Day Prof Charles Nnolim Disowned Me, by Uzor Maxim Uzoatu – THIS AGE

It is impossible to meet Professor Charles Ekwusiaga Nnolim without receiving a surprise or two. It always had a twist at the tail end of the story. My mind goes back to when I traveled from Lagos to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, to serve as a reviewer at the launch of Bina Nengi-Ilagha’s award-winning first novel, Condolencesand collection of short stories, Crossroads. It was a surprising surprise to me that Prof Nnolim was the chairman of the launch, and I happen to hail from the same hometown as him of Umuchu in Anambra State.

Professor Nnolim had during his lifetime given our hometown a good deal of literary limelight through his essay which cited a pamphlet “The Story of Umuchu” written by his uncle, Simon Nnolim, as a source for Chinua Achebe’s classic novel, Arrow of God. In the turf war of literary controversies, Professor Nnolim has never ceded any quarter in his lion-like life.

When I arrived at the review podium in Yenagoa, Professor Nnolim as President was sitting next to Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the then Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State who would later become Governor of the state and later Vice President and President of Nigeria.

While remembering the many humorous stories told that evening by Prof Nnolim, it is worth remembering that Bina Nengi’s novel Ilagha Condolences narrated the intriguing story of Pere Alazibo’s demise and the hypocrisy of his living friends and enemies who united into mundane mourners after his tragic death. Prof Nnolim has left these shores, and it is our duty, the living, to remember him with sincerity, unlike Pere Alazibo mourners like Chief Zoro and Dandie who, while pretending to be mourning Pere’s death, were actually more interested in taking control of his personable wife, Atari-Joy!

Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Professor Nnolim, in different ways, offered their independent reviews of my review after my presentation. Jonathan who struck me as a very good listener asked me how I came to know so much about Ijaw history according to the portrayal of the stories and heroes of Bayelsa’s dream and Izon resurgence such as Isaac Adaka Boro, George Amangala, Nottingham Dick, Sese, Boardman Nyananyo, etc. in the collection of short stories, Crossroads. Professor Nnolim informed the public and readers of Bina Nengi-Ilagha to pay particular attention to the author’s use of anagrams, that is, words formed by arranging other words in a different order.

Professor Nnolim was in real life what I call a people’s professor. The city and the toga found a comfortable accommodation in his person. He was never a solitary intellectual. He teased himself with self-deprecating humor, for example, recounting that the slow pace at which he built his mansion caused the village’s masked legion known as Achukwu to taunt him that the weed-covered place had become a happy hunting ground for hunters chasing grass cutters alias Nchi! In another instance, Professor Nnolim told the story of how he was appointed as the chief pitcher in a fundraising ceremony and donated five thousand naira only for a young moneyed upstart to rise up to curse the poor professor for his paltry donation!

In my hometown, Professor Nnolim was among the architects of establishing the development agency known as Umuchu Development Forum (UDF) which catered to the multi-faceted well-being of the community. He worked in concert with his great friend, Prof. Uka Ezenwe, Emeritus Professor of Economics at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. He was the chairman of the board of directors of the Emmanuel Agupusi Educational Foundation, an institution that provided scholarships to many indigent students. He gracefully wore the high title of chieftain of Ikoro Umuchu.

There was no room for half measures in Prof Nnolim’s commitment. In both literary criticism and community development, Professor Nnolim has given his all. He has trained students from all over Nigeria and beyond. He made his words and actions count. He was a distinguished member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, a member of the Literary Society of Nigeria, a member of the International Biographical Association and a member of the World Literary Academy. It is therefore no surprise that he was awarded the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM).

When I came to Bayelsa to do the review of Bina Nengi-Ilagha Condolences AND Crossroads I was filled with so much joy to see my esteemed fellow citizen, Professor Nnolim, as the chairman of the occasion. As I have written from the beginning, there is always a twist in every story about Prof Charles Ekwusiaga Nnolim. I was calling my fellow citizen in Umuchu, Anambra State when I received the shocking news.

Professor Nnolim said: “I am now an Ijaw man and my name is Nnolimowei!”

* Uzoatu is the author of God of poetry