Ethiopian Plane Crash: Nigeria Losses Ambassador Abiodun, Erudite Scholar Adesanmi

By Ayo Kehinde

 Wreckage of Plane

 

Nigeria has lost two prominent personalities in the global stage in the Sunday Ethiopian Boeing 737 Max aircraft crash in which all 148 and eight crew members died. The ill-fated Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 which was bound for Nairobi, Kenya  crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Sunday killing all on board.

They are Ambassador Abiodun Bashau a prominent African Union contract staff who had also worked for the United Nations in war-torn Dafur region of Sudan and erudite scholar and university professor at Cariton University, Canada, Pius Adesanmi.

Adesanmi was a Nigerian-born Canadian professor, writer, literary critic, satirist, and columnist. He is the author of Naija No Dey Carry Last, a collection of satirical essays.

Indeed and twitter one with a twitter handle cannot fail to know Adesanmi for his witty, cerebral posts, the most recent in which he alluded to the graciousness and public spirit mindedness of as illustrated by a recently elected politician abroad who wrote to thank the voters after winning..

Ambassador Bashua, a retired career Ambassador, until his death, was on contract with the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA). He hails from Lagos State

In a statement Sunday night, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama condoled with his family and colleagues

During his career, the late Ambassador served in different capacities both at Headquarters and Foreign Missions such as: Vienna, Austria, Abidjan, Cote d’ivoire and Tehran, Iran among others. As a seasoned UN Expert, he had extensive experience in several United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa.

He joined the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) in 2009 and was appointed Deputy Joint Special Representative for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur in 2014 by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Ambassador Bashua also served as Secretary to the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The late Ambassador was also the interim Chairman of the Nigerian Community in Ethiopia, the statement read.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres, the Obamas have sent condolences to the families and countries of the diseased.

Meanwhile China has grounded all the Boeing 737 Max aircraft in its fleet