Blow elephant tusks, blow

                                       As ancestors welcome home
                           A peacock among the early birds
                            Of authentic African Literature

All is quiet. Mother Nature itself stands in astonished obeisance. Behold, behold, the triumphant exit of a very great man who has done Nigeria and Africa proud in World Literature!

A Statesman of the Arts, Elechi Amadi was a brilliant, down-to earth storyteller whose message was the life he lived as a proud African traditionalist to the core. He lived well and fully in the service of his own community, his nation and world of Literature. True to life, Elechi Amadi occupies a pride of place as a major Nigerian writer who focused deliberately on recording with integrity, a pre-colonial, non-compromised African village setting and cultures.
We salute the delicate craftsmanship of his globally celebrated The Concubine. We are proud of Amadi's dramatic exploits with otherwise unknown local champions of his community in The Great Ponds and Isiburu. We celebrate the beautiful flow of his narrative in The Slave and Estrangement. We can nod our heads with delight over the comic gymnastics of his plays: Pepper-Soup, The Dancer of Johannesburg and The Woman of Calabar. Even the delicate mastery of words in his scattered poetic pieces deserves a compelling and resounding clap.
At the University of Calabar where Elechi was a constant feature, we celebrate a Larger-than-life friend of ICALEL, UNICAL’s famous International Conference on African Literature and the English Language. Oh, how we cherished his constant dignified presence among other famous writers and critics at ICALEL. He always interacted creatively with fellow writers and has positively impacted both staff and students of UNICAL since 1980. He shall be sadly missed, but will live on in his works and in our hearts.

Professor Amadi must be honoured for his honesty, in a nation where the corrupt hold sway and go scot-free. He shall be remembered as a man who had a convicted philosophy about the role of Literature and stood by it all his creative life at the risk of being the odd man out by insisting on separating Literature from obvious commitments that he viewed as propaganda. In his definitive statement, Prof. Amadi had long ago declared: "I think of myself as a painter or composer using words in the place of pictures and musical symbols. I consider commitment in Fiction as a prostitution of Literature." Amadi the classical artist quested after aesthetic satisfaction and relaxation as the paramount values of Fiction, Drama and Poetry. He maintained a stubborn faith about that.

On a personal level, I maintained a friendship with the late Amadi that spanned over three decades and that extended to his family. As a leading scholar of his works, I had the rare privilege of not only burrowing into his creative essence but to also study his person and the mind behind the great works that stand Nigeria on the shoulders of Time literarily. Elechi was a most amiable man whose simplicity and humility defies logic.

I also enjoyed the wonderful opportunity of celebrating my 70^th birthday, two years ago, with Prof. Amadi in Calabar. At the colourful event which also marked my official retirement from UNICAL, second year students of our English and Literary Studies Department (ELS) staged a command performance of Amadi’s play, The Woman of Calabar. It remains an unforgettable event and privilege, ad a most deserving honour for the literary icon.

Truly, we have lost a friend, a national asset and pride of the continent and indeed, world literature. Aluu community, Rivers State, Nigeria, the literary community and indeed, our world is diminished by the exit of this colossus. But we are consoled that his foot prints in the form of his definitive books are too big, too important, too bold and too relevant to be erased, rather, they continue to enrich us all minutely. May our land produce more Elechis and may Nigeria and Africa never run dry of the Golden Ink!

Capt. Dr Elechi Amadi, you have lived according to your rules and as a great man of artistic vision. You have wrestled like the champion you were. You have finished your course. Your works are dynamic seeds that can outlive all adverse circumstances of this ephemeral life and shall continue to speak for you.

Adieu, friend, and thanks for being you. I celebrate you.

Now,
Let a thousand elephant tusks
Strike hands in salute
For the proud elegant son
Of a proud and boastful clan!
•Prof. (Mrs) Eko, a poet, academician and literally scholar, is former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar. File Photo shows, L-R; writer and activist Betty Abah, eminent writer Elechi Amadi, Prof. Ini Uko of UNIUYO, Prof. Ebelo Eko and Amadi’s wife Priye.

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