Chike Obi

Chike Obi was born on April 7, 1921, in Zaria, Kaduna State, to parents from Onitsha. After initial studies at Yaba Higher College, he earned a BSc and MSc in mathematics as an external student of the University of London. In 1950, he completed his PhD in mathematics at Pembroke College, Cambridge, becoming the first Nigerian doctorate holder in mathematical sciences.

A specialist in non-linear differential equations and periodic solutions, Obi taught at the University of Ibadan and the University of Lagos. In 1997, he published an internationally recognized elementary proof of Fermat's Last Theorem for semi-primes. Concurrently, he was an ardent anti-colonial nationalist, founding the Dynamic Party in 1951 and serving in both the federal Parliament and the Eastern Region House of Assembly.