Professor Chinua Achebe, as an icon of unmatched integrity and conviction.
In a tribute to Professor Achebe, former Vice President however praised the lucidity of Professor Achebe’s writing style, which according to him, made the late novelist and author, one of the most readable and popular authors of the world.
Atiku Abubakar however recalled that “Things Fall Apart” forcefully rejected and condemned the July 2004 political crisis in Anambra State during, which thugs attempted to remove a democratically elected Governor on the orders of a godfather.
The former Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP noted that based on Achebe’s convictions and principle, he rejected a national honour conferred on him by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Jonathan administrations.
According to the former Vice President, few Nigerians would have followed the courage of their conviction and reject national honours because of the fear of losing favour from those in power.
On the literary front, Atiku Abubakar paid glowing tribute to late Achebe’s unquantifiable contributions to African literature, adding that Things Fall Apart would remain Achebe’s everlasting legacy to literature.
Atiku said, “the translation of Things Fall Apart into more than one hundred languages of the world had put not only Nigeria, but also Africa on the map, thanks to Achebe’s literary prowess.”
