The news of the passing away of renowned Nigerian novelist, Professor Chinua Achebe, filtered into the country in the early hours of Friday, March 22. Although it has been 55 years since the publication of his first novel and most widely read book by an African, Things Fall Apart, the stature of Achebe never diminished until death.
Raised by his parents in Ogidi, Anambra State, Achebe became fascinated with world religions and traditional African cultures from childhood and it was his knowledge in the latter that earned him global acclaim as enshrined in the novel that literally ensured the acceptance of the existence of African Literature. Focusing on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of Western and traditional African values during and after the colonial era, Achebe’s style relies heavily on the Igbo oral tradition with a heavy infusion of the straightforward narration, folk stories, proverbs and elements of oral literature.
Growing up as a boy in Ogidi, following his birth on November 16, 1930, Achebe displayed a huge interest in traditional village events like the frequent masquerade ceremonies but had to move away from his family to Nekede, close to Owerri and there, he gained an appreciation for Mbari traditional art form which seeks to invoke protection of gods through symbolic sacrifices in the form of sculpture and collage.
He was a student at Dennis Memorial Grammar School in Onitsha and later at Government College, Umuahia. Aside from being acutely intelligent, Achebe was said to have belonged to a group of six exceedingly studious pupils who had almost nothing to do with sports.
When then University College (University of Ibadan) opened in 1948, as Nigeria’s first university but operated as an associate college of the University of London, Achebe’s marks at the entrance examination were so high that he was admitted as a Major Scholar in the university’s first intake and given a bursary to study medicine before changing to English, history, and theology, with the switch leading him to losing the scholarship although a government bursary also helped him through school.
After school and being awarded a second-class degree, he was a teacher at the Merchants of Light School, Oba, for four months, leaving in 1954 to work for the Nigerian Broadcasting Service, a radio network established in Lagos in 1933.
After initially rejecting the idea of publishing his manuscripts, Achebe finished all works on the book in 1957, took advantage of an advertisement offering a typing service and sent the only copy of his handwritten manuscript along with the 22 pounds fee to the London company. It took several months yet there was no reply from London and it took the intervention of his boss at the NBS, Angela Beattie, who visited the company while on a trip to London to get a typed copy sent to Achebe.
“I would have been so discouraged that I would probably have given up altogether,” Achebe later said, in the eventuality of the novel being lost then. Things Fall Apart is one of the most important books the world has seen, selling over eight million copies around the world and being translated into over 50 languages.
Achebe was promoted at NBS also in 1958 and put in charge of the network’s eastern region coverage, moving to Enugu in the aftermath and marrying former Christie Okoli on September 10, 1961. His second novel, No Longer At Ease, published in 1960, was dedicated to Christie who was to become his wife. The couple’s first child, Chinelo, was born on July 11, 1962 while a son, Ikechukwu, was given birth to on December 3, 1964, Chidi on May 24, 1967 and Nwando on March 7, 1970.
A Man of the People, published in 1966, is a bleak satire set in an unnamed African state, with the ending of the novel bringing Achebe to the attention of military personnel who suspected him of having foreknowledge of the coup. Once he received word of the pursuit, he sent his pregnant wife by boat as they escaped to Port Harcourt. Achebe’s wife, Christie, suffered a miscarriage in the process although they arrived safely in the southeast.
In May, 1967, with the announcement of the Republic of Biafra, it was time of stress and disaster for Achebe and his young family. His partner, Christopher Okigbo, who volunteered to join the secessionist army while simultaneously working at the press, was later killed in the front line. Achebe’s house was bombed one afternoon while his wife had taken the children out on a visit to her sick mother. Shaken by the loss of his friend, fear from his family and sanity in the land, Achebe produced poems chronicling the time, most captured in the 1971 book, Beware, Soul Brother.
When the war ended in 1970, Achebe returned to Ogidi with his family and took up a job at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, but unable to accept invitations to other countries due to his revocation of his passport by the Nigerian government for supporting Biafra. Known vastly for his frankness and involved commentary on issues of language, religion, freedom and the perception of African globally, Achebe retired from the University of Nigeria in 1982, devoting time to editing and becoming active in politics with the left-leaning People’s Redemption Party (PRP). He became the party’s deputy national vice-president in 1983, and also published The Trouble with Nigeria at the time.
On March 22, 1990, Achebe was involved in an auto accident while in a car heading for Lagos with his son, Ikechukwu, and the driver suffered minor injuries. With the car flipping on its side, the weight of the vehicle fell on Achebe and his spine was severely damaged. After undergoing treatment in England, doctors came out with a damning statement that he was paralysed from the waist down and would require the use of a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Across the world, the legacy of Achebe is in the reach and universality of his works, talent and vision with figures like Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela and several others lauding him and his works. The recipient of over 30 honorary degrees from universities in England, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria and the United States, Achebe twice refused the Nigerian honour of Commander of the Federal Republic in 2004 and 2011.
His latest book, There was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra, immediately caused a stir in Nigeria and beyond as it re-opened discussions about the Nigerian Civil War as seen from Achebe’s point of view.
Paying tribute to the fallen man of letters, Peter Edochie, who became a household name for playing the role of Okonkwo in the TV adaptation of Things Fall Apart many years ago, said: “Chinua lived a very fruitful life. I would say I am in shock because I never heard he was ill. The Bible gives us three scores years and one, Achebe lived 13 years more. And to that I will say he is a very accomplished person. He is the most celebrated author in the whole of Africa. His work shot me to fame and so I am not likely to forget Chinua in a hurry. I will call up all members of the crew that acted the movie, Things Fall Apart, to attend his burial to show his widow how much he meant to us. Chinua is a man of courage. He is someone that you can say has the courage of conviction. He is a man of honor and integrity. He is someone who didn’t know how to coat something that is not good. A good example is that he rejected an honorary award from the Nigerian government because he felt Nigeria was not on the right track. He says things as plain as they are without hurting anyone. Chinua is someone I will like to model my life after. His books speak of how humanity should be. It is a great loss to Nigeria and I will miss him a lot.”
The chairman of the United People’s Party, Chief Chekwas Okorie, lent his voice by saying:
“The Iroko has indeed fallen. The great Igbo son and icon of universal acclaim has joined his ancestors. He is now in good company with Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Dr. Michael Okpara, Dr. Akanu Ibiam, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, etc. The conscience of Igbo nay Nigeria has bowed out when the ovation is loudest. Men with the moral integrity and forthrightness of Prof. Achebe are in short supply. Prof. Achebe’s bold and fearless interventions in matters of the society are as robust as his literary contributions. May he rest in peace.”
Personal secretary of the late Obafemi Awolowo and renowned Nigerian poet, Odia Ofeimun, said the demise of the late sage was a great loss to the literary world. “It was a very painful loss. We have lost a great storyteller. We need a storyteller to live well. A great storyteller of our time is gone. Unlike Wole Soyinka, who we often argue with over various issues, we never argued with Achebe. It was when the world was ready to argue with him that he passed away. I mean Achebe was such a patriarch we wanted to take up in an argument but never waited. He gave us a very fine opportunity for fine argument. Seriously, he had done such a great work. We are glad we had an Achebe that could give us stories,” he said.
Former External Affairs minister, Bolaji Akinyemi Bolaji, declared that Achebe left a vacuum that would be difficult to fill. “The world, Nigeria and Africa have lost a real genius. Chinua Achebe paid good prize for literature. It is a loss to the world. His idea, story telling and others would be remembered always,” he said.
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