Google index of Chido Nwangwu’s commentaries, special reports, his CNN and SKY News interviews, YouTube video features (1990s to November 2018), below, reflect only a partial listing of his writings – most of which appeared in the print edition of the Houston-based USAfrica The Newspaper, USAfriicaonline.com, and CLASSmagazine.
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The USAfrica index and list of vintage essays (1990s to mid 2000s), below, reflect only a partial listing of his writings – most of which appeared in the print edition of the Houston-based USAfrica The Newspaper, USAfriicaonline.com, and CLASSmagazine. Brief letters regarding any commentaries and reports are welcome. E-mails are preferred. For speaking engagements, e-mail Chido@USAfricaonline.com and call 1=832-45-CHIDO (24436). Follow me Twitter.com/Chido247, Facebook.com/MandelaAchebeChido and Facebook.com/USAfricaChido
APPRECIATION
A young father writes his One year old son: “If only my heart had a voice….” By Chido Nwangwu
LIFE AND BASKETBALL: 110 minutes with HAKEEM Olajuwon. By Chido Nwangwu
Nigeria’s Federal Republic of Insecurity. By Chido Nwangwu, Publisher of USAfrica, USAfricaonline.com and the Nigeria360 e-group. http://www.usafricaonline.com/2011/12/17/nigeria-federal-republic-of-insecurity-by-chido-nwangwu/ : IF any of the Nigerian President’s 100 advisers has the polite courage for the extraordinary task of reminding His Excellency of his foremost, sworn, constitutional obligation to the national interest about security and safety of Nigerians and all who sojourn in Nigeria, please whisper clearly to Mr. President that I said, respectfully: Nigerians, at home and abroad, are still concerned and afraid for living in what I call Nigeria’s Federal Republic of Insecurity. FULL text of commentary at USAfricaonline.com
Why Obama’s late to symbolic, historic meeting with Mandela. By Chido Nwangwu.
Eight lessons of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. By Chido Nwangwu, Publisher of USAfrica multimedia networks, Houston.
Margaret Thatcher, Mandela and Africa. By Chido Nwangwu, Founder & Publisher of USAfrica, and the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the internet USAfricaonline.com. Click for newscast video of London-based SkyNEWS, the global, 24-hour British international tv network’s interview with USAfrica’s Publisher Chido Nwangwu on April 11, 2013 regarding this latest commentary http://youtu.be/G0fJXq_pi1c )
There’s a compelling political trinity to Nelson Mandela: the man, the messiah and the mystique.
Obama’s Africa agenda, our business and democracy. By Chido Nwangwu, Founder & Publisher of USAfrica and first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the internet USAfricaonline.com
Margaret Thatcher, Mandela and Africa. By Chido Nwangwu, Founder & Publisher of USAfrica, and the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper published on the internet USAfricaonline.com. Click for newscast video of London-based SkyNEWS, the global, 24-hour British international tv network’s interview with USAfrica’s Publisher Chido Nwangwu on April 11, 2013 regarding this latest commentary http://youtu.be/G0fJXq_pi1c )
ACHEBE Lives As an Immortal Writer In Our Hearts and Minds. By Chido Nwangwu.
USAfrica, May 22, 2013:
http://usafricaonline.com/2013/05/22/achebe-lives-as-an-immortal-writer-by-chido-nwangwu/
‘POPE FRANCIS, champion for the poor and evangelistic dedication’ by Chido Nwangwu
Long Live, CHINUA ACHEBE! The Eagle on the iroko.
FULL text of this tribute-commentary at USAfricaonline.com click link http://usafricaonline.com/2013/03/22/long-live-chinua-achebe-by-chido-nwangwu
Coming soon, USAfricaTV Exclusive interview: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of the critically-acclaimed novel ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ speaks to USAfrica and CLASSmagazine on her work, life….
One of the world’s most creative writers of this generation, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie author of the critically-acclaimed novel ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ interviewed exclusively by CLASSmagazine and USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu at the Harvard University.
Emeka Okafor remains a champion on all fronts. He’s brilliant, focused, handsome, full of discretionary commonsense and has his eyes set on the golden prize. Emeka Okafor, one of our very own, remains the best in the College game – as far as centers go. With zest and precision he comes on very well as an offensive player, too. While the team effort was the key, Emeka Okafor was the motivator and catalyst. He’s fluent with the game of basketball as well as stellar in his academic distinctions. He will graduate as an all-American high-achiever in May 2004 with an average of almost 3.8 in finance. All accomplished in about 3 years.
