Foremost literary icon, Elechi Amadi of “The Concubine” fame IS DEAD - LITERATURE.

ONE of Africa’s finest novelist, poet and dramatist Captain Elechi Amadi died Wednesday 29th- 6- 2016 at the Good Heart hospital in Port Harcourt at the age of 82.  He was the foremost literary icon, Captain Elechi Amadi (rtd), of “The Concubine” fame.

Born in 1934 in Aluu in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, Amadi attended Government College, Umuahia (1948–52), Survey School, Oyo (1953–54), and the University of Ibadan (1955–59), where he obtained a degree in Physics and Mathematics.

He worked for a time as a land surveyor and later was a teacher at several schools, including the Nigerian Military School, Zaria (1963–66). Amadi served in the Nigerian Army, remained there during the Nigerian Civil War, and retired at the rank of captain.

He held various positions with the Rivers State Government: Permanent Secretary (1973–83), Commissioner for Education (1987–88) and Commissioner for Lands and Housing (1989–90).

He was a writer-in-residence and lecturer at the Rivers State College of Education (now Ignatius Ajuru University of Education), where he also held the positions of Dean of Arts, Head of the Literature Department and Director of General Studies.

In his lifetime, he was severally honoured by institutions and writers. On May 13, 1989, a symposium was held at the University of Port Harcourt to celebrate his 55th birthday while in May 2004, a conference was also organised by the Association of Nigerian Authors, Rivers State branch, to mark his 70th birthday. MAY HIS SOUL RIP .