LATE SENATOR OBI WALI

LATE SENATOR OBI WALI

Ochi Ohna Ikwerre II  (1974 - 1977)

Born February 27, 1932, in Rumuigbo Town, Obio Akpor LGA, Late Sen. Dr. Obiajunwa Wali was a minority rights activist, politician, distinguished senator, literary scholar, and orator. Academically, he was educated at the West African People's Institute, Calabar, and St. Augustine's Secondary School, Nkwerre. He attended University College Ibadan where he specialized in literature, and obtained a doctorate degree in literature from the United States.

Traditionally, he held the title of Ochi Ohna Ikwerre II and served as President General of Ogbakor Ikwerre from 1974 to 1977.

His contributions to Ogbakor Ikwerre and the Ikwerre nation were exceptional. He was one of the founding fathers of Rivers State and served as the first Commissioner for Education. As a senator in the Second Republic, he was elected Minority Leader of the Senate in 1980. He championed the cause of the Ikwerre ethnic minorities, consistently campaigning against the marginalization of the Niger Delta people. He fought for the creation of Port Harcourt State for the Ikwerre people and advocated for the correction of socio-economic and political imbalances. As a professor at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he contributed significantly to literary scholarship, arguing that African literature should be written in African languages in his landmark essay "The Dead End of African Literature" (1963). He was violently murdered on April 26, 1993. In 2014, the Obi Wali International Conference Centre was opened in Port Harcourt in his memory, and the Ikwerre people organized an annual memorial lecture in his honor