Tribute to Sir Adiela  Ralph Onyedibia, NTA Drama Producer of 1987 Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’

By Prince Benjamin I. Obaigbena

My great friend. Sir Adiela Onyedibia, the unsung hero of our modern times especially in the African creative arts and media.

A Cultural Icon Quintessential Playwright, Screen & Television Writer, Television Producer and Director, Journalist and Public Relations Consultant.

We met in 1981 at NTA Port Harcourt when I was presenting paranormal and natural philosophical program  titled HUMAN CYCLE. He was then Deputy Manager, Programs. Our friendship was intellectually stimulated and glued by some unexplained force as if we were twins in the previous life. His work in adapting Chinua Achebe’s THINGS FALL APART for NTA Drama series in 1987 was a tip of the iceberg of his immense creative ability. He finished writing the entire script in my house because of availability of constant electricity in my area as against other parts of Port Harcourt. He emersed himself into that project as if tomorrow would never come.

According to Professor Joseph Ajienka, 7th Vice-Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt (2010-2015), in his tribute aptly put it that Mr. Ralph Onyedibia belongs to the class of gifted creative writers in our community that should elicit gratitude to God. Few individuals can lay claim to a career as richly varied as his. He was a journalist who chronicled the times, a playwright who gave voice to the stage, a screen and television writer who shaped stories for the nation’s viewing public, and a producer and director who brought those stories to life. It is a rare creative range, and rarer still is the discipline it takes to excel across all of them.

When Rivers Sate Television was commissioned in 1985, late Mr. Cormish Ekiye of NTA was appointed the maiden Acting General Manager of the station and he wanted an exciting  TV Series of programs to launch the station. He approached Mr. Ralph Adiela Onyedibia (his then Deputy Manager) to seek my willingness to present a philosophical program in its first maiden broadcast from the temporary RSTV studio/office  at Olumeni St, Old GRA Port Harcourt before finally  relocating to their permanent site at Elelewon, Port Harcourt.

Adiela sat with me to draw up series of topics of interest for studio recording. He played a good role in head hunting the experts to share their thoughts expertise and experiences in the field of  metaphysics, science and technology  for the purpose of educating and entertaining the public. We came up with title of  the program – THE GURU.

We  got the following  people of substance for the maiden studio recordings :-   late Rev. Reinhard Bonnke (overseer of Christ For All Nations, USA) when he visited Port Harcourt  for his massive crusade , His Holiness late Bakhti Tirtha  Swami (Khrishnapada),  Head of Hare Khrishna International , Africa  who was hater given traditional Chef title in Okpe Kingdom in Delta State, late Bliss IYALLA of Bakana , Rivers State on Natural and Traditional Sciences,  late Ben Anyaeji foundational pioneer and leader of Eckankar in Nigeria, etc.  We missed to corner Sir Richard Lawrence of AETHERIUS  SOCIETY ( Secretary General, international metaphysical Society, World headquarters in Fulham Road, UK.) He was visiting Rivers State capital to inaugurate the Aerherius Society chapter in the State on the invitation of the late Dr. Frank Eke, Deputy Governor, Rivers State. The raison d’etre of the society is to help mankind develop spiritually in order that the mistakes we have made in the past are not repeated and so that we are able to evolve in consciousness into higher cosmic dimensions. He is also  world’s leading light on ETs (Extraterrestrials)

Adeila was always behind the scene to give life to the new station. In fact he was going to use the information (materials) gathered from the GURU program to write powerful drama series about  the hidden powers and prowess of African ancestral practices  to the world stage and eradicate the false belief that Africa was deeply primitive and uncivilized  before the coming of the Europeans.

Adiela Onyedibia  was slowly building up the body of the storyline for future production when he retired from NTA and later joined Nigerian AGIP as a Community Manager. 

Before his short career in AGIP, he was a Writer-in-Residence at the University of Port Harcourt where he got the acquaintance of

Professor Ajienka  who said Ralph  understood that culture is not preserved by a single generation alone but is handed down, refined, and reimagined by those who come after. In the lecture halls and quiet corners of the university, Ralph planted seeds of creativity whose fruits continue to be harvested in the works of writers he touched and taught. He infected the university environment with his vivacious aura and improved the visibility of the University with his welcome presence and humour.”

Adiela has many unpublished books in his library. His mind was a gateway to an enriched African cultural world where imagination and reality coexist. His rhythm of thought was far ahead of his time. He once said, during one of our numerous brainstorming over bottles of  Mateus Rosè wine, that looking at the map of the world,  Africa has the most beautiful shape and would perfectly fit into a triangle with three equal sizes. At that he opined that the map of Africa may not be correct as portrayed globally especially in size and that may be one of the many European conspiracies to downplay power of the continent with regards to size, strong willed people, immense natural resources and custodian of hidden truth domiciled in Africa. Just recently, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on September 4, 2026, urging the world to use maps that show Africa’s true size. 

Ralp ONYEDIBIA was right on this 40 yrs ago.

He was very popular in Port Harcourt to a point where he would enter a drinking bar and offer every sitting customer free drink on his bill. He was good at giving and never really cared about accumulating wealth. Many who knew him can testify to this.

Standing on his two feet, he was just a man but writing with his right hand, he was something else powered by some imposing energy that vibrates his consciousness to such a level, to put down creative contents in most of his books. A man whose pen and passion helped shape the cultural memory of a nation.

Socially Adiela was like a disciple of Christ  sharing and preaching LOVE. He made friends very easily and was a truly detribalized Nigerian. He looked stubborn externally but with angelic heart internally. Ralph Onyedibia was the missing Angel of Writers in the heavens and now the heavens have taken him back peacefully.

Most times great people are known after they are long gone. Like in nature, you don’t know that a  LIGHTNING has struck long before you hear the powerful sound of the THUNDER.

Goodbye my great friend, hard like coconut on the surface  but  watery soft  inside. He could drive miles oh the road, just to say I AM SORRY. !!!!!

He will be greatly missed. His last joke on the phone with me was “ A patient Dog always eat the fattest bone but not in NIGERIA.”

It is well my great friend.

He will be greatly missed and committed to Mother Earth in his home at Omoku in Rivers State. on 31st of October, 2026

Adieu the great Ralph.

Sometimes the most important people’s  in history are the ones who choose to be behind the scene.

The good thing was that I did all those programs at NTA and RSTV for free.  

Thank you for the time and peace to read through.

•Prince Benjamin I. Obaigbena