• Date of Birth: October 15, 1932
  • Born City: Apana
  • Born State/Country: Nigeria
  • Parents: Iruduemhoi and Aboetsa E.
  • Date of Death: October 3, 2020
  • Death City: Port Arthur
  • Death State/Country: TX
  • Married: Comfort Ugheosomeh Iteghie (5 May 1936-8 June 2015). Children: Deborah of Nederland, TX; Dorcas Fagbemi of Bowie, MD; Samuel of Stockholm, Sweden; and Theodoros of Athens, Greece.
  • Education:

    General Certificates of Education in history, ancient history and religious knowledge, University of London, UK, June, 1958 and January, 1961; Bachelor of Literature in classics, linguistics, Byzantine language & literature, and modern Greek, Aristotelian University, Thessalonika, Greece, 1968; B.A. (ancient history, Latin and Greek), as an external candidate and correspondence student, University of London, UK, 1970; Ph.D. (classics), National and Capodistrian University, (Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών: Φιλοσοφική Σχολή), Athens, Greece, 1973.

  • Professional Experience:

    Personnel Manager, A.G. Leventis & Co., 1973-5; Educational Officer, Federal Government College, Maiduguri, State of Borno, 1976-8; Head, Dept. History, Federal Government College, Maiduguri, State of Borno, 1978-83; Dean, School of Humanities and Head, dept. History, Federal College of Education, Edu Yola, State of Gongola, Nigeria, 1983-90; Chief Federal Inspector of Education, Federal Ministry of Education and Youth Development, Ilorin, State of Kwara, Nigeria, 1990-2; guest speaker: “My Viewpoint on Classical Learning,” CAMWS (April, 2010), Oklahoma City, OK.

  • Publications:

    O ιδεώδης ηγεμών εν τοις αρχαίοις ελληνικοίς συγγράμμασι: η μελέτη του τέλειου ανθρώπου κατά την αντίληψιν των αρχαίων ελλήνων. Διατριβή επί διδακτορία. (Athens, Greece: 1973); The Ancient World: A Simplified History for Schools (Maiduguri, Nigeria: Federal Government College, 1982); The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Latin-English (Kaduna, Nigeria: OJU Printing Press, 1988); Sophrosyne-Temperance: An Attribute of a Perfect Man in Ancient  Greek Thought (Ilorin, Nigeria: Sunny Printing Production, 1991), A Fundamental Greek Course, edited by Glenn R. Storey (Lanham MD: University Press of America, 2009); A Fundamental Greek Course: Answer Key, edited by Glenn R. Storey (Lanham MD: University Press of America, 2011).

  • Notes:

    Dr. Eezzuduemhoi was the son of a farmer from Apana, a village  in the Ogun state of Nigeria. His father died when he was one year old and he was raised by his mother and his siblings. The family wanted him to take up his brother’s trade as a carpenter. But he refused. He ran away four times from his apprenticeship in Auchi in the Edo state of Nigeria. His mother then required that he work for one of his uncles for a year and a year later he was allowed to start school. He was ten years old when he entered grade I. His talents won him a scholarship to study at the Aristotelian University and in 1962 he moved to Thessaloniki, Greece. He was the university’s first African student and studied theology and Greek philosophy there from 1962-1967. His wife Comfort, who was fluent in Etsako, Yoruba, Hausa,  Kanuri, as well modern Greek and English, worked various jobs in a chocolate factory and as a vocational nurse, while her husband pursued his graduate and doctoral studies. His daughter Deborah, now an ophthalmologist, still remembers the stories that her father told about Cyclops and the  Odyssey.  Comfort joined her husband a year later, but it took several years before they could save enough money to bring the whole family to Greece. Their youngest son Theodoros was born there. Dr. Eezzuduemhoi returned to Nigeria where he held a variety of positions in the Divisional Councils  in the districts of Afenmai,  Abeokuta, Akure and Ese-Odo before working for many years as an Educational Officer for the Federal Government College. He was the first person from the Uzairue region in Nigeria to have earned a doctorate degree. Dr. Eezzuduemhoi retired in March, 2007 and lived out the remainder of his life in Nederland, TX with his daughter Deborah.

  • Sources:

    “Report from the Secretary Treasurer, Status Quo and Novae Res,” CAMWS Newsletter (Spring,  2010); ttp://archive.constantcontact.com/fs054/1102932454996/archive/1103407990839.html“Dr. James Iwenekhai Apaibu Eezzuduemhoi, October 15, 1932- October 3, 2020,” https://broussards1889.com/obituary/dr-james-eezzuduemhoi/; “Liturgy of Christian Burial: Dr. James Iwenekhai Apaibu Eezzuduemhoi https://broussards1889.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Eezzuduemhoi-James-Keepsake.pdf; Tara Ford, “Comfort Eezzuduemhoi,” The Port Arthur News (10 June, 2015) https://www.panews.com/2015/06/10/comfort-eezzuduemhoi/Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (29 July 1982): 759. https://gazettes.africa/archive/ng/1982/ng-government-gazette-dated-1982-07-29-no-36.pdfOfficial Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2 September 1982): 885. https://gazettes.africa/archive/ng-la/1982/ng-la-government-gazette-dated-1982-09-02-no-44.pdfOfficial Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (14 July 2016): 82; Personal Communications with Deborah Eezzuduemhoi, M.D. of Nederland TX.

  • Author: Michele Valerie Ronnick