNN
International news program.
Obasanjo
facing corruption and ineptitude impeachment
charges, again since the parliament, a few weeks ago, passed
a motion carrying a majority of the members of Obasanjo's
party, the PDP.
RELIGION
AND ETHNIC CONFLICT: Sharia-related
killings and carnage in Kaduna reenact deadly prologue to
Nigeria-Biafra war
of 1967. By
Chido Nwangwu
It's wrong
to stereotype Nigerians as Drug
Dealers. By
Chido Nwangwu
Nigeria as a Nation of Vulcanizers
Why Colin Powell
brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush
presidency.
 Africa
suffers the scourge of the virus.
This life and pain of Kgomotso Mahlangu, a
five-month-old AIDS patient (above) in a hospital in the
Kalafong township near Pretoria, South Africa, on October
26, 1999, brings a certain, frightening reality to the
sweeping and devastating destruction of human beings who
form the core of any definition of a country's future, its
national security, actual and potential economic development
and internal markets. By Chido
Nwangwu
22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill
with AIDS
while African leaders
ignore disaster-in-waiting
What has
Africa to do with September
11 terror?
By Chido Nwangwu
One year after: Reflections on September
11.
By Jonathan Elendu
PUBLIC
POLICY Private initiative,
free
market forces, and more
democratization
are keys to prosperity in Africa.
The
Civilianizing of African soldiers
into Presidents
Maduekwe,
Nwachukwu clash
over Obasanjo at World Igbo 2002 convention in
Houston. USAfrica Special
report
USAfrica
The Newspaper voted the "Best Community
Newspaper"
in the 4th largest city in the U.S., Houston. It is in
the Best of Houston 2001 special as chosen by the editors
and readers of the Houston
Press,
reflecting their poll and annual rankings.
USAfrica
FORUM IN THE HOUSE OF
MANDELA: A SILLY CRY FOR REPARATIONS
By Prof. Chimalum Nwankwo
DEMOCRACY
DEBATE
CNN
International debate on Nigeria's democracy livecast on
February 19, 2002. It involved Nigeria's Information
Minister Prof. Jerry Gana, Prof. Salih Booker and
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu. Transcripts
are available on
the CNN International site.
Steve Jobs and Apple represent the
future of digital
living. By Chido Nwangwu
Apple announces Titanium, "killer
apps" and other
ground-breaking products. iTunes makes a record 500,000
downloads.
The coup in Cote
d'Ivoire and its implications for democracy
in Africa. By Chido Nwangwu
(Related
commentary) Coup
in Cote d'Ivoire has been in the waiting.
By Tom Kamara
Nigerian
stabbed
to death
in his bathroom in Houston.
 CONTINENTAL
AGENDA Bush's position on
Africa
is "ill-advised."
The position
stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of
Texas, George Bush where  he
said that "Africa will not be an area of priority" in his
presidency has been questioned by
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido
Nwangwu. He added that Bush's "pre-election position was
neither validated by the economic exchanges nor
geo-strategic interests of our two continents."
These views were stated
during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and senior
analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on Saturday
November 18, 2000 during a special edition of 'Inside
Politics 2000.' Nwangwu,
adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the
U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued
further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35
million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of
oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the
horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for
Governor Bush's ill-advised
position which
removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be
elected president. By Al Johnson
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY How far, how deep will
Nigeria's human rights commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as
emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity,
questions about what next in power
play?
110 minutes
with Hakeem Olajuwon
Cheryl
Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors
game
|
Seriously,
is your web site a Turkey, too? Get
Solutions
|
PetroGasWorks
Shell picks Leslie
Mays
as VP Global Diversity
EndGame in
Kinshasa: U.S must boot Mobutu for own interest, future of
Zaire
and
Africa
Why Powell's
mission to the Middle
East failed. By Jonathan Elendu
TRANSITION General
Tunde Idiagbon:
A nationalist, an iron-surgeon departs
Abiola's sudden death and the ghost of things
to come
Gen. Shehu
Musa
Yar'Adua's prison death, Nigeria and The Ghost of Things to
come .....
Soni Egwuatu,
Houston businessman, joins his ancestors
|
Isioma
deserves to be lionized and given the highest honor for excellence in
journalism, for the clarity of her reporting and analogies.
Ignorance, and timidity in the face of obvious realities, is a
debilitating disease indeed. To scape-goat this young lady just to
appease the fanatics from the North who have killed thousands of
people is outrageous. This Day newspaper, by this singular
act, has lost every shred of credibility.
Destruction
of property and human massacres are always traumatic
events in a community, saddening and enraging, but the organizers of
the beauty contest, as well as the participants, must understand that
they