Dillibe Onyeama
{{short description|Nigerian author, publisher (1951–2022)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Dillibe Onyeama
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Dillibe Onyeama.jpg
| caption = Onyeama in 2016
| birth_name = Charles Dillibe Onyeama
| birth_date = {{birth date|1951|1|6|df=y}}
| birth_place = Enugu, Southern Region, British Nigeria (now in Enugu State, Nigeria)
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|11|10|1951|1|6|df=y}}
| death_place = Enugu, Nigeria
| education = Eton College
| occupation = Journalist
Author
Publisher
| parents = Charles Onyeama (father)
| relatives = Geoffrey Onyeama (brother){{cite web |url=https://dailypost.ng/2022/11/14/buhari-reacts-to-death-of-onyeama/ |title=Buhari reacts to death of Onyeama |website=Daily Post |first=Don |last=Silas |date=14 November 2022|access-date=15 November 2022}}
| notable_works = Nigger at Eton (1972)
| years_active =
| children = 6
| website =
}}
Charles Dillibe Ejiofor Onyeama (6 January 1951 – 10 November 2022) was a Nigerian author and publisher.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-53062502 |title=Eton College: Nigerian author recalls racist abuse |first=Adaobi Tricia |last=Nwaubani |authorlink=Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani |publisher=BBC News |date=23 June 2020|access-date=1 July 2020}}{{Cite book |last=Akaraiwe |first=Ikeazor A. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52449965 |title=Onyeama : eagle on the bench : an authorised biography of Nigeria's first Judge at the World Court, His Excellency, Judge Charles Dadi Onyeama, CFR, LL. D. |date=2001 |publisher=Touchstone Books |isbn=978-35019-5-X |edition=2nd |location=Lagos |pages=171 |oclc=52449965}}{{Cite web |first=Anote |last=Ajeluorou |date=22 February 2017 |title=Dillibe Onyeama revives occult novels of the '80s |url=https://guardian.ng/art/dillibe-onyeama-revives-occult-novels-of-the-80s/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222171222/http://guardian.ng:80/art/dillibe-onyeama-revives-occult-novels-of-the-80s/ |archive-date=22 February 2017 |access-date=23 June 2020 |website=The Guardian (Nigeria)}} In 1969, he became the first black person to finish his studies at Eton College in England.{{Cite news |date=23 June 2020 |title=Eton apologises to Nigerian ex-student for racism |language=en-GB |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53139325|access-date=23 June 2020}} He wrote a book about his experiences of racism at Eton, Nigger at Eton, which resulted in his being banned from visiting the school by then-headmaster Michael McCrum.{{Cite news |date=23 June 2020 |title=The racist questions I was asked at Eton |language=en-GB |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53062502|access-date=23 June 2020}}
Biography
Dillibe Charles Onyeama was born in Enugu, Nigeria, in 1951,{{Cite news |date=11 February 2022 |title=Dillibe Onyeama, whose memoir of racist abuse at Eton shook the establishment |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/feb/11/dillibe-onyeama-memoir-racist-abuse-eton-shook-establishment |first=Aamna |last=Mohdin|access-date=4 March 2022 |newspaper=The Guardian |language=en}} the second son of Charles Onyeama, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Judge at the International Court of Justice who was himself the son of Onyeama of Eke, a ruling chief in the Nigerian chieftaincy system. {{cite web|url=https://dailytrust.com/famous-families-meet-the-many-onyeamas-of-enugu/|website=dailytrust.com|title=Famous Families: Meet The Many Onyeamas Of Enugu|accessdate=5 December 2022}} On the day of his birth, he became the first black boy to be registered to attend Eton College. He attended preparatory school at Grove Park in Sussex,{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/23/nigerian-ex-eton-pupil-says-he-will-return-to-accept-racism-apology |title=Nigerian ex-Eton pupil says he will return to accept racism apology |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Lanre |last=Bakare |date=23 June 2020}} before becoming a pupil at Eton in 1965, and leaving in 1969. Onyeama wrote a book while still a teenager about his experiences of racist discrimination and bullying at the elite British boarding school, which has educated generations of British royalty and statesmen.