Some Idols are forever: A Tribute to Prof. Chinua Achebe

I learnt more than a lot from Ogbuefi Ugonabo, Professor Chinua Achebe. One of what I learnt is the Igbo proverb, idols are made to be destroyed! When I encountered this proverb in one of the interviews he granted in the 1980s, I closed the newspaper with my index finger still in-between the pages I was reading, and sat back wistfully to absorb the immediate impact of that thunderbolt. I had heard Igbo proverbs spoken by the elders. I had also read Igbo proverbs, including the ones in his books. But I had neither heard nor read a proverb that enormous before. Its implications were like glints of stuff struck by a shaft of light. I knew that Igbo proverbs had categories, from light duty ones to super duty ones. But this one, no doubt, might be the greatest of the super duty proverbs I had yet encountered.
“Idols are made to be destroyed” immediately gave me an explanation of an issue I had been struggling with. I had idols of which the good professor was the only one remaining at that point. For one reason or the other, at some point or the other, a couple of my other idols had disappointed me. And my disappointment stemmed from my discovery of certain major flaws in their respective persona. Nobody is perfect. Achebe himself was not. But the Igbos recognize that one could be flawed in the worst of spots. I had come to realize by their actions, and inactions for that matter, that my other idols were patriotic at the expense of their own endangered people. If one really paid attention, one could see that they paid more lip-service to their embattled people; that they were mainly interested in levying them with their individual ceremonial leadership. I tried as much as I could to deal with their outbound love, but I could not in the face of what was going on in the country. That sort of patriotism seemed strange, even in Nigeria. And frankly unacceptable to me. I was not happy with distrusting and distancing myself from such celebrities whom I had until then looked up to. I was even sure that I had a problem, and that I needed a shrink to straighten me up.

Late Prof Chinua Achebe

The idol, which Professor Achebe was making reference to, however, was not the type of idol I am referring to in this article. I am using idols in place of heroes here. Achebe was referring to them in the most traditional sense of the word: as objects of worship and convention. Achebe explained in the interview that his Igbo people believed in making idols that could help them attain their objectives, like other peoples also believed. But he went further to add that the Igbos also believed in destroying, or retiring, those of their idols that had out-lived their usefulness. Among the Igbo, he said, the realm of the gods was about as dynamic as that of humans. For, while some gods seemed eternal, others were temporal. And they fell out of favor with time, even as brand new ones got commissioned either in their stead or for a totally different domain. And, more often than not, those idols whose potency waned either might have done their duty or might have been relegated to redundancy as the worshipful society developed. The two reasons, at any rate, should not dim the fact that sometimes a case of a failed idol provoked a discharge too. A similar but less ceremonial fate awaited many of the failed idols in the olden days.
In a nutshell, idols or gods must therefore remain potent in order not to be discharged by the Igbo. The discharge or destruction, by the way, is not a retributive measure (as long as it is not the case of a failed god) but a sendoff gesture. As far as the Igbo was concerned, the idol being sent off, or being ceremonially burnt, had done its part. Society had outgrown it and moved on. The Igbo society could not afford to get stuck with an idol that was maxed out, and had nothing more to offer.
The lesson of this proverb is that we and society as a whole must continue to upgrade ourselves. We cannot afford to get stuck with a god, an idol or an idea, when it is obvious that we now know better than the idol or idea. People inaugurate initiatives to help themselves get ahead. And, as long as that initiative serves their purpose they will continue with it. However, when a people find themselves ahead of an idol or initiative they should immediately move on without any apology.
I cannot forget this piece of Achebean wisdom. More so, as a lot of notable people diminish in my estimation. In another sense, I have also come to realize that we ought to respect our celebrities in the same way we respect our everyday acquaintances, friends, colleagues, neighbors or relatives. I no longer see any difference between the two types of relationships: the idealistic one and the realistic other. We should be able to fall out with our idols and heroes. It is perfectly natural and all right that we do not relate to people diametrically, no matter how highly placed. Blindfolded devotion is what is abnormal. It is neither healthy nor safe for us to continue to gallop after the famous and the powerful blinkered.
How often do we fall out with regular people? Quite often. How many of them are still estimable in our eyes? A fraction. Let us therefore extend our critical yardstick to our heroes and idols. We will benefit much more from that. We constantly shed the dead weights of interrelationship in order to be able to move on with our lives. That is how life is, and there is nothing wrong with that. The problem is not to know when to move on, or what to leave behind as a baggage one no longer needs. The problem is to continue to fit into what one has outgrown. The problem is getting stuck with a hero or an idol just for the heck of it – or because the idol catches some juvenile fancy of ours. Blind devotion to the famous or to the wealthy can only subordinate us irredeemably, even as it corrupts the famous or wealthy absolutely.
I had no qualms whatsoever with Ugonabo. Unlike most heroes, he had no illusion about having a following. I continued to learn privately from him. But I must confess that I did have the fear that someday I might have to also shed him as a dead weight for some act that was unacceptable to me. I did not see such a day coming, but, hey, you never know. My fear increased as both of us got older. I had known and loved him virtually all my life. And to get up one day to discover that I would have to begin to distance myself from him because of an unacceptable flaw of his that I hadn’t noticed all along (or because of what he just said or did) would be devastating to me, even though I was certain that I would move away and never look back.
I did not demand much from my idols either. I just wanted honesty, kindheartedness and the courage to speak truth to power. And, these were the hallmarks of Professor Chinua Achebe. These are why I love him. Of all the idols I had since I was six or so, and starting with Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu, Achebe is the only one still standing; and by virtue of his demise will stand forever. Now he too is dead, I do not need any other idol. I came of age a long time ago. Besides, I don’t think anybody can fill his huge shoes. This is a farewell message to my greatest hero, Eagle on Iroko, Africa’s own literary lion, Ugonabo, Professor Chinua Achebe.