er at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. In September 1963, he departed Nigeria to pursue a PhD in statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under Erich Leo Lehmann. He earned his doctorate in 1966, becoming the first Nigerian to receive a PhD in statistics from UC Berkeley. In 1976, he became the inaugural professor of statistics at the University of Nigeria and later served as its Deputy Vice Chancellor from 1980 to 1984, retiring in 1997. Throughout his career, Adichie published articles in academic journals and magazines. His academic work included a fellowship at the University of Sheffield in England and a term as a visiting professor at San Diego State University in California, as well as serving as the first editor of the Journal of Statistical Association of Nigeria. On 2 May 2015, while returning to Abba from Nsukka, Adichie was kidnapped. According to reports from Pulse Nigeria, his daughter, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, explained in the New York Times that her presence was a factor in the abduction. He was released three days later after payment of a ransom. Legacy Adichie was the "Odelora Abba", a Nigerian chieftaincy title. A member of the Nigerian National Advisory Council on Statistics, he was one of the figures who reorganised the Federal Office of Sta