Obi Wali
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Obi Wali | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rumuigbo Town |
| Died | 1993 |
| Occupation(s) | Nigerian politician and writer |
Obi Wali was a minority rights activist, politician, distinguished senator, literary giant and an orator.
Early life and career
Obi Wali was born in Rumuigbo Town, headquarters of Apara Kingdom, in Obio Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State. He studied English literature in Nigeria and the United States where he obtained a doctoral degree in the subject. He was a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Wali was one of the founding fathers of Rivers State in Nigeria and later served as the first Commissioner for Education and later Rehabiltation and a member of the first executive council of the state. He was later elected as a member of the 1978 Constituent Assembly and also a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee that drafted the 1979 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was elected as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the Second Republic and 1980 he was elected the Minority Leader of the House of Senate, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He championed the cause of the Ikwerre ethnic minorities in Nigeria and was one of the well known and documented leaders from the Niger Delta region that consistently campaigned against the marginalisation of the Niger Delta people particularly the Ikwerre ethnic nationality. He vigrously fought for the creation of Port Harcourt State out of the then Rivers State of Nigeria. He envisioned the marginalisation and oppression of the Ikwerre people, and the state inspired loot and gross exploitation of their resources and campaigned energetically for the correction of the imbalances in the socio-economic and political power of the Nigerian state.
Senator Dr Obi Wali as he was later called and addressed, the Ikwerre spokesman was murdered and butchered in his bedroom on 26 April 1993, at about 8pm, his body dismembered by his assailants. Parts of his body were found littered in the room in thick pool of cold blood. He was buried on 24 February 1994. The cause of his death and the reasons for his assassination was unestablished, but there has been strong speculation that it could be in connection with his political opinion.[citation needed]
Besides his contribution to the politics of Nigeria, Wali also contributed immensely to literary works in the African hemisphere and globally. When in 1963 he contributed his controversial essay, "The dead end of African Literature"[full citation needed] where he declared that literatures written in European languages did not qualify as African Literature. Although author Chinua Achebe opposed his position, other African literary giants that accepted his works such as Ngugi wa thiong'o who later changed his name to a traditional African name following Wali's argument.
See also
References
External links
- "Society for Research and Academic Excellence". academicexcellencesociety.com. Retrieved 22 April 2014.