Pleased with the enormous volume of creative works produced during
the life time of the internationally respected novelist Professor Chinua
Achebe which have advanced the promotion and protection of the human
rights of Nigerians and other citizens of the World, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS'
ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURIWA] has named the late World acclaimed writer
Professor Chinua Achebe as the greatest human rights icon of all times and will
consequently induct him in the national human rights hall of fame of the body.
In a statement jointly authorized by the National Coordinator
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss. Zainab
Yusuf, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS' ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA [HURIWA] has also called on
the National Commission for Museum and Moment and the Federal Ministry of
Culture and Tourism to secure the country home of the late literary legend in
Ogidi, Anambra state and declare it as a national monument as a way of
immortalizing the monumental body of intellectual and cultural achievements
made by the late Professor Chinua Achebe just as the rights group said the
declaration of the personal estate of the late legend would be another way of
preserving the edifice for generations yet unborn to appreciate the gift of
such an enormously talented Nigerian writer who put Nigeria on the World's
positive intellectual stage.
The media focused Non-Governmental organization which plans
to stage a national human rights lecture in Abuja in the coming months to
honour the memory of the late literary legend, also urged the Federal Ministry
of Education to implement the translation of Chinua Achebe's greatest work 'Things
Fall Apart' into the major languages of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba and distribute
the books freely to all Nigerian secondary schools as one way of restoring the
lost glory of Nigeria's national reading culture and to academically empower
the youth to pass their ordinary level English and English literature subjects
with ease.
HURIWA also condemned what it called the hypocritical shedding of
crocodile tears over the passage of Professor Achebe by the country's
political leadership which over the years perpetrated grand scale corruption
and economic crimes which led to the car accident that physically incapacitated
the late Professor Achebe thereby necessitating his self exile to the United
States of America where he sought and received the best of healthcare that sustained
him several years after the fatal car crash in the badly maintained federal
road in Nigeria.
HURIWA stated thus; "While we mourn the passage of Nigeria's
greatest intellectual and writer of international repute, we have decided to
honour his memory by recognizing him officially as the greatest human rights
icon and we will complete the process by inducting him into our national human
rights hall of fame and host it on our website @www.huriwa.org forever as a way
of reminding Nigerians that this great writer used his creative talents to
produce works of literature and novels that tell the Nigerian and African
authentic story and also vigorously campaigned for the fundamental human rights
of all Nigerians to be respected, promoted and protected".
"We hereby urge the Federal Ministry of Culture and
tourism and the National Commission for Museum and Monument to declare the
Ogidi country home of Professor Chinua Achebe as a national heritage/monument
whereby tourists from all parts of the World could be given access to
appreciate the place whereby the international writer and novelist grew up from
a very humble background", HURIWA stated.
3/4/2013
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