Onyeka Nwelue

Onyeka Nwelue (listen^ⓘ; born 31 January 1988) is a Nigerian writer and filmmaker. In 2023, he attracted attention upon being terminated by the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge from the position of Academic Visitorship.^[1]

Onyeka Nwelue
Nwelue in 2011
Born	Onyekachukwu George Nwelue (1988-01-31) 31 January 1988 (age 37) Ezeoke Nsu, Imo State, Nigeria
Occupation	Novelist filmmaker editor poet
Period	2000–present

Early life

Nwelue's father, Chukwuemeka Samuel Nwelue (1945–2022), ran a motel and was a record shop owner, having been formerly employed at a construction company as a cashier and wages supervisor; he was later involved in local community politics. Nwelue's mother Catherine, née Ona, was a social scientist.^[2]

Career

Author

He is the author of 22 books, twenty of which have been self-published or published through companies owned by him.^[1]

In 2018, the Association of Nigerian Authors shortlisted The Beginning of Everything Colourful and The Lagos Cuban Jazz Club for their Annual Fiction Prize and Annual Poetry Prize respectively.^[3] In 2021, Nwelue was again shortlisted in both the categories, respectively for The Strangers of Braamfontein and An Angel on the Piano.^[4][5]

His documentary House of Nwapa was shortlisted in the Best Documentary category at the 2017 Africa Movie Academy Awards.^[6][7] The next year, Nwelue adapted his novella Island of Happiness into an Igbo film, Agwaetiti Obiụtọ, which was shortlisted in the Best First Feature Film and Best Film in an African Language categories at the 2018 Africa Movie Academy Awards.^[8]

His latest work titled The Nigerian Mafia: Mumbai is the first in a ten-book series set across ten countries.^[9][10] Some of his books includes The Hacienda of Jesus García of Pachuca and The Abyssinian Boy.^[11][12]

Controversies

Misrepresentation of academic position

Nwelue was an Academic Visitor at the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford from 2021 until 2023.^[1] During this span, he claimed to be a professor at both Oxford and the University of Cambridge, even using their logos to market a range of commercial events; he also falsely claimed to be a Research Associate at SOAS University of London.^[1]

SOAS rejected Nwelue's claims outright, while both Oxford and Cambridge launched their respective investigations, upon which Nwelue's association was terminated for "persistent unacceptable breaches of its terms".^[1][13] It was clarified by both the universities that Academic Visitorship was not even a form of employment — neither the university remunerated Nwelue nor he had any responsibilities to the university.^[1][14] Journalists note that he was charged with £9000 by Cambridge for holding the position.^[15]

Nwelue has apologized for his conduct and implored to be forgiven,^[16] but has also appealed his termination before Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford.^[1]

James Currey Fellowship

Nwelue also instituted a James Currey Fellowship, sometime in 2022, supposedly to sponsor African authors who wish to attend both Oxford and Cambridge; he claimed the fellowship to have been set up in collaboration with the University of Oxford.^[1] The fellowship awarded the James Currey Prize for African Literature to the best unpublished work of fiction in English from African authors eithers living in Africa or the diaspora.

The university denied any involvement with the fellowship.^[1] It was later reported to have been set up to benefit Nwelue's financial associates.^[15] Its two recipients were David Hundeyin, who had signed a book deal with Nwelue's publishing house a month before the conferral, and Mitterand Okorie, who had co-founded a literary agency with Nwelue and published multiple books with his publishing house including Nwelue's biography.^[15][17][18]

Views

During his time at Oxford, Nwelue posted racist, classist, and misogynist content on Twitter, including about China being filthy and overpopulated, Arabs having a flair for slavery, Eastern Europe producing only pickpockets and scammers, poor people being of "no value", and African women who use wigs and makeup coming across as "masquerades".^[1] Nwelue apologized and described his tweets as "a social experiment to get feedback for an [upcoming] book."^[1]

In January 2023, he held a book launch by Nigerian blogger David Hundeyin, where students alleged both of them to have mocked the prevalence of sexual harassment in journalistic circles and suggested that women slept their way to the top.^[1]

See also

• List of Nigerian film producers