Professor Chinua Achebe goes home

Jonathan, Ghana president, others honour literary icon

The rustic town of Ogidi in Idemili North Local Government
Area of Anambra State was yesterday over-populated as
the high and mighty, as well as the ordinary folks thronged
the town to bid the late Prof. Chinua Achebe a befitting
farewell.
At the St Patrick’s Anglican Church Ogidi where the funeral
service was held, the church was filled to the brim together
with over five canopies in the premises while multitudes
still spilled over outside the church gate.
For the Ogidi people, it was a moment of grief as the
remains of their illustrious son and world acclaimed writer
were laid to rest. Achebe, who was buried at his Ogidi
ancestral home, died on March 21 in Boston, Massachusetts
in the United States of America.
President Goodluck Jonathan personally led a high-
powered delegation, which included the President of Ghana,
Mr. John Daramani Mahama to attend the funeral service.
Jonathan arrived at the church at 10:40 a.m with the
President of Ghana aboard a Nigerian Air Force helicopter
marked NAF 573 after Governors Peter Obi (Anambra),
Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Aviation Minister, Mrs
Stella Odua had earlier landed in the church premises in
another helicopter.
Soon after, the Anglican Archbishop Province Two, Most
Rev. Christian Efobi led other clergymen in the church to
welcome the president and his entourage. At 11:10a.m, the
church bell chimed continuously to announce the arrival of
the corpse to the church.
The officiating priest, Ikechi Nwosu, the archbishop of the
Aba Province, told the congregation that the Primate of the
Church of Nigeria, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, was away on
official duties. He said Rev. Okoh had asked him to conduct
the funeral service for the fallen Iroko.
The priest noted that they had not come to bury Achebe,
saying there were some men who could not be buried
because of their good deeds. He pointed out that Achebe
had a foundation in the Bible. “The scripture didn’t depart
from him and his family until he breathed his last,” he said.
He begged that Achebe be forgiven for rejecting the national
honours, saying that the departed writer was a patriotic
Nigerian who believed in the country even as he was not the
first to have rejected such honours.
He noted that Achebe had told him that the accident that
crippled him was a parable, which had made him to
continue with his teaching and other activities, and not
weighed down. Looking at the crowd that turned out for the
funeral, the priest exclaimed that he was indeed a great
leader! He, therefore, urged well-meaning Nigerians to
revisit the town to rebuild the dilapidated primary school
adjacent to the church, but which brought up the renowned
writer. Speaking, President Jonathan said he came to
sincerely appreciate God for bringing out Achebe from Ogidi
for the country and other nations.
“Achebe was a great man and I believe that God will help
the family. He was a philosopher who used his books to
express what he believed in,” he said. He pointed out that
Achebe’s book; Things Fall Apart had vividly painted a
picture of the eroding value system of the country. He also
noted that Achebe had noticed very early that there was a
problem in the country through his writings.
He observed that in 1983, Achebe wrote, The Trouble With
Nigeria, where he said there was nothing wrong with the air
we breath in the country, the water we drink, our forestry,
but the political leadership. Jonathan, also reading some
portions of Achebe’s last book, There was a Country, said
the great author had painted a gloomy picture of a corrupt
nation in the 50s and 60s even as he wondered if there was
a change now.
He, therefore, insisted that all Nigerians must work hard for
their children to say in future ‘there is a country’. Jonathan
pledged that the governments of Nigeria and Ghana would
build a new primary school in Ogidi for the memorial of the
late Achebe. The President of Ghana said it was sad he was
in Nigeria to mourn Achebe who he said was a man he had
so much admired.
“Chinua Achebe was an icon of African literature, who
shaped my formative years with his wonderful writings
especially his epic, Things Fall Apart,” he said. Mahama
noted that Achebe was a great man, saying he was happy
the way he chose to live his life.
The Ghanaian president said the way Achebe lived helped to
shape the destinies of some of them, saying that the literary
icon would never die. After 1:13 p.m when Governor Obi
introduced the dignitaries on the occasion, Mrs Viola
Onwuliri, minister of state, Foreign Affairs, handed over the
condolence registers opened in Nigeria’s foreign missions
across the globe to the Achebe family, saying that the
gesture was in appreciation of his contributions to
diplomacy.
She handed over the registers to the first son of Achebe, Ike,
with the lists of the missions, about 25 of them, promising
to bring in the others. Former Commonwealth secretary
general, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, making a remark on behalf
of the elders at the funeral, said the officiating priest
describing Achebe as Nigeria’s parable was apt. He noted
that Achebe gave the African continent confidence, as he
told the world that Africa had rich culture that had subsisted
till today.
Anyaoku said the legacies left by Achebe would serve the
continent in many years to come. Also speaking, Deputy
Speaker, House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha who
represented the National Assembly said Achebe’s
achievements ranked second to that of Nelson Mandela of
South Africa. Obi promised that the Igbo would continue to
support Jonathan in the years ahead, particularly in 2015.
Also speaking, Achebe’s first son, Ike, thanked the church,
which, he said, his grandfather built. He handed the offering
collected for the family at the funeral to the church for its
upkeep.
Ike also thanked President Jonathan, who, he said, invited
him to Abuja upon hearing that his father was dead, saying
that his family was grateful to him. At 2:30p.m, the church
service closed and the MIC undertakers lifted up the
glistening brown casket and proceeded in an ambulance of
the undertaker to the Achebe ancestral home, which is
about a quarter of a kilometer from the church where his
remains were interred according to religious tradition.
… Roll call of dignitaries at the funeral service
President Goodluck Jonathan •President Johan Mahama of
Ghana •Representative of Liberian President, Prof. Al-
Hassan Conteh •Former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme
•Former Secretary General of Commonwealth, Chief Emeka
Anyaoku •Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Chief
Emeka Ihedioha •Imo State Governor, Roachas Okorocha
•Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State •Governor Liyel
Imoke of Cross River Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of
Delta •Governor Theodore Orji of Abia •Host Governor,
Peter Obi of Anambra State Minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu
•Finance and Coordinating Minister, Prof. Ngozi Okonjo
Iweala •Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power •Prof. Viola
Onwuliri, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs •Senator Chris
Ngige, Anambra Central •Senator Andy Uba, Anambra South
•Senator Ugochukwu Uba •Dr. Chuklwuemeka Ezeife •Hon.
Uche Ekwunife •Hon. Charles Odedo •Hon. Chris Azubogu
•Hon. Emeke Nwogbo •Dr. Ifeanyi Uba, Capital Oil •Mr.
Emeka Sibeudu, Deputy Governor, Anambra State •Dame
Virgy Etiaba, former Governor of Anambra State •Prof.
Elochukwu Amaucheazi •Prof. Laz Ekwueme •Rev Canon
Andrew Wheeler representing Archbishop of Canterbury,
among others Other dignitaries who attended the funeral
service included former vice president, Dr Alex Ekwueme;
Governor Theodore Orji (Abia); Governor Liyel Imoke (Cross
River); Governor Rochas Okorocha (Imo);; Senator Joy
Emordi; Ebonyi Deputy Governor, Dave Umahi; Finance
Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iwuala; Power Minister, Prof.
Chinedu Nebo; Labour Minister, Chief Emeka Wogu; former
governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife;
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Viola Onwuliri;
Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sunday Onyewuchi,
among others.