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.
TRIBUTE: Nelson Mandela’s political trinity: the man, the messiah and the mystique. certainly the greatest political figure in the recent history of people of African ancestry. He talked the talk, and walked the walk. He’s at once visionary and practician; excuse the latter usage.
In my view, there’s a compelling political trinity to Nelson Mandela: the man, the messiah and the mystique. Hence, it was during his 80th birthday on July 18, 1998 that I argued in various media outlets in Southern Africa and in the Voice of America and WorldNet television tribute to Mandela that those who expected him to turn their lives around by the break of dawn are awakening to a certain realization that the Messiah Mandela does not make milk through incantations! Yet, we must accept the fact that those who feel that President Mandela’s government has failed to fulfil their yearnings and lofty expectations constitute a sizeable but smaller slice of millions of Black and Colored South Africans.
I recall taking time out from the 100 year-old hotel in which we were lodged in Cape Town late March, 1998, (during our visit with U.S President Bill Clinton to parts of Africa) to go into the less-privileged, run-down quarters of the city to talk with a number of suffering Blacks. I also shared some time with some homeless teenagers ( five of them, aged between 8 and 19) and a few weary adults (in their 40s and 60s). I sought to know their assessment of President Mandela. Their refrain: Mandela needs to do more! They feel he is forgetting “us.” They all said in many ways: “We thought his presidency was going to completely and quickly improve our lives. We’re left out. We’re not happy….” For FULL insight, click here
COUNTERPOINT
Tiger Woods is no Nelson Mandela! By Chido Nwangwu
Why America should halt the genocide in the Sudan. By Chido Nwangwu, Founder and Publisher of USAfricaonline.com.
SPECIAL REPORT: Liberia’s president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf calls for “partnership” rather than “patronage” relationship with U.S.
Charles Taylor’s son arrested in Miami, Florida. Charles McArthur Emmanuel, son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, has been arrested in Miami, days after his dad, the former warlord, was flown, handcuffed and surrounded by United Nations peacekeepers, to the special court for Sierra Leone on Wednesday, after nearly three years in exile, to face war crimes charges over his role in the country’s 1991-2002 civil war. USAfricaonline.com will update this report as it develops.
Related insight:
Liberia’s bloody mess and hopes of a battered nation.
Liberia: Death by installment. By Chido Nwangwu, June 21, 1996.
50 Years of Achebe’s THINGS FALL APART”: USAfrica honors Achebe by holding 2008 international symposium on 08-08-08 in Houston. The August 8 and 9, 2008 will include symposia and the special USAfrica harvest of Achebe’s 1958 masterpiece and epic work, ‘Things Fall Apart.’ The convener and chief host of the harvest of the Achebe events is USAfrica’s Founder, publisher of AchebeBooks.com and mutlimedia executive Chido Nwangwu. USAfrica (characterized by The New York Times as the largest and most influential African-owned, U.S-based multimedia networks) notes that “we’ll portray both the high-minded, intellectual cadences and the everyday person and high-schoolers thoughts about the father of modern African literature. Hence I set the thematic summary as the USAfrica harvest of Achebe. Certianly, there will be critical insights and reviews/performances in honor of the great Achebe.”
USAfrica is honoring Achebe as the main event of the 15th Anniversary of its pioneering multimedia leadership of the bi-continental interests of Africans and Americans. The acclaimed 2007 ‘BEST OF AFRICA’ International Awards annual dinner in honor of African professionals will hold at the Marriot Hotel Westchase.
The events require pre-event registration, USAfrica15@Gmail.com deadline June 8, 2008. Registration is required, and will include getting a copy of Prof. Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ – for all those who register before June 8, 2008. The events are being organized by USAfrica and USAfricaonline.com, CLASS magazine, PhotoWorks.TV, Black Business Journal, BBJonline.com and Achebebooks.com. E-mail: USAfrica15@Gmail.com Office: 713-270-5500. wireless: 832-45-CHIDO (24436)
Exclusive Interview: Achebe says highlife legend“Osadebe was a priest with words and sounds”. Prof. Chinua Achebe, novelist, poet, essayist and critic the author of the most widely-
read book in modern African literature, Things Fall Apart, has described the departed highlife music legend Chief Osita Osadebe as “an artiste who played music with a message and mission.”
