Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe: A Tribute

Abstract

The brilliant and erudite scholar and public intellectual of the state, genocide and ‘wars in Africa in the post-1966 epoch, beginning with the Igbo genocide, 29 May 1966 to 12 January 1970’, which he aptly designated as ‘the foundational and most gruesome genocide of post (European) conquest Africa’, Herbert Ekwe-Ekwe, who passed in 17 October 2019, was one of the select slate of scholars who were invited to contribute to this Special Issue of the journal. Characteristic of him and his dedication to the seriousness of purpose in scholarship, he was the first to complete and submit his contributed piece, which appears here in the Special Issue under the title, ‘Africans had no business fighting in either the 1914–1918 war or the 1939–1945 war’. That was a mere 4 months prior to his passing. This is a deserving tribute to him that captures his scholarship in all of its essence and complexity – Ekwe-Ekwe wrote more than 15 insightful books and published numerous articles in top-ranked academic journals and general interest publications in both the English and Portuguese languages, all of which are well-received in the communities of scholars and lay people. Rethinking Africa is the ‘forward looking blog’ that he founded and ‘dedicated to the exchange of innovative thinking on issues affecting the advancement of African peoples wherever they are’. It is indeed a medium that he used to provide ‘rigorous and insightful analyses on the issues affecting Africans and their vision of the world’. He was until his transition a ‘visiting professor in graduate programme of constitutional law at Universidade de Fortaleza, Brazil’.