Ben Obumselu (1930–2017): Pioneer African Literary Critic

Summary

‘Every man’, Ben Obumselu wrote, ‘is a lover and follows the Muse’. Prodigiously gifted, extraordinarily learned and informed, oracular in his pronouncements in spite of his unassuming mien, Obumselu was himself the fulfilment of every ambitious student's deepest dream of the intellectual Muse. He, moreover, had the patience, the compassion, and the generosity to guide the enthusiastic student on the challenging path to truth. When I and my generation of students at Imo State University, Etiti (now Abia State University, Uturu, Nigeria) first met Obumselu in the classroom in the early 1980s, the experience was nothing short of a revelation of the enthralling delights of the life of the intellect. Our stars could hardly have been more auspicious. Dreams were engendered; careers were born; eternal discipleships were begun.

Discovering Obumselu and his work has been one of the profoundest experiences of my life. A pioneer student in the honours degree programme in English in the University College Ibadan under the headship of Professor Molly Mahood, Obumselu entered the University in 1951 as the winner of the Open Scholarship for the best candidate in the Faculty of Arts. He maintained the scholarship level of performance for the six years he spent as an undergraduate and won the Faculty Prize as the best graduating student in 1957. He achieved these results while holding the office of the President of the Students’ Union in 1955/56 and the first President of the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) in 1956/57. Remarkably, he was offered a scholarship for postgraduate studies at Oxford University, England even before he had earned his first degree. On his return from Oxford with a doctorate, Obumselu taught for three years at the University of Ibadan before moving at the onset of the Civil War to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Fleeing the country at the end of the War because his roles in Biafra placed him under military surveillance, Obumselu led the life of a wandering scholar and taught in universities in the United Kingdom, Zambia, Zaire, Botswana and Swaziland. He returned to Nigeria in 1981 to serve as Special Adviser to the then Governor of Anambra State, Jim Nwobodo and, at the collapse of the Second Republic, taught for several years at Abia State University, Uturu. Obumselu left the university in 1986 to begin totally new careers in Lagos.