Pete Edochie: The Day Chika Unigwe killed Okonkwo

I know Okonkwo, the son of Unoka of Umuofia. Pete Edochie played him in a movie. But Edochie is not Okonkwo.

There are two Okonkwos in my life. Okonkwo Adi in “Eze Goes to School” and Okonkwo in “Things Fall Apart.”

Like most people, I have a greater affinity for Okonkwo in “Things Fall Apart.”

Okonkwo Adi died in the first line of “Eze Goes to School.” What kind of hero does something like that? We learned that his cowardly hunting colleagues failed him when they chose to go back to the village to get reinforcement instead of staying with him and fighting off the lion killing their village people. The modern-day equivalent of what Okonkwo Adi confronted is the killer herdsmen. In so many ways, Okonkwo Adi was a hero, but we knew about his deeds long after death.

The real hero that we have all gravitated around is Okonkwo from “Things Fall Apart.” At the age of eighteen, he threw the unbeaten Amalinze the Cat down in a wrestling march and became famous. He did everything not to be like his weak father, Unoka. After working hard and showing courage, he became one of the leaders of Umuofia at a very young age. Underneath Okonkwo’s success were the human flaws that had set him up for failure when he defied wise counsel and partook in the killing of Ikemefuna, the boy who called him…