Just yesterday, when I was provoked to write my latest piece “Getting Our Perspective Right on Our Fellow Africans,” I quoted extensively from a great work by a great genius of Africa, Chinua Achebe.

At the time, I had no idea that Achebe was inches away from death. Also my hunch tells me that I must have been the last to have the honor of quoting this immortal African oracle before he enjoyed his last breath on this planet.

I bid him farewell paraphrasing from his own poignant words employed during a great funeral of a noble warrior called Ezeudu in “Things Fall Apart”pg 86.

So I say, “Achebe! If you had been like those mundane African “scholars” in your last life, I would have asked you to be an extra-ordinary scholar when you come back again. But you were already extra-ordinary. If you had been a coward like those selfish African “intellectuals” who would rather stick to the status quo and live off their “ignorant” people, I would have asked you to bring the courage of conviction in your scholarship. But you were already a fearless scholar. If you had died young, I would have asked you to get a life. But you not only lived long but immortalized yourself through your monumental works. So I shall ask you to come again the way you came before. If your bodily death was the death of nature, go in peace. But if a man caused it, do not allow him a moment’s rest.”

Kiflu Hussain
WardheerNews contributor
Email:kiflukam@yahoo.com

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Kifllu is an Ethiopian social and political commentator