Adiele Afigbo is Dead

I just got a message from a listsrv to which I belong that Professor Adiele Afigbo, one of the most prolific and best known Igbo historians, is dead. I met Prof Afigbo last September in Nsukka and we discussed my research at lenght, with him offering suggestion on what I might look at.  I am still trying to understand that he is really dead. It feels very unreal.

The notification on the listserv by Prof Toyin Falola of the Department of History, The University of Texas at Austin reads:

It is with great sadness that I announced the death of Professor Adiele Afigbo who died this morning. His works transformed the studies of colonial history, the Igbo speaking people, and contemporary African development. Nigeria’s transition from the colonial to the post-colonial  closely parallels the academic career of A.E. Afigbo. He  graduated with a Ph.D. in History from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 1964, the first History doctorate produced on Nigerian soil.  He had a remarkable career. He  authored or co-authored eight books, edited four more, and published well over a hundred journal articles.  Afigbo earned numerous prizes for his scholarship, served on the editorial board of many acclaimed scholarly journals and was inducted into many prestigious societies, including the Nigerian Academy of Letters, and received also received government sponsored awards such as the Order of the Niger and the Nigerian National Merit Award.

I feel so sad I don’t know what to say.