By Nwadike, Uzoma. I
In Retrospect .
By 1948, young 9 he'was, Mazi Frederick Chidozie Ogbalu had started to fight the
cause of Igbc culture. In 1929, following Professor Westermann's visit to Niieria,'
and the subsequent introduction and acceptance of the new orthography, popularly
known as 'Africa Script' to repla& the age-long Lepsius' orthography of 1854 with
which Igbo and other languages of the world had been written, the greatest
orthography controversy in literary history-(l929-lW) erupted among the Igbo.
The CMS one of the two giant missions engulfed in the controversy, motivated by
v e e h e s r , r e u d to accept and a d o ~ tth e new orthog&p She had
produced a sizeable Literature which had sold in tens of thousands in the old
Accepting to adopt the new script meant an enormous t s r a n d
would involve exhorbitant costs to re-write and reprint those pieces of literature.
Hence she did everthing humanly possible to oppose the "Afn'ca Scriptw and
whaver projeued a n d e
the CMS, fought relentlessly along the line bf his employer. He was fully convinced
that he was fighting a just cause: the defence of Igbo language because to the best
of his bodedge, he thought that the repladiment of the orthography he was used
to was fantamount to destroying'the Igbo Language.