bestview:


That is the final straw that sank this envious never-do well people.

Mandela knows Achebe but he doesn't. There is no Nigerian that did not pass through Achebe works, same cannot be said of that jobless old fool.

Achebe's works broke borders, other countries of the world could see and read it. Achebe is the champion of Africa.

bestview: These are only two greatest African known by the outside world for their contribution to humanity.

Chinua Achebe of Nigeria

Nelson Mandela of South Africa

"The Igbo must remember, however, that they were not militarily prepared for that war. I
told Ojukwu this, point blank, when I visited Biafra. Sam Aluko also revealed that he did. A
number of leaders outside Biafra warned the leadership of this plain fact. Bluff is no
substitute for bullets." Wole Soyinka

Orikinla: From the comments I have read so far, I can see that many people here suffer from the Nigerian disease of hypocrisy and intellectual ignorance, because of their conceit and deceit. Miseducation is worse than no education.

sweetcheecks:

Its admireable to see Nigerians embracing any research or maybe when its favourable to them? I am happy to hear this sometimes South Africa misses up on all of these news. My bad again.

DerideGull:


I suggest you stop flaunting your crass ignorance in the public arena.

As you yourself have observed, Chinua himself repudiated such a tag – he did study literature after all, bagged a degree in the subject. So, it is a tag of either literary ignorance or “momentary exuberance” – ala [Nadine] Gordimer – to which we are all sometimes prone. Those who seriously believe or promote this must be asked: have you the sheerest acquaintance with the literatures of other African nations, in both indigenous and adopted colonial languages? What must the francophone, lusophone, Zulu, Xhosa, Ewe etc. etc. literary scholars and consumers think of those who persist in such a historic absurdity? It's as ridiculous as calling WS father of contemporary African drama! Or Mazisi Kunene father of African epic poetry. Or Kofi Awoonor father of African poetry. Education is lacking in most of those who pontificate.

Let me just add that a number of foreign “African experts” have seized on this silliness with glee. It legitimizes their ignorance, their parlous knowledge, enables them to circumscribe, then adopt a patronizing approach to African literatures and creativity. Backed by centuries of their own recorded literary history, they assume the condescending posture of midwiving an infant entity. It is all rather depressing.

sweetcheecks:

Do not do exactly what Soyinka spoke of about Nigerians. Do not push your luck. I do not have to know shiiittt about an igbo nigerian writter if his effects never touch my shores. My appolgy does not alude to my ignorance but my superiority of being able to say I am sorry when I am wrong which a light years aways from you on your kind. Back offf!

DerideGull:


I suggest you stop flaunting your crass ignorance in the public arena.

Ugom87:
I know the problem=tribalism,assuming chinua Achebe was a yoruba man it would have been widely accepted by all,,All these ones u mentioned vanished with the dimlight.

2 years ago the great Forbes magazine sought to find out the most powerful celebrities in Africa
Guess who came first?
You guessed right!
You might as well call him the King ofAfrican celebrities and you would be correct
Before some of you cry ,WS was 6th on the list and 6th ain't bad

In September, I put out a request for nominations for a list of the 40 most powerful celebrities in contemporary Africa. Within three weeks, over 7,500 entries flooded in. This is the result of your choices. The debut list of The 40 Most Powerful Celebrities In Africa includes actors, cerebral authors, musicians, movie producers, supermodels, TV personalities and athletes, drawn from all across Africa and traverses the generational divide[size=18pt]. Don’t be surprised to meet timeless artistic greats like Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe (ranked No. 1)[/size] and Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi listed alongside younger up-and-comers like famed Kenyan crooner Eric Wainaina, Ivorian soccer sensation Didier Drogba (No. 3) and Nigerian screen goddess Genevieve Nnaji. Perhaps not surprisingly, the list is dominated by musicians.

eko ileee:
This is what I see after reading so many comments in this thread...

If you are around the Igbo all you hear are boasts about his real and imaginary accomplishments. He is very vainglory seeking; he is title crazy (he wants to be called Dr. Professor Chief this or
that).

In personality structure the typical Igbo has traits of paranoia, narcissism and antisocial personality. He is paranoid because aware of his lack of existential worth, and instead of accepting that reality, he masks it with pretended worth; he pretends to have fictional worth.

Have you ever seen a humble Igbo man who does not present himself as god almighty himself even though he is a starving man? If you listened to these people boast you would think that they are as
powerful as the gods are supposed to be!

http://www.igbofocus.co.uk/html/the_igbo_problem_can_be_fixed.html

shymexx:

^^^^He explained why the title is disrespectful.

I bet both Naguib Mahfouz and Nadine Gordimer feel the same way.

1wolex85:
WS was talking about people like YOU!!! You've completely missed the point of what he was saying. How on earth can you say he was jealous because Achebe was called father of literature? Did u even notice that he belittled his nobel prize? Abeg read and understand!

shymexx: ^^^^I told you stop quoting me time ago - sod off!

babyosisi: 2 years ago the great Forbes magazine sought to find out the most powerful celebrities in Africa
Guess who came first?
You guessed right!

sweetcheecks:

Do not do exactly what Soyinka spoke of about Nigerians. Do not push your luck. I do not have to know shiiittt about an igbo nigerian writter if his effects never touch my shores. My appology aludes not in any way to my ignorance but to my superiority of being able to say I am sorry when I have made in error in spelling of a man's name wrong which is a light years aways from you on your kind. Back offf!

CyberG:

Soooo true! LWTMB!

Crayola1:

Nadine Gordimer gave him the title the father pf modern african literature. So how would she feel disrespected by a totle she gave him? Its clear many of you have not the slightest clue about a lot of the things you speak on.

http://m.ndtv.com/article/world/chinua-achebe-father-of-modern-african-literature-dies-at-82-345766