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=byQvDQAAQBAJ&q=%22dillibe+onyeama%22+1965&pg=PT114 |title=Stiff Upper Lip: Secrets, Crimes and the Schooling of a Ruling Class |first=Alex |last=Renton |publisher=Hachette |date=2017 |isbn=9781474600552}} The book titled Nigger at Eton, published in 1972 by Leslie Frewin Limited,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C5UPAQAAIAAJ |title=Nigger at Eton |publisher=Leslie Frewin Limited |date=1972|isbn=9780856320033 }} was republished by Penguin in 2022 with the title A Black Boy at Eton.{{cite book |url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/444676/a-black-boy-at-eton/9780241993811.html |title=A Black Boy at Eton |publisher=Penguin |date=3 February 2022}}
File:Dillibe_Onyeama_giving_a_speech_at_one_of_his_literary_events.jpg
In 2020 the school's present headmaster, Simon Henderson, offered Onyeama an apology for the treatment he had received.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/pidgin/tori-53150326 |title=Dillibe Onyeama: Eton college apologise to Nigerian ex-student for racism |publisher=BBC News – Pidgin |date=23 June 2020}} Onyeama said he would return to Eton to accept the apology as long as the costs of his trip were covered.
Onyeama obtained a diploma from the Premier School of Journalism, incorporating the Writers School of Great Britain before returning to Nigeria In 1981, and establishing the publishing company Delta Publications, based in Enugu.
Onyeama died from a heart attack on 10 November 2022, at the age of 71.{{cite web |url=https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/565256-dillibe-onyeama-when-death-cuts-so-deep-by-omoniyi-ibietan.html |title=Dillibe Onyeama: When death cuts so deep |first=Omoniyi |last=Ibietan |website=Premium Times |date=14 November 2022|access-date=15 November 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://anotearthub.com/2022/11/12/shock-grief-as-literary-community-mourns-niger-at-eton-author-dillibe-onyeama/ |title=Shock, grief as literary community mourns 'Nigger at Eton' author, Dillibe Onyeama |first=Anote |last=Ajeluorou |website=AnoteArtHub |date=12 November 2022 |access-date=15 November 2022 |archive-date=15 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115114228/https://anotearthub.com/2022/11/12/shock-grief-as-literary-community-mourns-niger-at-eton-author-dillibe-onyeama/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://thenigerialawyer.com/dillibe-onyeama-dies-at-71/ |title=Dillibe Onyeama, Dies At 71 |first=Unini |last=Chioma |website=The Nigeria Lawyers |date=13 November 2022|access-date=15 November 2022}}
Selected bibliography
- Nigger at Eton, 1972 (later re-released as A Black Boy at Eton{{cite news |last1=Evaristo |first1=Bernardine |title=A Black Boy at Eton: a memoir that still shocks 50 years on |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2022/01/a-black-boy-at-eton-a-memoir-that-still-shocks-40-years-on |access-date=24 March 2024 |work=New Statesman |date=26 January 2022}})
- John Bull's Nigger, 1974
- Sex is a Nigger's Game, 1976
- Juju, 1977
- Secret Society, 1978
- The Return: Homecoming of a Negro from Eton, 1978
- Female Target, 1979
- Revenge of the medicine man, 1980
- Night Demon, 1982
- Chief Onyeama: The Story of an African God, 1982{{cite web |url=https://dailytrust.com/famous-families-meet-the-many-onyeamas-of-enugu |title=FAMOUS FAMILIES: Meet The Many Onyeamas Of Enugu |website=Daily Trust |first=Tony |last=Adibe |date=24 February 2018|access-date=15 November 2022}}
- African Legend: The Incredible Story of Francis Arthur Nzeribe, 1984
- Godfathers of Voodoo, 1985
- The New Man: A Perspective in Evil, 2002
- Dadi: The Man, the Legend : an Intimate Portrait of His Excellency Judge Charles Dadi Onyeama of the International Court of Justice, The Hague, 2021
References
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Category:Nigerian non-fiction writers