Osadebe (in picture, right) lived as one of Africa’s longest and durable great talents. He played, sang and released melodious songs since 1956 until 2005.
Osadebe who hailed from Umuekeke in Atani, Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State was born in 1936. His family announced that he passed on Friday May 11, 2007 and burial is set for this week.
Achebe, author of several landmark works told Houston-based USAfrica and CLASSmagazine Publisher Chido Nwangwu in an exclusive interview on Wednesday February 6, 2008 that “Osadebe was a priest who used words and sounds. He lived like any of the greatest musicians who are prominent in any culture; he lived as a great musician who used music to reach people in order to improve their lives and make them happy. He had message for people to reflect upon. He had deep message in his music as much as he provided music for celebration and [to] be merry.”
DIPLOMACY Walter Carrington: An African-American diplomat puts principles above self for Nigeria
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: Osama bin-Laden’s goons threaten Africa’s stability. By Chido Nwangwu
What has Africa to do with September 11 terror? By Chido Nwangwu
OIL in NIGERIA: Liquid Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? By Chido Nwangwu
NEWS NOTE: Hate groups’ spin by Republican Lamar Alexander benefits anti-Blacks, anti-Semites and anti-immigrants
INSIGHT: Why Martin Luther King’s legacy and vision are relevant into 21st century. By Chido Nwangwu. As an African in America, as a recent immigrant who has been blessed by the graciousness, business opportunities, global breadth and hospitality of Americans, I have cause to be thankful for benefiting from the vision, personal sacrifice and peaceful soldiering of the late Martin Luther King, who sought to create an atmosphere which fosters harmony and acceptance of all our unique talents and racial origins.
On this day/week of the post-humous celebration of birthday, I believe that the existing global alliance of all humankind, representing the full tapestry of our ethnic/racial origins as Indians, Caucasians, Blacks, Jews, Asians, and a multitude of other backgrounds should, markedly, advance Dr. King’s vision and efforts should do more by utilizing technological tools, networking personal discipline, boosting religious and communal re-orientation to fight all forms of discrimination and intolerance into the 21st century. Why?
Martin Luther King’s legacy, Jews and Black History Month
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.
CNN: Chido on The crises in Zimbabwe preceding and following its early March 2002 controversial presidential elections formed the theme of CNN International’s livecast Q&A with Jim Clancy (hosted on March 19 by anchor Colleen McEdwards). USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido Nwangwu contributed to the analyses of the decision by the Commonwealth which suspended Zimababwe for one year.
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
POLITICAL MONEY
Nigeria’s Presidential Election: Is it just for the Highest Bidder?
DEMOCRACY WATCH
Nigeria’s President retired General Olusegun Obasanjo apologizes for his Jamuary 28, 2002: “Shut up… I don’t need to be here…” comments at scene of bomb blasts which killed 1155 Nigerians (so far). Nigeria’s President retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo has apologized for his poor handling of the crisis, roundly criticized as reflecting insensitivity and nonchalance.
Will the rash of Ethnic Violence disrupt Nigeria’s effort at Democracy?
MEDIAWATCH
Style Matters, blacks, Blacks and Journalism. I find it extremely insulting to use lower case ‘b’ when the reference is to Blacks/African-Americans. Style-wise, it is wrong for the dominant media to continue the imposition of such substantial error of form and content since, the basic color, black, should be in lower case. Some dude will attempt, for the 1000th time to “explain” away why its correct to identify Blacks as “blacks” while the hold as accurate the capitalization of Hispanic, Jewish, or Irish. It does not make sense! By Chido Nwangwu
COMMUNITY NETWORK: Africans volunteer and offer relief support to Katrina victims at Houston’s Astrodome, other locations. Some reports and references at one of theUSAfricaonline.com e-list/discussion groups.
It’s wrong to stereotype Nigerians as Drug Dealers. By Chido Nwangwu
Nigeria: a nation of Vulcanizers. By Chido Nwangwu
TRIBUTE Tanzania’s founding president Julius Nyerere. By Chido Nwangwu
Steve Jobs and Apple represent the future of digital living. By Chido Nwangwu (written December 18, 2001)
Steve Jobs is truly the Technologist and Marketer of the new, digital age. The ultimate sales master. The choreographer of the most appealing and “loved” computers in the world. In some ways, he’s almost intelligently magical in the articulation of his digital products. The man has truly converged art and digital technology.
