Acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has revealed that she no longer wishes to return to Nigeria following the devastating loss of her 21-month-old son, Nkanu.
In a recent interview with reporters, the award-winning writer spoke candidly about how the tragedy has fundamentally shifted her relationship with her home country. When asked if Nigeria still felt like a place close to her heart, her response was dull: “My feelings toward Nigeria have changed. I do not want to go back to Nigeria.”
The heartbreaking incident occurred in December 2025. Nkanu, one of Adichie’s twin boys, suffered a medical emergency at Euracare, a private hospital in Nigeria. According to Adichie, the toddler initially developed a fever and was given antibiotics by her husband, Ivara Esege. When his condition failed to improve, the couple sought further medical attention.
During an MRI examination, Nkanu was sedated with propofol, after which he suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away the following day. Recalling the harrowing moments after the procedure, Adichie shared the chilling words of a doctor who approached her in a state of panic.
“He was very calm, and he said to me, ‘Well, look, they gave him too much Propofol.’ Those were his exact words, which I will never forget until the day I die,” she recalled.
In June, Adichie publicly raised allegations of medical negligence regarding her son’s treatment. The circumstances surrounding Nkanu’s death are now the subject of a coroner’s inquest, a process reportedly marred by delays and intense disagreements between the family and the hospital.
Adding to the family’s distress, Euracare has reportedly accused Adichie and her husband of destroying evidence by cremating their son’s remains, an allegation tied to the ongoing proceedings. Despite the turmoil, the couple has focused their public appeals on the urgent need for systemic improvements in Nigeria’s healthcare system, rather than pursuing a direct lawsuit against the facility.
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For years, Adichie described Nigeria as the place that gave her “everything” needed to become a writer, deeply intertwining her creative identity with her homeland. Now, that connection is fractured by unimaginable pain.
She noted that her children might be the only reason she would ever consider returning, observing that her surviving daughter still regards Nigeria as her “happy place.”
Reflecting on the surreal nature of her grief, Adichie confessed, “I mean, it is so surreal, all of this. I still can’t believe we’re talking about my son who died. You’re going through something, but you also feel like you’re outside of it.”
For a woman whose words have shaped global conversations on identity, culture, and feminism, this is a silence born of profound sorrow. Her story is no longer just about the love of a nation, but the enduring, borderless ache of a mother who lost her child.
Promise Idoko is Junior Reporter working with moderncrux He covers global politics and international affairs. Based in Nigeria,
