ASAGBA,AFRICA’S FIRST PROFESSOR-KING:AN EULOGY

By Norbert Chiazor

Malian folklorist,Amadou Hampâté Bâ once wrote: “when an old man dies in in Africa,a library burns”

This powerful metaphor becomes more poignant with the exit of a rare centenarian – Africa’s first Professor – king!

Obi Professor Chike Edozien,Asagba of Asaba,brainy library,gone in a blaze of glory.

Mountain of books,Isi Mili…melting with the roar of River Niger.Surging waves to the clouds.Home-ward bound to the restful bosom of his heavenly maker.

One of Nigeria’s most educated traditional rulers,Asagba was a pioneer professor of medicine with landmark contributions to scholarship.

Before his coronation in the 1990s,foreigners orthodox notion of African monarchs was infra dig- kings generally uneducated.An erroneous impression,however widely debunked by the profound wit and wisdom of the royalties as matchless avatars of knowledge,from time immemorial.

Bead,specter and crown…Then came Asagba the don -king.Banishing negative stereotypes to command world wide awe to African throne.

He was the voice of Anioma.The towering drum that echoed the story and dignity of a people.

When it was time to write an epic on the first Anioma Governor of Delta,the 13th Asagba was the right hand to pen a Foreword.

“While the Anioma group,represented by Aniocha,Oshimili,Ika and Ndokwa relished the election of Okowa as emblematic of a sense of belonging and fulfillment in a pluralistic environment,it instructively established a new dawn of brotherhood and good neigbourliness among the Urhobo,Itsekiri,Isoko,Izon and Anioma,celebrating the common patrimony of Delta” ( Excerpts from DELTA GOVERNOR:HOW OKOWA BROKE THE JINX by Emma Amaize & Norbert Chiazor).

In Delta and far afield,Asagba would ever evoke memory of a golden voyage.Everyone enjoyed his cruise.His royal ship sailed with the coolness of peace,guaranteed only in the paradise by the Niger- Asaba.

A cosmopolitan king whose reign made every inhabitant,male or female,either prince and princess.

Asagba made Asaba home for all-East,West,North and South.There is no place like Nigeria’s fastest developing state capital.

Lagos prides herself as open sesame,”no man’s land” an euphemism of its liberal communalism,but it can never purge off its overbearing ‘Yorubaness’

Abuja basks as unity fortress of Nigeria,yet it reeks of all pervading northern flavour,rigid in themes.

Kano is vibrant but how far can you gyrate in Sabon Gari.

Garden city,Port Harcourt holds no flower for everybody.

There is no coal in coal city. No ‘fufu’ in Fulfulde.

Asaba,life here is pro social,uncomplicated.Nigeria’s first colonial capital,unsung,denied in history,reinvented itself under Asagba.

Prince Ned Nwoko,Delta North (Anioma ) Senator regals the late Asagba in a riveting tribute as “ a steadfast symbol of the traditional institution,embodying its values with unwavering dedication “

Governor Sheriff Oborevwori in the noblest of respect,proclaimed that “Asaba witnessed a quantum leap in urbanization under Obi professor Edozien” who made significant contributions to making the state capital “welcoming and pleasant to all Nigerians”.

Indeed.

Asabamaka,ask the popular Taiwanese chef,Paul.

The grandeur of Asaba,symbolized the good of Asagba.

As the grand old Asagba rises to final glory,may the heavens welcome him to endless feast in paradise.