- Prof. Chike Obi still have a brilliant mind at 84 as he did when he was the toast of all.

THE Fermat’s Theory of 1637 has just been solved by Professor Emeritus, Chike Obi - Nigeria’s doyen of Mathematics and its first professor.

At 84, the gentleman of figures can feel his age, with evident pain as a result of arthritis, but his mind is still sharp - and regularly he’s invited to give lectures.

An extrovert, his well celebrated life as a towering figure of academics astounds us...

Nnabuenyi, I'm so pleased to be with you today. How are you?

I'm fine, it's just that you took me unawares. You know I've not been very healthy lately. Most times, I'm not in the mood to talk. In fact, these days I rarely grant interviews.

I could see you have a very beautiful wife. How old is she?

She's 72 years old.

How many kids does she have for you?

Two male children. The eldest is Mr. Balogun Chike Obi, he is 53 years old, a graduate of Physics from University of Ibadan. His younger brother Mustapha has a first class honours in Mathematics from the University of Lagos.

You're an Igbo man, why did you give your children Yoruba and Islamic names respectively?

It's just to symbolize one Nigeria. Mustapha was actually named after Kemal Mustapha, the father of the Modern Republic of Turkey. It was he who founded Kemalism in the whole world. He introduced a political doctrine called dynamic collectivism...