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.
83-year-old
popular Evangelist, Pat Robertson, has confirmed that all men have a
tendency to cheat and it's the duty of the wife to keep her man
faithful, by focusing on the positive and making sure the home is so
enticing he doesn’t want to stray. 
A
man hanged himself vowing to haunt his unfaithful girlfriend for the
rest of her life from heaven, according to reports in the news media.
Mourners
at a funeral in Zimbabwe were stunned when the dead man woke up as they
filed by his coffin, state media reported today.
