Sola Osofisan
08-31-2009, 12:02 AM
By Onukwube Ofoelue
Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo (1932–1967) was a Nigerian poet, who died fighting for the independence of Biafra. He is today widely acknowledged as the outstanding post-colonial English Language African poet and one of the major modernist writers of the 20th century.
Born on August 16, 1932 in the town of Ojoto, about ten miles from the city of Onitsha in Anambra State, his father was a teacher in Catholic missionary schools during the heyday of British colonial rule in Nigeria, and Okigbo spent his early years moving from station to station. Despite his father’s devout Christianity, Okigbo felt a special affinity to his maternal grandfather, a priest of Idoto, an Igbo deity personified in the river of the same name that flowed through his village.
Later in life, Okigbo came to believe that his grandfather’s soul was reincarnated in him, and the “water goddess” figures prominently in his work. Heavensgate (1962) opens with the compelling lines:
SUN (http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/literari/2009/aug/16/literari-16-08-2009-001.htm)
Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo (1932–1967) was a Nigerian poet, who died fighting for the independence of Biafra. He is today widely acknowledged as the outstanding post-colonial English Language African poet and one of the major modernist writers of the 20th century.
Born on August 16, 1932 in the town of Ojoto, about ten miles from the city of Onitsha in Anambra State, his father was a teacher in Catholic missionary schools during the heyday of British colonial rule in Nigeria, and Okigbo spent his early years moving from station to station. Despite his father’s devout Christianity, Okigbo felt a special affinity to his maternal grandfather, a priest of Idoto, an Igbo deity personified in the river of the same name that flowed through his village.
Later in life, Okigbo came to believe that his grandfather’s soul was reincarnated in him, and the “water goddess” figures prominently in his work. Heavensgate (1962) opens with the compelling lines:
SUN (http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/literari/2009/aug/16/literari-16-08-2009-001.htm)