I will not weep for you Achebe. Why should I weep, why should we weep? If anyone needs weeping for, it should be us, this generation of hunger and anger. I can’t weep for you Achebe. You didn’t die of hunger and you never lived in hunger. You didn’t die of poverty and you never lived in penury. You were not killed by a bomb and you never had a bomb go off near you.
I will not weep for you-Achebe! You never went through strikes as a student and didn’t experience the life of an applicant. You were never cheated by your employers and you never felt harrassed by the government.

I will not weep for you, Achebe because you lived a life of honour. You lived and died with your integrity intact. You never dined with corruption neither did you patronise the corrupt nor did you cow at the bullying of the corrupt.
Long before we accepted, you saw ” things fall apart”, you warned us about the tragedy if and when the centre cannot hold.
You were a scholar and a prophet. A teacher and a freedom fighter, a mentor and a soldier, the people’s soldier.

We will not weep for you Achebe because you gave your best to your country and your country made you the best you became. You are dead but you are better than many alive because there was and not is a country.
Nigeria worked for you and you worked for Nigeria. Now we work, but Nigeria doesn’t work for all.

I will not weep for you Achebe. Why should I weep, why should we weep? If I should weep for anyone, it should be for us, this generation of hunger and anger. I can’t weep for you Achebe. You didn’t die of hunger and you never lived in hunger. You didn’t die of poverty and you never lived in penury. You were not killed by a bomb and you never had a bomb go off near you. I will not weep for you-Achebe! You never went through strikes as a student and didn’t experience the life of an applicant. You were never cheated by your employers and you never felt harrassed by the government.

I will not weep for you, Achebe because you lived a life of honour. You lived and died with your integrity intact. You never dined with corruption neither did you patronise the corrupt nor did you cow at the bullying of the corrupt.
Long before we accepted, you saw ” things fall apart”, you warned us about the tragedy if and when the centre cannot hold.
You were a scholar and a prophet. A teacher and a freedom fighter, a mentor and a soldier, the people’s soldier.

We will not weep for you Achebe because you gave your best to your country and your country made you the best you became. You are dead but you are better than many alive because there was and not is a country.
Nigeria worked for you and you worked for Nigeria. Now we work, but Nigeria doesn’t work for all.

I will not mourn for you, Achebe because I am mourning for this generation faced with a monster called corruption. A generation constrained to mediocrity, a generation at the brink of collapse. I will not weep for you, Achebe because tonight you won’t sleep on the street, in the gutter, under the bridge. I will not weep for you Achebe, because tonight you won’t go to bed hungry or thirsty or naked. I will not weep for you Achebe because tonight you will not beg for alms or remnants or beg for money to take your child to the hospital.

I will not weep for you Achebe because you won’t sleep with one eye opened, fearing the attackers will raid your village and kill innocent women and children. I will not weep for you, Achebe because tonight Abati will not insult your dignity just because you refused his principal’s national dishonours. I will not weep for you, Achebe because I join the world in celebrating you- a man larger than life. I will not weep for you Achebe because I have to mourn the living Nigerians who are at the mercy of a failed rulership.

I celebrate you, the great Prof!

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I will not weep for you Achebe – A tribute by Samuel Stephen-Wakdok