Senate Celebrates Achebe, Demands State Burial for Him

Professor Chinua Achebe

By Omololu Ogunmade

Almost two months after the demise of the late literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe, the Senate Wednesday urged the federal government to grant the departed novelist a state burial, as well as erect a national monument in his honour.

The upper chamber also assigned a delegation to commiserate with Achebe’s family, the people and government of Anambra State.

While imploring the federal government to name a major federal highway or street in Abuja as well as a national monument in his honour, the Senate also observed a minute silence in his honour.

The Senate’s moves followed a motion by Senator Chris Ngige (Anambra Central), and supported by 107 senators, where he (Ngige) described the late Achebe as a world figure and a personality who brought fame and prestige to Nigeria through his numerous literary works which he said became “instruments for his dogged and dynamic activism ultimately seeking a better life for all Nigerians.”

Ngige also described Achebe as a social critic, activist poet and principled persona who denied himself several personal accolades while marketing and exporting Nigerian and African cultures to several other countries.

Further, he said despite his incapacitation, Achebe continued to be active in his work and offering  intellectual contributions to life, arts and culture in Nigeria and Africa and as well published several works including his latest work titled: ‘There Was a Country.’

Ngige who said Achebe’s works had remained relevant both in Nigeria and in the circle of world literature, added that he was a pioneer and trail blazer in quality literature who won several awards and defied doctors’ report which according to him, said he would not live beyond 10 years after his automobile accident which paralysed him from waist downward in 1990. He said Achebe lived for another 23 years as against the doctors’ 10 years’ prediction.

While noting that Achebe participated in partisan politics before his incapacitation, Ngige emphasised that he was a patriot who loved his country and was always in touch with Nigeria despite living in far away United States adding that he was courageous enough to criticise any act he considered wrong in Nigeria, not minding the consequences.

Speaking on the motion, Senator Sola Adeyeye (Osun Central), who described Achebe as the pioneer of African literature, also described him as a prophet who predicted the 1966 coup in his book, A Man of the People.

He also said Achebe’s last, book, There Was a Country, was prophetic, arguing that the book’s name implies that Nigeria used to be a country and not necessarily a country now.

Also speaking, Deputy Senate Leader, Abdul Ningi, who said he met the late Achebe as a young graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in 1978 while standing beside the late Aminu Kano, founder of Peoples Redemption (PRP), described him as the first African writer who authoritatively wrote African stories.

According to him, before Achebe’s writings, African stories were written by the whites, a trend he said Achebe altered when he told the world that Africans had their own unique way of life that was distinct from that of Europeans.

In her own contribution, Senator Zainab Kure (Niger), said though a lot had been said about Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, the most striking of his books to her is ‘No Longer at Ease,’ saying even though things once fell apart in Nigeria, all still came together but yet things are no longer at ease.

Senator Ganiyu Solomon (Lagos Central), who said hardly did any Nigerian pass through secondary school without reading ‘Things Fall Apart’, added that the level of acceptance of the novel in various parts of the world shows how Nigerians can make great impact in the world if only they are provided with enabling environment.

In his own contribution, Senator James Manager (Delta South), who said the fact that the death of Achebe was published in all major newspapers and aired in all notable television stations across the world, showed the level of the deceased’s greatness. He added that such level of popularity showed that Achebe took Nigeria to the next level.

In his remarks, Senate President, Senator David Mark, who recalled that ‘Things Fall Apart’ was first used for West African School Certificate (WASC), in 1966, added that at such a tender age, Achebe began to make a tremendous impact.

According to Mark, it is difficult to pay tribute to Achebe whom he described as a role model, forthright, fearless and progressively controversial patriot who took Nigeria to the highest level, stressing  that there was no volume of expression that could match his reputation.