He’s the antithesis of the staid, beige Wintel-PC world. He’s iMac-like; engaging, daring, bold, colorful and full of techno-substance. In my view, Steve Jobs’ persuasive talents, consummate skills, overall sense of business mission and the creative talents at Apple are extending the frontiers of digital magic and superior computing methods. With Apple, computing does not really have the dry, cold formalism of a biege PC machine, the impersonal architecture (translation: lacking in personality) of the Windows-Intel machines and some of their outdated methods of computing in a digital age.
Steve Jobs extends digital magic
Apple announces Titanium, “killer apps” and other ground-breaking products for 2001. iTunes makes a record 500,000 downloads.
FAMILY EVENT: 2008 USAfrica 9th Annual PRAYER BREAKFAST held as usual on the last Satirday of January, JANUARY 26, 2008. Time: 9am to 11.30am. Venue: Shanae’s Cafe (former Kennys, 9780 Bissonet, Houston, TX 77036). Songs by Stacy Egbo, musical events coordinator Pastor Jonathan, Trumpeter Isaiah, Sharon Bogney, the Kuforiji sisters and other artistes. Pastors and members of the community from different cities attended.
Are we Igbos or “Ibos”? The “Ibo” misspelling reflect, essentially, a post-colonial hangover of British and Euro-Caucusoid colonial miseducation, misrepresentations, incorrect spellings and (mis)pronounciation preference. It is/was just easier for the White man/woman to say ‘Ibo’ rather than ‘Igbo.’ We must remember the late psychiatrist, pan-African scholar and activist Franz Fanon’s mytho-poetic and insightful words in his 1952 book, Black Skin White Masks, that “A man who has a language [consequently] possesses the world expressed and implied by that language.” Should Igbos and other African nationalities, incrementally and foolishly give up the core of their communal and national identity on the discredited altars of Euro-Caucasoid racist supremacy and colonial predations? I have two modest answers: first is No; and second is No.
By Chido Nwangwu
Full Commentary appears here
Nigerian stabbed to death in his bathroom in Houston.
Bush-Kabila-Powell initiative on the Congo good signal for U.S-Africa relations. The world is facing the specter of an impending, but avoidable reality that one of Africa’s largest countries could implode and dismember in a couple of months. If the Congo disintegrates, the entire central Africa region, its neighboring 8 countries and major parts of southern Africa region will face catastrophic human and geo-political complications. David Kilgour, Canada’s secretary of state for Africa said recently that the Congo “is the center of gravity in Africa…. If things spin out of control here, who knows how many countries will be sucked into the whirlpool.” To be sure, it will impact Uganda, the other Congo, Rwanda, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and in part, South Africa; since the Congo’s 51 million long-embattled citizens made up of 20 significant ethnic groups will, more than likely, vote with their feet. By Chido Nwangwu
EndGame in Kinshasa: U.S must boot Mobutu for own interest, future of Zaire and Africa. By Chido Nwangwu
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s burden mounts into 2000 with murder charges, trials
CATHOLICISM on the BBC
Amidst the challenges and crises facing the Catholic Church, especially, in the U.S.,Chido Nwangwu, Founder and Publisher of USAfrica The Newspaper, NigeriaCentral.com, The Black Business Journal and USAfricaonline.com, was on a BBC World Service panel on April 25 to discuss the issues facing the Catholic Church, including the topic of electing an African as Pope. He has written previously in April 1999 on Cardinal Arinze: “WILL ARINZE BE THE FIRST AFRICAN ELECTED POPE in recent history?”
