Obododimma Oha: A brother from afar, yet close

By Anthony Oha

SAMENESS in naming could breed brotherhood and love. My name is Anthony Oha and I’ve had to answer some questions, from my friends and colleagues in the academia, like: “Are you related to Prof. Obododimma Oha?” or “Are you a brother to Prof. Obododimma Oha?” or “Is Prof. Obododimma in anyway related to you?” These questions come up anytime I introduce myself in the circle of writers, academics and researcher fellows.

His full surname is ‘Ohaezukosi’ shortened to ‘Oha’ while mine is ‘Ohajirimmuta’ also shortened to ‘Oha.’ So, it is linguistic clipping that brings the sameness in our surnames. If the two surnames are given semantic touch, they would mean differently. Mine, ‘Ohajirimmuta,’ means ‘Legacy’ while his, ‘Ohaezukosi,’ means “Incompleteness of mankind.’ Maybe, I will make further enquiries from Anambrarians on the real meaning of his surname. He was from Ihiala in Anambra State while I am from Nekede in Imo State. But, guess what? I never knew him personally for many years.

So, when I began my doctoral research at the University of Ibadan under the supervision of Prof. Niyi Osundare, my first interest was to search and meet Dr. Obododimma Oha in person. When we eventually met and I introduced myself, he was elated and told me: “So, you’re the ‘Anthony Oha’ that I have been looking forward to meeting one of these days? Many of our colleagues had been asking me if we were truly related.”

He was amiable and friendly. We laughed and discussed more of academics. On that first and only meeting, he gave me a link to a conference at the University of Cairo Egypt and advised me to attend since airfare and accommodation would be provided for those whose papers were accepted. I didn’t miss that chance and that was how I later travelled to Egypt for the first time and subsequently through his connection. My academic trips to the United States and some countries in Europe were made possible through his advice and direction.

Later that same day, Obododimma was quick to call his wife to come and meet me. She was a very fair woman. The friendly Igbo woman was happy to meet her husband’s unknown faraway brother. He explained to her how he had always been asked about our biological relationship. She laughed and promised that the next time I would come to Ibadan that she would personally give me ‘the Anambra’ hospitality of ‘Ofe Onugbu’ and ‘Nni Oka’ (Bitterleaf Soup and Corn Swallow). She was as jolly and amiable as her husband. I later learned that she was a non-teaching staff of the University of Ibadan.

I spent two more days in the university with Prof. Osundare in the course of my doctoral research work before I left Ibadan. That was in the year 2003. I couldn’t see Prof. Obododimma again even years after. We chatted sparingly on Facebook until we stopped chatting due to the bad network at my university then. And that was the only and last time I saw him, and I am sad that I will never meet him again.

Prof. Obododimma Oha was prolific in his academic work. We researched and wrote articles and books in the same field. So, the surname, ‘Oha’, either that of ‘Obododimma’ or that of ‘Anthony’, became a regular occurrence in some journals and books of reading. I had planned co-authoring some research papers with him but it never got realised due to our tighter programmes.

Prof. Obododimma Oha

When I heard a fortnight ago that Prof. Obododimma Oha had passed on, I wasn’t only shocked but I almost collapsed as my blood pressure rose in notches. He was just in his early 60s, a period to be described as his phase of academic vehemence. He was a cultural realist whose vast academic works cut across climes and times. He was so daring, explorative, engaging and creative; a trailblazer in omnibus researches in the field of linguistics, language and cultural studies. He also engaged in multidisciplinary researches, just like Prof. Enukora Animalu of the University of Jos who combined literature, linguistics and physics in a study of Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God.

Did you know that in faraway Sweden in 2009, and in the United States in 2012, at two different conferences, I met some academics and research fellows who treated me like they would treat Prof. Obodimma just because I told them that he was my brother? They told me that he had attended conferences with them at different times. One of them, Prof. Paul Hayes described him as, “a research guru and a detailed handler of academic projects.”

Prof. Obododimma Oha has been described as a brilliant, fearless, fair-minded, considerate and classy scholar who was also unfailingly even-tempered even when he was impassioned in his engagements. His book, Igbo English in the Nigerian Novel, is so rich that I used it as a compulsory text for my postgraduate class in Stylistics, even in India, Canada and Cyprus. His books were not commonplace because he broke new grounds.

He was also very active in the social media, especially in his Facebook handle. Before his death, he went silent for some period because his regular posts weren’t suffacing as usual and many of us never knew that he was battling for his life. Unfortunately, we live in an age of sudden death with scientific experiments on our food and even on our environment which affect our existence.

I have lost my brother – my ‘blood’ brother – my academic mentor; whose counselling made me realise that writing, researching and conferencing were sacrosanct in academic rising. He showed me the path I towed and got deeply connected to in my academic quests despite all odds. He was good in all he did and best in all he engaged in. According to Kperogi, “Professor Oha was a true connoisseur of the written word, a consummate prose stylist and, above all, a fine human being.”

It was my late mum who admonished me that thinking so deeply about the dead could bring harm to the living. So, I began to pen down this requiem. Obododimma was a great loss to the academia. He knew his steps, and moved with gait. He lived and worked like his first name, ‘Obododimma’ – ‘let our community be better.’ He worked assidously for the good of mankind. His vast academic explorations would keep humanity on the go in the fields he thrived in. He was a gentleman par excellence.

What else can I say? Even if my tears flow like the Niger, it won’t assuage my feelings because we can’t change the inevitable. I am sure he left good legacies on earth which are indelible on the sands of time. Obododimma lives on even in his inevitable absence. May his gentle soul rest peacefully with the lord until we meet to part no more.

Prof. Oha is the author of Insignia of the Gods