Renowned columnist, Pius Adesanmi, Nigerian Ambassador among 157 dead in Ethiopian plane crash
A renowned columnist, Nigerian-born Canadian Professor, Prof. Pius Adesanmi and another Nigerian, former United Nations Ambassador, Prof. Abiodun Bashua are the two Nigerians that were among the 157 people on board the ill-fated Ethiopian Airline flight 302 which crashed minutes after take off from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, the Kenyan capital on Sunday.
While Prof. Bashua traveled with his Nigerian passport, Professor Adesanmi traveled with his Canadian passport.
The duo were heading to Nairobi, Kenya, to attend a CIDO/ECOSOCC meeting.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, took off at 08:38am (05:38 GMT) and lost contact with air traffic controllers, 6 minutes later and crashed near Bishoftu.
Altogether, 35 nationalities were involved in the crash with a Boeing 737-800 Max aircraft.
The accident occurred around Bishoftu (Debre Zeit) after the aircraft with registration numberET- AVJ took off at 08:38 am local time from Addis Ababa, Bole International Airport and lost contact at 08:44am.
Passengers’ information, released by the airline indicated that the destination country suffered the highest casualties with 32 of its nationals involved, followed by Canada which lost 18 nationals while Ethiopian nationals were 9.
Others were China, Italy and USA which lost eight citizens each; France and UK had seven nationals on board; Egypt 6; Germany 5; India and Slovakia had 4 each; Austria, Russia, Sweden lost three nationals each while Spain, Israel, Morocco, Poland lost two nationals each.
Other countries with one national on board were Belgium, Djibouti, Indonesia, Ireland, Mozambique, Norway, Rwanda, Saudi, Sudan, Somalia, Serbia, Togo, Uganda, Yemen and Nepal.
The CEO of Ethiopian Airlines had confirmed that there was no survivor.
In a release, the Group CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, who had traveled to the scene of the crash, said “It is too early to speculate the cause of the accident and further investigation will be carried out to find out the cause of the accident in collaboration with all stakeholders, including the aircraft manufacturer Boeing, Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority and other international entities to maintain the international standard and information will be provided once the cause is Identified.”
According to him, Ethiopian Airlines will provide all the necessary support to the families of the victims.
The statement disclosed that a senior captain named Yared Getachew, with a cumulative flight hour of more than 8000 and with a commendable performance, was commanding the flight along with first officer Ahmed Nur Mohammod Nur, who had a flight hour of 200.
The airline added that the crashed airplane flew back to Addis from Johannesburg Sunday morning before being positioned for the Nairobi flight.
It said the plane underwent “a rigorous first check maintenance in February 04,2019.”
The aircraft was the same as the Lion Air plane which crashed in October, last year in Indonesia killing 189 people on board.
Experts have expressed concern over the fate of the B737-800.
Capt. Ibrahim Yunusa, a veteran pilot, told our correspondent that the aircraft might be suffering from design error.
Bashua was a respected retired Nigerian diplomat with many years with the UN, while Adesanmi was a Nigerian-Canadian professor of English at the Carleton University, canada.
Profile of Prof. Adesanmi
Pius Adesanmi is a Nigerian-born Canadian professor, writer and literary critic, satirist, and columnist. He is the author of Naija No Dey Carry Last, a collection of satirical essays.
Adesanmi was born in Isanlu, in Yagba East Local Government area of Kogi State, Nigeria. He had a BA (first class honours) from the University of Ilorin in 1992, a Masters in French from the University of Ibadan in 1998, and a PhD in French Studies from the University of British Columbia in 2002.
From 2002 to 2005, he was Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. In 2006, he joined Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada as a Professor of Literature and African studies. He has also been a Fellow of the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) from 1993 to 1997, as well as of the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) in 1998 and 2000.
For many years, Adesanmi has been a regular columnist for Premium Times and Sahara Reporters. His writings are often satiric, focusing on the absurd in the Nigerian social and political system. His targets often include politicians, pastors, and other relevant public figures. In September 2015, his scathing column on the decision of the Emir of Kano, Lamido Sanusi, to take an underage wife generated substantial conversation on the matter, and even got the response of the Emir who responded to Adesanmi by name.
In 2015, he gave a TED talk titled “Africa is the forward that the world needs to face”.
In 2017, Adesanmi was a recipient of Canada Bureau of International Education Leadership Award.
Books: The Wayfarer and Other Poems (Orac You’re Not a Country, Africa (Peng Naija No Dey Carry Last (Parrésia
Awards: In 2001, Adesanmi’s first book, “The Wayfarer and Other Poems”, won the Association of Nigerian Authors’ Poetry Prize.[12]
In 2010, his book “You’re not a Country, Africa” (Penguin Books, 2011), a collection of essays, won the inaugural Penguin Prize for African Writing in the nonfiction category.
