Sultan dies in plane crash

SOKOTO – Thousands of tearful Nigerian Muslims gathered to mourn yesterday at the palace of their traditional ruler, the Sultan of Sokoto, who died in a plane crash on Sunday along with 95 others.

In the capital Abuja, where the Boeing 737 operated by domestic carrier ADC crashed shortly after takeoff, the government grounded the airline and said the pilot had ignored a bad weather warning from the air traffic control tower. Aviation Minister Babalola Borishade told a news conference nine survivors were being treated at the National Hospital and 96 bodies had been recovered from the crash site, a cornfield just a stone’s throw away from the airport runway.President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has declared three days of national mourning for the victims, was due to travel to the northern city of Sokoto, where the flight was bound.The city was silent on Monday, with all shops and market stalls deserted as residents gathered at the sultan’s palace or at mosques to pray and mourn.”To me this is a terrible event because I loved the sultan.May the Almighty give him peace,” said Liman Muhammadu, an elderly trader among crowds of mourners crying at the palace.Within days, 14 kingmakers will gather to choose who will succeed Ibrahim Muhammadu Maccido as Sultan of Sokoto and figurehead for Nigeria’s estimated 70 million Muslims.The kingmakers draw up a list of three names and the governor of Sokoto state chooses the new sultan from that list.Maccido was a respected figure who helped quell several bouts of religious violence in central and northern Nigeria.Africa’s most populous country is split about evenly between a predominantly Muslim north and a mainly Christian south.There was widespread anger over the crash, which was the third major aviation disaster in Nigeria in just over a year.Information Minister Frank Nweke defended the government’s record, saying it had been working hard to improve safety after a plane operated by Nigerian carrier Bellview crashed near Lagos on October 22 last year, killing 117 people.Nampa-ReutersAviation Minister Babalola Borishade told a news conference nine survivors were being treated at the National Hospital and 96 bodies had been recovered from the crash site, a cornfield just a stone’s throw away from the airport runway.President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has declared three days of national mourning for the victims, was due to travel to the northern city of Sokoto, where the flight was bound.The city was silent on Monday, with all shops and market stalls deserted as residents gathered at the sultan’s palace or at mosques to pray and mourn.”To me this is a terrible event because I loved the sultan.May the Almighty give him peace,” said Liman Muhammadu, an elderly trader among crowds of mourners crying at the palace.Within days, 14 kingmakers will gather to choose who will succeed Ibrahim Muhammadu Maccido as Sultan of Sokoto and figurehead for Nigeria’s estimated 70 million Muslims.The kingmakers draw up a list of three names and the governor of Sokoto state chooses the new sultan from that list.Maccido was a respected figure who helped quell several bouts of religious violence in central and northern Nigeria.Africa’s most populous country is split about evenly between a predominantly Muslim north and a mainly Christian south.There was widespread anger over the crash, which was the third major aviation disaster in Nigeria in just over a year.Information Minister Frank Nweke defended the government’s record, saying it had been working hard to improve safety after a plane operated by Nigerian carrier Bellview crashed near Lagos on October 22 last year, killing 117 people.Nampa-Reuters