Foremost African novelist and civil war veteran, Elechi Amadi, died Wednesday evening in Port Harcout at the age of 82.
According to a family member, Bar Wabueze, Amadi died at the Good Heart Hospital in Port Harcourt Rivers State at about 3: 45 pm.
Details of the exact cause of death were not immediately made known.
Amadi was a captain in the Nigerian Army during the civil war between 1967 and 1970 and has written numerous books including novels, essays and plays, which have earned him a spot among African literary greats.
Some of his most famous include The Concubine (1966), The Great Pond (1969) and Sunset in Biafra (1973) among others.
The author continued to write into his old age, releasing a play during his 80th birthday in Port Harcourt and a science fiction novel in 2013.
In 2009, the novelist was abducted from his home in Aluu, Port Harcourt and was released a day later.
Amadi was awarded the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR) in 2003.
