USAfricaonline.com is listed among the world's hot sites by the international newspaper, USAToday.

---

130 dead in Nigeria EAS Airlines plane Crash; Nigeria's Sports Minister Ishaya Mark Aku reported among the dead; many are children.

May 4, 2002, Kano, Nigeria: Rescuers in the Nigerian city of Kano pulled the charred bodies of adults and children from the rubble of homes destroyed by an airliner crash which latest numbers indicate that almost 130 persons were killed.

The dead included all 76 people on board the plane and dozens killed in the rundown suburb where it plunged to earth soon after takeoff on Saturday, razing or setting ablaze houses, a mosque and a school. ``Men formed a line, passing the bodies from the rubble to waiting buses,'' said a witness in the densely populated district of Gwammaja.

"I saw the bodies of many children wrapped in straw mats. I counted more than 10 in a short time,'' he said. One of the buildings hit was a mosque and another a Koranic school, whose pupils had just broken off to join their parents in nearby homes for prayers, rescuers said.

A christening ceremony was in full swing in one of the houses when the BAC 1-11-500, operated by local company EAS Airlines, plowed through it.

The airliner had been bound for the commercial capital Lagos from the northern city.

Government officials said they believed Nigeria's Sports Minister Ishaya Mark Aku was among the dead. Ezekiel Gomos, Government Secretary of the nearby state of Plateau from whose capital, Jos, the flight originated, said Aku had been returning from a political meeting in Jos to go to watch an international soccer friendly between Nigeria and Kenya in Lagos.

"We contacted Government House Kano and they confirmed that the minister was on the flight when it left for Lagos after the stopover in Kano,'' Gomos told Reuters by phone.

Hard-pressed hospitals in the sprawling commercial city struggled to cope with a flood of bodies and wounded. As night fell and with salvage work continued, Kano authorities ordered all doctors to report to the city's two main hospitals.

"There were 69 passengers and seven crew members on board,'' an official of the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria told Reuters. ``All passengers and crew are feared dead,'' he added.

A fire official at the scene said at least 40 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the houses hit and there were fears the total number killed on the ground could be much higher.

"I saw more than 50 bodies at the hospital,'' Ibrahim Ado Gwagwarwa, spokesman for the Kano state governor, said after visiting the city's main Murtala Muhammed Hospital.

With Nigeria's shambolic health services ill-equipped to deal with such emergencies, officials feared the death toll would rise further given the number of people in critical condition.

Gwagwarwa said rescue workers were still recovering more bodies. ``This is a calamity,'' he said.

The crash was the country's worst aviation disaster at least since November 1996, when a Nigerian Boeing 727 flying from Port Harcourt to Lagos came down, killing all 142 passengers and nine crew members.

Nigeria deregulated its airline industry in the mid-1980s and many companies sprang up to challenge the monopoly of state carrier Nigeria Airways.

Aviation authorities and passengers have raised concerns about the aging aircraft used by the dozen or so local airline companies. Only last month the Nigerian government announced a ban on the use of aircraft older than 22 years, a move that triggered strong protests from private local airline operators.

Between October 1998 and December 1999, EAS took delivery of four BAC 1-11-500s, one of the most commonly used passenger aircraft in Nigeria.The airline had no immediate comment on the accident. (USAfricaonline.com with Reuters' report)

POLITICS: Obasanjo declares he'll run for 2nd term: "I have decided that it is best that I make myself available as a presidential candidate in the 2003 elections" on April 25, 2002, in Abuja. With those words, Nigeria's President, he 65-year-old retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, announced that he will seek a second, historic term. The elections will be in the first quarter of next year. INSIGHT: How Obasanjo's self-succession charade at his Ota Farm has turned Nigeria to an 'Animal Farm.' By Prof. Mobolaji Aluko Obasanjo's 'prayers' and the Abacha path of staying in power. By Nkem Ekeopara Is Obasanjo ordained by God to rule Nigeria? And, other fallacies. By Prof. Sola Adeyeye RELIGION AND ETHNIC CONFLICT Sharia-related killings and carnage in Kaduna reenact deadly prologue to Nigeria-Biafra war of 1967. INSIGHT Is Obasanjo ordained by God to rule Nigeria? Prof. Sola Adeyeye raises the issue and provides some thought-provoking answers. 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 Nelson Mandela, Tribute to the world's political superstar and Lion of Africa   Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's burden mounts with murder charges, trials Why Bush should focus on dangers facing Nigeria's return to democracy and Obasanjo's slipperyslide TRIBUTE A KING FOR ALL TIMES: Why Martin Luther King's legacy and vision are relevant into 21st 21st century. DIPLOMACY Walter Carrington: African-American diplomat who put principles above self for Nigeria (USAfrica's founder Chido Nwangwu with Ambassador Carrington at the U.S. embassy, Nigeria) 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. LITERATURE Literary giant Chinua Achebe returns "home" from U.S., to love and adulation of community Since 1958, Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" set a standard of artistic excellence, and more. By Douglas Killam 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? 110 minutes with Hakeem Olajuwon Nigerian stabbed to death in his bathroom in Houston. Cheryl Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors' game  Apple announces Titanium, "killer apps" and other ground-breaking products for 2001. iTunes makes a record 500,000 downloads. Steve Jobs extends digital magic It's wrong to stereotype Nigerians as Drug Dealers Private initiative, free market forces, and more democratization are Keys to prosperity in Africa

OIL in NIGERIA: Liquid Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? By Chido Nwangwu 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. On Q&A with Jim Clancy on March 14, 2002, Glenys Kinnock, senior member of the European parliament and Labour party spokesperson for development, Salih Booker, executive director of Washington DC-based Africa Action, Chido Nwangwu, founder and publisher of USAfricaonline.com and Mori Diane. executive vice president of AMEX International offered insight to the issues. A rush transcript appears on CNN's web site USAfricaonline.com has been listed among the world's leading web sites by the international newspaper, USAToday.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. 22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill with AIDS while African leaders ignore disaster-in-waiting Should Africa debates begin and end at The New York Times and The Washington Post? No In a special report a few hours after the history-making nomination, USAfricaonline.com Founder and Publisher Chido Nwangwu places Powell within the trajectory of history and into his unfolding clout and relevance in an essay titled 'Why Colin Powell brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush presidency.' AFRICA AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS Beyond U.S. electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a democratic republic hold lessons for African politics. 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 Letters: African perspectives to U.S. elections on CNN Johnnie Cochran will soon learn that defending Abacha's loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's case. By Chido Nwangwu Investigating Marc Rich and his deals with Nigeria's Oil Through an elaborate network of carrots and sticks and a willing army of Nigeria's soldiers and some civilians, controversial global dealer and billionaire Marc Rich, literally and practically, made deals and steals; yes, laughed his way to the banks from crude oil contracts, unpaid millions in oil royalties and false declarations of quantities of crude lifted and exported from Nigeria for almost 25 years. Worse, he lifted Nigeria's oil and shipped same to then embargoed apartheid regime in South Africa. Read Chido Nwangwu's NEWS INVESTIGATION REPORT for PetroGasWorks.com HERITAGE 'Kwanzaa's relevance to be measured in daily efforts of people of African descent.'