I experienced a moment of grief this morning when I heard the news that Chinua Achebe had died.

Famed writer and educator Chinua Achebe was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe on November 16, 1930, in the Igbo town of Ogidi in eastern Nigeria. After becoming educated in English at the University of Ibadan and a subsequent teaching stint, in 1961, Achebe joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation as director of external broadcasting. He would serve in that position until 1966. Prior to joining NBC, in 1958, Achebe published his first novel: Things Fall Apart. The groundbreaking novel centers on the cultural clash between native African culture and the traditional white culture of missionaries and the colonial government in place in Nigeria.
In a related endeavor, in 1967, Chinua Achebe and Christopher Okigbo, a renowned poet, co-founded a publishing company, the Citadel Press, which they intended to run as an outlet for a new kind of African-oriented children's books. Chinua Achebe sudden death is a national disaster which is being greeted everywhere with sadness, disbelief, astonishment, incredulity and great expression about the impact of his loss and socio-political significance of this great man. No doubt, he was the greatest and dogged fighter of our time whose accomplishments in the struggle for the emancipation of the working and toiling people of Nigeria cannot be easily equaled. He was also crucial to those who abhor corruption and could easily be described as the Nigerian pillar of mankind’s oldest struggle just and egalitarian society. But at least, he has left behind, an enviable and great legacy of honesty, hard work, patriotism, equal rights and justice which were the cause of his life. He was a valorous man who singularly, in his own confident manner and singular dedication added value to the concept and methodology of making the world a better place in his own time. When I confirmed the news today, March Friday 22, learning of the sad demise of our late father, brother, lion of the human rights and the icon of the dispossessed and defender of the rights of the ordinary Nigerian, that our country had lost its conscience, it was not an accidental statement. It was precisely because there was no adequate epithet that I felt could accurately capture the true essence and the entire gamut of Achebe dedication to our country and its people.
Achebe taught us the virtues of speaking truth to power of demystifying the arrogant and powerful and the values of character, principle, compassion and integrity, with which he lived his private and public life. Of course, in all of this, he also shows us that he was human after all, with frailties and foibles like the rest of us. For me and my political family, the greatest tribute we can make to Chinua Achebe is to continue in the struggle for the liberation and freedom of our people, along the lines that Achebe fought for a new constitutional order, for the votes of our people to count and for governments that are truly accountable to the citizens of this country. Adieu, Chinua Achebe Please reassure our comrade brothers, Pa Adekunle Ajasin, Bala Usman, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, Senator Abraham Adesanya, Emeka Ojukwu, Ken Saron wiwa and other martyrdom and the unknown defenders of our freedom when you meet them. We shall carry the torch forward and continue to light the candle for the true freedom and liberation of our people.