Pope John Paul, Abacha and Nigeria’s Christians
INTERVIEW
“Why African Catholics are concerned about crises, sex abuse issues in our church” – a frank chat with ICCO’s Mike Umeorah
DEMOCRACY WATCH: Peter Obi takes charge as Governor of Anambra State of Nigeria; following court affirmation of his 2003 electoral victory. Businessman and financial expert Peter Obi, affirmed only a few days ago as governor-elect of Anambra State of Nigeria, has been sworn in March 17, 2006 at the Alex Ekwueme Square, Awka, following the ruling by courts that he won the 2003 governorship elections. He belongs to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). His predecessor, Dr Chris Ngige, a constant target of the arrows of president Obasanjo and the local PDP in Anambra led by Chief Chris Uba has congratulated Obi and called on the citizenry to support Obi. Obi’s deputy is Mrs. Virginia Etiaba. It will be recalled that in October 2004, Professor Chinua Achebe, the author of the epic, literary masterpiece, ‘Things Fall Apart’ (written in 1958), social conscience of millions, cultural custodian and elevator, chronicler and essayist, took the extraordinary step of “declining to accept the high honor awarded me in the 2004 Honors List” by Nigeria’s president, retired General Olusegun Obasanjo, in part for the politics of destabilization whcih Obasanjo and his agents had imposed on Achebe’s home state of Anambra. According to the letter obtained by USAfricaonline.com, USAfrica The Newspaper and CLASS magazine (the first media networks to publish its content), Achebe pointed to “the silence, if not connivance, of the Presidency” in the destabilization of parts of Nigeria and state governments by political and business renegades.
He wrote Obasanjo “For some time now I have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay. I have watched particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am appalled by the brazenness of this clique and the silence, if not connivance, of the Presidency.” Somehow, technocrat Obi’s own crown of thorns as Governor with a legislature dominated by the PDP is not too enviable. Yet his tenacity to fight for the sanctity of votes cast has since elevated his staure among millions. He has promised to do better for his long embattled but resourceful state of Anambra. By Chido Nwangwu and USAfrica reporters in Nigeria.
The annual USAfrica Prayer Breakfast 2002 held successfully with insights and prayers from the clergy and families in attendance. Singers, Stacy Egbo and Saba (Elaine Peabody) performed at the event on Saturday, January 26, 2002 at the Holiday Inn, Sugarland/Houston, Texas. Keynote 2002 speaker , Dr. Simeon Agbolabori is the pastor at the Chapel of Restoration. The management and staff of USAfrica thank all who attended and supported the blessed event which holds on the last Saturday of January of every year.
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?
BIAFRA:
Odumegwu Emeka Ojukwu: “It was simply a choice between Biafra and enslavement.” Exclusive interview wt Chido Nwangwu
Biafra-Nigeria war and history to get fresh, critical look from a survivor
‘Biafra: History Without Mercy’ – a preliminary note. By Chido Nwangwu
The award-winning novelist shares her thoughts on writing, inspiration, hopes, her ‘permission’ from the father of the modern African novel Chinua Achebe and the increasing presence and achievements of young African writers.
The interview will also run in the February 2008 special edition of the USAfrica-powered CLASSmagazine.
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.
TRANSITION
Joe Okigbo: The Death of a Good man and my Friend of a Lifetime. By Chido Nwangwu
JFK Jr.: Death of a Good Son
Murder of Nigeria’s Attorney-General Ige is a major danger signal for its nascentdemocracy.
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 and Nigeria politics
Soni Egwuatu, Houston businessman, joins his ancestors
Community, ACU mourn 5 students from Nigeria killed in March 31, 2002 one-car accident in Texas. A tragedy on early Easter Sunday March 31, 2002, is bringing sorrow and communal anguish to Nigerians in Texas, and thousands of miles to the primary addresses of the deceased in Lagos (Nigeria). 18 year-old Kolawole Oluwagbemiga Sami was identified as the driver of the 1994 Isuzu Rodeo SUV which had 1 other man and 3 women: Olutomi Ibukun Aruwajoye, 17, Toluwalope Olorunsola, 18, Abimbola Orija, 19, and Iyadunni Bakare, 18. While many Nigerians in Texas enjoyed their Easter celebrations and its message of redemption, the news of the death of the five Abilene Christian University (Texas) students from that country of almost 110 million persons in a one-car accident about four miles southwest of Weatherford, in the Parker County, in Texas raised the troubling questions, again: why now? why them? why did these promising youths die in such a sad and ghastly manner? why…? Log on for the USAfricaonline.com Special report by Chido Nwangwu
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
Cheryl Mills’ first class defense of Clinton and her detractors’ game
PetroGasWorks
Shell picks Leslie Mays as VP Global Diversity
Part 2 of the index of Chido’s essays/commentaries and special reports,, click here
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Index of a few of Chido’s 1990s commentaries are here at Founder’s Notes(1) |