Chimamanda Adichie loses 88-year-old father

Prof. James Adichie, the father of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, renowned novelist-cum-feminist, has passed on after battling a brief illness in Anambra State, a family source disclosed to newsmen yesterday.

According to the source, the professor of statistics breathed his last on Wednesday night at the Chira Memorial Hospital situated within Awkuzu Oyi local government, Awka, where he was admitted to at the age of 88. He celebrated his 88th birthday on March 1, 2020.

The Emeritus Professor of Statistics and Mathematics at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) hailed from Abba, Njikoka local government area of Anambra. He had been living in Nsukka since he retired.

Adichie was the first Nigerian Professor of Statistics and he was a member of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) since 1978 and member, Governing Council of (ISI) 1985-1987.

Speaking about his father’s experience during the Nigerian Civil War, which is also called the Biafran War, Chimamanda had recently recounted how he had lost everything he owned.

“I didn’t choose to write about Biafra. Biafra chose me. My family survived the war. My parents lost everything they owned. My brother, Chucks was born during the war,” she had narrated.

“I would say that my family’s trajectory was sharply divided and changed by the war. For me, there was before the war, and after the war. I was born seven years after the war ended. But I always felt that it was present in our lives. Both of my grandfathers died in it and I grew up hearing about them. I think I just have always wanted to make sense of this part of my history.”