The globally-acclaimed Nigerian mathematics icon, Chike Obi, has died at the age of 87, the local press reported Friday. Obi died in Onitsha, South-east Nigeria, Thursday morning of an undisclosed illness. After he was educated in Nigeria and the UK, Obi started his academic career at Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan in the country’s South-west 1959, and later moved to the University of Lagos, where he became a Professor of Mathematics in 1971. Before retiring in 1985, he rose to the post of Dean, School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences at the university. Apart from his academic career, Obi also had a stint in politics, where he founded a political party (the Dynamic Party) and served the then Eastern Region House of Assembly (parliament) from 1961 to 1966. During his lifetime, he bagged many awards, including of the country’s important honours – Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). His mathematical prowess was the stuff of legend, as stories abound of how he could make incredible calculations in a split second. Panapress.
