By Chris Vincent
Professor Ben Obumselu, who passed away on March 4,2017, left indelible footprints on the sands of time. To Prof Isidore Diala, he was “prodigiously gifted,extraordinarily learned and informed, oracular in his pronouncements in spite of his unassuming mien”. To Prof Niyi Osundare Obumselu was ” one of the most widely read,liberally educated,and profoundly cerebral scholars Nigeria has ever produced.
Prof Abiola Irele enthused that ” it is no exaggeration to affirm that his essay on Ngugi established the reputation of the author as a reflective writer, concerned not merely with the ideological stances elaborated in his early novels but also with the deeper human resonance of his writing”. Obumselu, observed Prof Dan Izevbaye is “acknowledged to be one of those who laid the foundation of our present practice of criticism..”
BEN OBUMSELU: BELOVED TITAN OF OUR RACE
By Chinedu Nebo
You came
You saw
In youth you were dogged
In middle age, a work horse
At old age, a delectable gentleman.
You were courageous
Firm and resolute
In the wilderness, you made a path
In the desert, you created an oasis
You scaled the mountains
Calmed raging storms
Stilled the voice of rancour
Counselled with great wisdom
You raised the Igbo nation banner
And selflessly provided leadership
You yearned for men of candour
Woman of sterling qualities
To assume leadership
In the face of rudderless
And visionless leadership
Of a political class bereft of ideas
Imprisoned by primordial acquisition culture
In sensitive to the yearnings
Of a people so deprived
You have played your role
And did it dignifyingly
Your self-effacing leadership
Has left its mark on the teachable
Your gentleness and meekness
Your industry and humility
Are treasures bequeathed
To those who still nurture the dream
Rest beloved Titan of our race
Rest from your labours and efforts
The lord will one day bring to pass
The vision and dream you nurtured.
BEN OBUMSELU: A TEACHER OF TEACHERS
By Sophia Ogwude
A mighty weird wind came
But an iron clad will contained and held it back
Rendering it impotent through defiance
And zeal for a continuous, actively productive life.
A mighty rain has fallen
And a great tree felled
This a tribute to a colossus
Who assuredly has left his prints on the shores of time.
A teacher of teachers
Teaching many more through his academic expositions
Outside the classroom and the board
In academic dexterity
Shown that one must have to subscribe to many faith to be versed in it
Neither must one see and know in to impart knowledge.
A teacher from whom I have learnt much
Not the least from his education of the enigmatic okigbo
In a studded study of that lone literary forest, his person, his period of tutelage
His frustrations, his limitations and yes, his successes.
All these and more in an essay of not more than twenty-one pages
Has sent to rest many hitherto unresolved queries
And in me gained yet another pupil
Adieu dear prof.
